1. The most common one is, “What is my case worth?” and again, it’s a subjective standard, it really depends on the individual and the injuries that they’ve sustained. Anyone that walks into an attorney’s office or even talks to an attorney on the phone and they tell them exactly what their case is worth has no idea what they’re talking about. I often joke and ask people, “Well, would you like fries and a Coke with that?” because you’re getting the fast-food approach to what is ultimately one of the most important decisions of your life.
You need someone that’s going to give you a thorough and educated response to ultimately at the end of the day the most important question: “What am I entitled to here? This is something that’s ultimately going to change my life forever. What am I going to get?” And anyone that just knee-jerks a response to that without looking at all the facts I think is remiss to do so.”
2. Often people are surprised about the importance of having underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage. Often there’s some insurance companies, GEICO in particular, that for years never offered underinsured motorist coverage. This can be such an important part of an auto accident claim. Virtually every case that we file could substantial benefit in value if we had the ability to turn to the individual’s own insurance company to get them compensated.
It’s unfortunate, but there are many uninsured drivers in the state of Michigan and there are many people that carry the state minimum which is $20,000/$40,000. If someone has suffered a permanent serious disfigurement or a serious bodily impairment that affects one’s general ability to lead a normal life, $20,000 isn’t going to come anywhere close to compensating them for their injuries.
That’s why it’s important for an individual to carry underinsured motorist coverage because if an individual has underinsured motorist coverage, for example, of $100,000, they would first look to the at-fault driver’s insurance and get the first $20,000 that the other driver carries as a minimum mandated by the state and then they would in turn get the additional $80,000 from their own insurance completing a $100,000 settlement for that individual. Now if the individual did not have underinsured motorist coverage they would only get $20,000 in that fact pattern.
Insurance agents often don’t even mention it to their insured because it’s not a big moneymaker for them and they can often have to pay out large amounts of money, I would in fact encourage people that if their insurance agent doesn’t offer underinsured motorist coverage, find a new agent. If your agent tries to tell you that it’s not a big deal and you don’t need it, find a new agent. They are not your friend. They are not telling you the truth. It is imperative and absolutely every individual in the state of Michigan should carry underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage.