Episode 2: October 1, 2024 | Cornered: Tom Reuland discusses personal injury representation

Show Notes

• 0:00 Cornered: Out of Court introduction
• 0:32 Episode introduction - Tom Reuland
• 1:36 My friend got into an accident and thinks he can make a bodily injury claim on his own. Are those hard to win? Is it worth the money to even make a claim?
• 8:16 It has been a while since my friend was in an accident. At least a couple of years, but she feels like she's just now experiencing repercussions. Could she still have a claim?
• 11:46 My friend was injured by someone who did not carry enough insurance coverage to pay all her medical bills. What can she do?
• 16:03 I don't think the police did a great job investigating the crash I was in. What can I do now?
• 19:36 Wrapping up -- Thank you, Tom!

Transcript

00:00:01

Oh, you're an attorney. I have a friend who was…

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I've been meaning to update my will, but I just bought a new house…

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I want to start a business…

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My brother was fired…

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My friend got divorced a while back. I just don't understand how her ex…

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You've been there at a social function, meeting friends of friends. Word gets out that you're an attorney, and suddenly your night is filled with partygoers

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asking you “simple” legal questions. The questions are seldom in your area. Some of the stuff you haven't thought about since law school, you're being cornered out of

00:00:32

Court. In the cornered out of court podcast from IICLE®, you'll hear from fellow attorneys about the questions they get and the responses they give to escape being cornered. Accidents happen. Sometimes people get hurt, and sometimes that means injured people seek compensation to help pay their medical bills.

00:00:53

And recover losses. Tom Reuland runs his own personal injury law firm to address those situations where negligence leads to harm.

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My name is Tom Reuland. I'm an attorney who represents people who are killed or injured, basically because someone else made a mistake. So typical cases that I handle are car crashes, pedestrian injuries, bicycle crashes, really anything where someone is injured because someone else I can typically find a way to help that person.

00:01:23

In a way that he or she might not be able to help by themselves. Really. What that means, practically speaking, is I do my damn just to try and convince insurance companies to pay up for the mistakes that their customers

00:01:35

make.

00:01:36

OK, first question my friend got into an accident and thinks he can make a bodily injury claim on his own. Are those hard to win? Is it worth the money to even make a claim?

00:01:48

That question is a lot of good parts to it and and one of the first things that I picked up on is when you mentioned that the friend thinks that he can make the claim on his own and it triggers the well, the adage that I think of the it's something to the effect of the man who represents himself as a fool for a.

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Client. So I think that's important to remember and don't represent yourself. Don't bring your own kind of case. Insurance companies love it when people try and handle cases on their own. Sometimes they can take advantage of it. And I have plenty of experience where unfortunately, clients.

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Or potential clients will call me.

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When it's a little too late.

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They say, oh, you know, this insurance company is giving me a real hard time. They're they're they're giving me the run around and I pick up the case and all of a sudden, the just by sending a letter just by introducing myself to the insurance company, the offer that the insurance company made to the client who was unrepresented, someone multiplies.

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Like 2-3 times and I don't say that to try and say oh you.

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You know, “Tom

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Reuland, you're the greatest personal injury attorney in the

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State.” It's more

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speaks a little bit to the sad state of insurance companies and how they like to take advantage of people we're trying to do things on their own. So.

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You know, call an.

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Attorney, you know, most attorneys, including my office, will offer free confidential initial consultations.

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Because that calls free because it's confidential, there's no skin.

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Off your back it can be.

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A really meaningful call early on.

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Another point though, that your question raised is you.

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Know.

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Our accident case is hard to win.

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And the way that I analyze how difficult the case is going to be.

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Starts with the question of liability. Liability is really how do you find out who did what wrong, when, where, why and so forth.

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Depending on the type of case, if it's a slip and fall.

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For example you.

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Have to watch for a lot of statutory protections that people have or companies might have that protects the.

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Owner of a premise, for example, or if it's a slip and fall on ice for example, you have to be able to navigate the snow and ice removal act here in Illinois that has a lot of pitfalls for people, so those cases can be tougher to win because liability is more difficult to establish on the other end of the spectrum, though, you know a rear end car crash, for example.

00:04:15

That's a pretty clear cut case. You know who's at fault? The person that ends up hitting the person from behind is the one that almost always caused the crash. So it really is a case by case analysis.

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This of liability where you start, so that's kind of the success point for a client to 1st think about.

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But then you got to go on, you know, are those cases hard to win?

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When is kind of one of those keywords that might actually be surprisingly subjective to some people. And I remember when I was really early in my career. First couple of trials that I had, I came back to the office after winning a trial and I was exhausted because trials are exhausting no matter who.

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Far and you know, it was nice. We had a good jury verdict, you know, I slumped back into my chair at the office and started working out the additional paperwork that was piling up and my boss came in and and said, you know, ask me about the trial. I told him. And he said, you know, Tom, that's that's a win. Win. You said, you know what a win win means and I.

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Of course, didn't, and I said, you know well. So sure. What? What is a win? Win means and you explain, you know, you can lose a trial. That's a loss.

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You can win a trial where you know the jury gives you your client a good award, or you can win, win a trial and a win. Win is when you not only win the trial, but you win it in a way or to a certain amount, or get some kind of judgment or verdict that no one expects you to get even including the client. You know, it's kind of above and beyond the expectations. So.

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You know, do most clients know the difference between?

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Win and win. Win I I doubt it, but it's it's something that, you know, I as an attorney pay a lot of attention to and it's obviously something that we strive for with with every case that we take.

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On the the bottom.

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Line is the client really should avoid handling an accident claim or an injury claim on their own.

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They should talk to an attorney and if there is an attorney who doesn't necessarily practice personal injury work, that attorney should carefully, carefully, carefully consider referring the case out the online suit for continuing legal education. Just recently published a webinar on this topic specific.

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Kind of, you know, attorneys who don't practice personal injury law. When and why should you refer a case?

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And really, there are three.

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Reasons why attorneys who don't practice or specialize in Pi work should send the case out first client you know your clients stands to benefit much more if they are working with an attorney who can. Who knows the INS and outs of that area of the law. But there's also the obvious upside for the referring.

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Attorneys.

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Referring attorneys in Illinois under the ethics rules are allowed to split attorney fees with other attorneys not in their firm. So if it's a real estate attorney who does a lot of transactional work or a lot of closing work, they might call me and say, you know, can you take on this this case and we'll enter into a fee split?

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Where just for picking up the phone and sending that case over to a personal injury attorney who handles those types of cases.

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They stand to benefit. You know, they they end up getting a referral fee, which the actual referral fee can vary, but sometimes it's really, you know, the best business decision from someone else running their law practice to make. Not only is there the upside of the referring to turning to to make that referral fee, but also you're protecting your firm.

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Against possible malpractice, you know, we all have the duty to be competent attorneys.

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For our clients, and if you're failing to fulfill that duty, you're liable for an RDC claim, possibly a malpractice claim. So really, by sending the case to someone who specializes in personal injury work, you're putting your client in a better position. You're making a good business decision for your firm.

00:08:10

And you're also minimizing your malpractice risk. You're minimizing the downside as well.

00:08:16

It has been a while since my friend was in an accident. At least a couple of years, but she feels like she's just now experiencing repercussions. Could she still?

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Have a claim.

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That is a really tricky.

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Situation when that does happen, I always my my heart kind of goes out to those people who are going through that. There's this edge that I like. Lost time is never found again.

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Really, if you wait and delay after some trauma or accident occurs, you're really putting yourself in a much worse position and you can prevent this from happening even in the 1st place. You know the second of that crash, where trauma occurs, get the help and the attention you need, but also consult with an attorney.

00:09:00

Again, free confidential consultations with a personal injury attorney or an attorney that you know down the street. It's a call that's worth making to be sure that you're putting yourself in a good position down the road. Seek medical medical attention from good doctors that you trust and know. And if you're worried that the doctors aren't doing what they should be.

00:09:21

I mean get second opinions, but let's say someone does do all that and still they initially think there's no injury or they think that there's nothing that they can do and months, even years later, something does emerge. What can he or she do? Review the statute of limitations. Now, there's kind of a common mistake.

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That some attorneys will make as well as common citizen.

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That everyone thinks that you got two years from the date of the loss to bring a case. Now, while that's often the case, the statute itself doesn't say it's it's two years from that injury. It’s two years from the date of the accrual, right. So you got to read the actual statue itself. There are whole hosts.

00:10:07

Of exceptions to the two year statutory statute of limitation, some of the common.

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Exceptions include if there's some sort of municipal or government entity involved, then suddenly your two year statute shrinks to one year. If there's alcohol involved, you may have what's known as a DRAM shop case. This is a whole sort of subset of personal injury law that's really important.

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For people to pay attention to your DRAM shop statutes.

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A lot shorter as well.

00:10:38

Well, so you have to be cognizant of these exceptions to the rule so people don't fall into these mistakes and suddenly end up. Barring your claim, your question raised the issue of if a injury sort of emerges well after the initial impact or trauma itself, you may also have an opportunity to.

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Navigate or consider the discovery rule.

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And here in Illinois, that basically gives you a certain extra amount of time to file some selective cases based on when the injury itself is actually discovered or should have been discovered. Really, the take away here is that the analysis of how much time you have to bring.

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A lawsuit or a legal claim.

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Can be a little more complicated than a lot of people think, and so you've really got to reach out to an attorney who knows what he or she is doing to really go through that analysis, especially if you're not able to do a really in-depth evaluation of what happened with the impact and what kind of medical consequences.

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The person may have had.

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My friend was injured by someone who did not carry enough insurance coverage to pay all her medical bills. What can she do?

00:11:55

Well, that's a problem that they they see pretty often and it it seems to be more and more common these days where people just aren't carrying the right amount of insurance. It may be that they're even violating the law. So in Illinois, you have to carry the state minimum insurance coverage, which is something like $25,000.

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For for the injury, but let's say that you you're very severely injured. They don't have that coverage. You can always try and sue the person individually.

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Suing someone individually goes after their personal assets, not their insurance, and it's a very risky and tricky move, in part because bankruptcy is kind of a get out of jail free card for a lot of people. So let's say you do go through the trouble of suing someone individually. You get a great result in front of a jury of your peers and.

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All of a sudden, now you've got a judge with who signs a piece of paper that says that this person owes the other person's hundreds of thousands.

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Of dollars, that person can really under a lot of circumstances, simply just declare bankruptcy. And really, you've got what's known as a paper judgment. You've got something that looks great on paper but actually isn't going to help the person that's that was actually injured. Really unfortunate situation.

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The injured person may.

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Want to look at their own insurance policies? Though they may have some medical payments coverage.

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That will carry cover a lot of your.

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And when you're shopping around for insurance, especially auto insurance, just about all the carriers will be willing to include a Med pay provision that that can provide some buffer if something like this occurs more an insurance policy might also have an underinsured or uninsured motorist provision policy.

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That policy enables you not to make a recovery.

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Against the person who caused the wrong, but instead to make a recovery through your own insurance policy through that contract that you signed with the State Farm with an Allstate with the GEICO or something like that, let's say you've exhausted all that. You know, you've spent all your Med pay, you've gone through your own insurance policies and can't find the money that you need.

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You're absolutely sure that the person who rear-ended you or who caused the crash or the injury isn't insured? Then what do you do?

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That's where you really gotta work with an attorney who knows how to look for other areas of coverage. Part of my practice includes nursing home abuse and neglect cases. When I'm analyzing a nursing home abuse and neglect case, I'm not only looking at the nursing home itself.

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The facility it's.

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Health. But you have to look at the individuals who caused the harm that are within that nursing home. It's it's the doctors, but it's the nurses. It's the CNA's. I see more and more that these nursing homes are so understaffed that what they're doing is they're hiring staffing agencies to try and cover all the gaps in, in the care that they need. And so you look at what?

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What are these nursing?

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Homes, what are these staffing agencies doing? Are are they vetting the the people that are caring for the residents of the nursing home? Are they vetting the the the employees well? Are they being sure that people are properly licensed?

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Are they being sure that they're properly able to actually care for people and do what they're setting out to do can look and find other sources of insurance or coverage in a lot of different types of cases? It's not if it's outside of the medical, it's sort of the medical genre of cases. It's not a nursing home case.

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You know, might be a car crash case, but did you assess, you know, the driver might may not have enough insurance, but was the driver working when the crash?

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Heard is the employer on the line. Was the driver using the vehicle because someone else said sure, take the car even though I know you're a really dangerous driver. Then you might have a negligent entrustment case. So.

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There are a.

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Lot of different INS and outs and nuances that you can really search for when injuries occur and.

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Hopefully you can point your client or seek out an attorney who's willing to do that leg work for you.

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OK. Last question. I don't think the police did a great job investigating the crash I was in.

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What can I do now?

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Well, hopefully the police.

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Are doing doing their job and but I I have seen a lot of instances where the police want to move on to different things or bigger and better murder cases and so forth, and the the traffic investigators aren't necessarily the most diligent when it comes to the scene itself when that situation.

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Does arise? What you can do is you can.

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Just amend the report.

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Yourself. It never really hurts to write a thoughtful amendment to the police station if the police, even if the police themselves say you can't make an official amend amendment to the report, you can also obtain through a FOIA request form of Information Act request. You can often get the body worn camera.

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Footage from the investigating officers and you can analyze that footage for whether or not what is being said and the information that's being gathered through that camera footage is consistent with the report.

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So now you've got sort of this extra second layer of evidence that can often be very, very helpful to a case. On top of that, you can hire your own investigator. Accident Reconstructionists are are often worth their money. It sounds like it might be a big expense, but if there's a poorly done initial investigation, a reconstructionist.

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Can go to the scene, can talk to the people that need to be interviewed and do a much better job in some circumstances than the police, who may be spread and overworked and so forth. And then I suppose my last sort of comment on this is.

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That even if there is a bad police report, will we keep a level head about how valuable of a piece of evidence the police report is itself. In Illinois, the police report is called Illinois traffic Crash report. I recently had a trial where I had just wonderful admissions on the.

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Report from the police, who was the police recounting what the the defendant driver said and what the what my client said and I just went to trial thinking it was the best piece of evidence ever. We ended up win the trial and afterwards I was pulling. I was talking to the jurors after just cause. I always liked to talk to jurors, see where their.

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Said and not a single juror mentioned the testimony of the police officer, and that I found that stunning because, you know the police officer, it's an independent witness. It's someone who's not being sued or suing there. That he didn't stand to gain or to lose anything from his testimony. And I thought, oh, this is perfect, beautiful objective.

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Testimony that the jury is really going to hang their

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hat on and the jury didn't. They just didn't they they instead were more interested in what the other witnesses said. What the party said. So, you know, even if you have a very bad police report after a crash, it is bad. It's always better to have much stronger, clearer evidence in your favor.

00:19:08

But in the grand scheme of things, you also have to weigh what it's how it's going to come out in trial, what a juror or a judge is going to think of. The police report and whether or not that police report is really going to control the outcome of your case. It might not be as big.

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Of a deal, as you initially think.

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Thanks for joining us. Tom Reuland Law LLC serves clients throughout Illinois in wrongful death, pedestrian, cyclist, and car related injuries, nursing, home abuse and neglect cases, construction injuries, and.

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More.

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00:19:46

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00:20:26

Thank you for joining us for another edition of cornered out of court, brought to you by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education.