Many people in Des Moines have never made the distinction between a Des Moines personal lawyer and a Des Moines personal injury attorney, but it becomes obvious if someone gets hurt in an accident. Generally, after an accident, especially when there is injury severe enough to limit one’s day to day activities, the focus is on getting healthy. When the mending takes awhile or when the cost of treatment begins to impact one’s financial capabilities, then the victim may become aware of the ads on the side of the bus or friends will advise them that they should get a lawyer.

Jane was driving down a side street where she stopped at a red light. There were two cars in front of her, a Mercedes and a Volvo. She saw a flash in her rearview mirror, heard the skidding of tires from behind and was slammed into by a Toyota Prius. Her car, a Samurai Suzuki, was pushed into the Mercedes and the Mercedes hit the Volvo in front of it. Jane hit the steering column and fell back into her seat as the airbag emitted. She immediately pulled herself from the twisted metal and walked around in shock getting information from all the other drivers. A kind policeman called a towing service for her totaled vehicle and allowed her to sit in his car as her knees and elbows were scraped and bleeding and she had a big purple knot on her collarbone.

Jane decided her injuries were not that bad and did not go to the hospital. She went home, took a few Tylenols and went to bed. The following day she called all the insurance people and started the ball rolling. Having never been in a serious accident and having only minimal coverage she was unaware that someone’s insurance could pay for a car rental until she could get her car fixed or buy a new one. She was unable to get to work for several days while she tried to find alternate transportation.

Three days later, Jane woke up with shooting pains in her neck and back. She was unable to move her neck or bend. A friend took her to the doctor, where x-rays were performed. The x-rays showed no fractures, so the doctors said she had whiplash, gave her a neck brace, pain-killers and anti-inflammatories and sent her home. Jane was unable to work. Jane had no car. Physical Therapy and Chiropractic Care was recommended, but she couldn’t afford to pay for either of those as her minimal health coverage required a large deductible. A friend suggested that she should hire a lawyer.

After listening to her story, the lawyer friend was very happy to take her case, even though it wasn’t the kind of law he normally did. He said that she should get a large settlement as the other cars were barely touched and hers was totaled. He told her to keep track of all that she spent for health care. The problem was she had no money to spend on health care and not being an expert in this kind of law, he didn’t know that they based the amount of injury settlement on how much care had to be received. Jane was let go from her job as she was unable to continue at the previous pace and her neck continued to bother her for the rest of her life.

One year later, a settlement was reached. Bt this time her lawyer had nearly forgotten about her case and often reminded her that he was just doing this as a favor to their friend. In the final judgment there were four plaintiffs. The Mercedes had two people suing, the driver and a passenger and the Volvo driver. While their cars had little damage, they had, as advised by their personal injury lawyer, spent a great deal of money on medical bills. This treatment included weekly massages and many other forms of therapy. None of the other plaintiffs missed any work. The judge based his personal injury settlement on the amount of treatment received. Though her car was declared totaled and she had obviously been the most grievously injured other plaintiffs received double what Jane received.

Jane discovered the hard way that while personal injury lawyers sometimes receive a bad rap, when you have an accident and it is not your fault, it helps to call in the experts.

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