HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING TO ME?

That's what many people are thinking when they come to my office for the first time.
As disconcerting (or familiar) as these may seem, they are the stories of some of the people that I've helped.

The previous attorney recommending accepting a $30,000 settlement offer. We negotiated a $275,000 settlement!

Recently, A. Smith called my office after receiving this report.  His then current attorney recommended he take a settlement offer of $30,000.  After reviewing his case, I told Mr. Smith that I knew we could do much better than that.

After hard work and playing hard ball with the insurance companies, we settled Mr. Smith case for $275,000. 00, nearly ten times what his first attorney recommended. I still keep a copy of the check to keep me motivated!  Mr. Smith said the following:

“By luck, I came across Joe Cunnane’s ad in the newspaper. I called him and he took over with full effect. Joe worked very hard, transparently with my doctors and myself.  My wife and I were treated like family. Joe brought this case to a very successful ending and I heartily endorse him as someone who will work tirelessly for you and your family and shield you from the big insurance companies.” 

Take for example, Arthur, one of my clients. Arthur is a retired-ex-air force-fighter pilot-father of three, who was driving home from work, when a reckless driver ran into him and caused Arthur to be run off the road. As you would guess, the person who did this fled the scene.

Arthur suffered back and neck injuries. His insurance company refused to settle in good faith. In fact they offered to settle his case for $ 1,000.00.  ~ I still have the original $ 1,000.00 uncashed check. ~  The offer was unconscionable!

Due to the insurance company low-ball offer we had to file a lawsuit. After litigation and depositions were taken, we received $ 20,000.00 for Arthur, plus payment of his medical bills.  Far more equitable at over twenty times their original offer!

Then there is Eleanor who was also injured in a car crash. Eleanor suffered serious neck injury requiring back surgery. The insurance companies offered less than $5,000 to settle her case. After a fusion back surgery, we negotiated tough with the insurance companies and received an $ 111,300.00 total settlement. The final settlement was over $ 105,000.00 more than insurance company's offer.

I also handle wrongful death cases,  where a person is killed by another person’s negligence. One case in which a person was wrongfully killed, I obtained $160,000 for her estate within six months of the car crash. This settlement represented all the available insurance proceeds. My office handled the legal issues for the grieving family and received a prompt settlement for the estate.

IT IS UNBELIEVABLE HOW INSURANCE COMPANIES TRY TO RIP PEOPLE OFF…
I fight on behalf of my clients. I use the power of the legal system to obtain fair and equitable offers for my clients. I have settled and tried cases receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This next case I see way too often. Sara was involved in a “minor” fender bender, when she was struck in the front. She didn’t feel any signs of immediate pain following the accident so she did not go to the hospital. All she felt was a little neck pain and pain in her right hip from applying the brakes at the time of the impact. A few days later she began having severe neck and back pain and headaches.

Since she never went to the hospital following the accident, she thought that she would not be able to make a claim for the pain she was now experiencing. Eventually, the pain just became too much for Sara. She finally went to her family doctor. The doctor referred her for testing and physical therapy, which found that she, had suffered a serious back injury. The insurance company told her that they would only pay a small portion of her medical bills, plus a few thousand dollars for her pain and suffering injuries. The insurance company went by the damage of her car, which was minimal at the time of the accident, yet Sara had suffered chronic back and neck injuries. Understandably, Sara began asking questions like:

Sara was seriously injured, scared and very confused. When Sara came to see me, she was at her wit’s end, ready to sign her rights away so that she could at least get “something.” The insurance company refused to accept that she was seriously injured from a so-called “low impact” injury. Many “low impact” accidents do cause hidden injuries if the occupant is not expecting a sudden impact, like Sara.

Fortunately for Sara, she came to see me before signing her rights away to the insurance company or hiring an inexperienced lawyer who knows nothing about “low impact” injuries. She could have easily been mislead into accepting a quick, inadequate settlement.

It doesn’t take a miracle to obtain a fair and just award for injured victims, it takes hard work and persistence. It takes knowledge of how the claims process works and a commitment to making sure each client gets what he or she rightfully deserves.

With my background in personal injury cases, I was able to analyze their situation, recommend the best course of action and obtain a just and fair settlement for these clients. The tragedy in all of this is that these stories started out like so many other people who are trying to deal with insurance companies on their own. Every year, thousands of people are injured in automobile accidents, at work, in a slip and fall or by a defective product. In some way or another, they’re injury is exacerbated by uncaring insurance companies they’re up against or worse yet, by unskilled, inexperienced lawyers hired to represent them.