Wow, your thoughtful response was very touching. Thank you so much for being so caring. I did not expect it.
You definitely sound like you have a substantial case, and I support you all the way. You deserve compensation for what you have been made to endure, and with your husband and parents there to help you, I think you will come out ahead.
If there is any additional advice not already included in my previous rant (!), here's something else that I learned the hard way...
Make sure that if your attorney fails to advocate properly for you -- fire him! In my case, I was 3 injuries and countless files of medical records into the case that there was practically no way to begin with someone new. I had started off with a great attorney (a woman, are we surprised?) who was smart, anticipated what I needed to know, took the initiative to inform me along the way, responded to my inquiries, and generally made me feel like I was important as a client.
In fact, she and the managing partner of the firm (a leading personal injury firm in Boston) encouraged me very early on to provide various statements directly to the defendant's insurance company. The managing partner said that in his 20 years, I was the first client selected to make these recorded verbal statements before it was absolutely necessary (at the hearings) based on my being so intelligent, knowledgeable, and articulate. (Well, factor in several years of insomnia plus every opioid and hypnotic under the sun = my intelligence danced off into the sunset with my short-term memory, and correspondingly my self-esteem! I was always more proud of my academic achievements and ambitions than any other aspect of myself, and now...???!!!)
Ugghh, anyway, back to the legal case... so this female attorney was wonderful, answered my calls or returned them promptly, you know, treated me and my case with the requisite care. Then she left the firm.
I was now into my 2nd injury, I was assigned some inexperienced recent law school grad with a chip on his shoulder (lord knows why) who talked like a frat boy... He never answered anything I asked him (to the extent that, insofar as, okay okay! enough with the prepositional phrases already!!) Frat boy also took MONTHS to return phone calls, all the while I am thinking that at least the big name of the firm is going to be on my side.
Eventually, injury 3 happens, frat boy is Still completely remiss... as you can imagine, everything went to hell in a handbasket because of his mishandling of my case. My family had said a few times I should consider another attorney, but no one would have been able to sort out all the intricacies with the intervening injuries... and I had no reserves with which to re-educate someone.
I did not realize it would all turn into nothing; the settlement was in fact what I was living for -- the Only thing I was living for while tethered to my bed for years without a wink of sleep... I tried to focus on the settlement as the ticket out of the suffering -- that my medical bills would get paid down and I would have the extra money to seek alternative treatments that would hopefully help me (acupuncture, etc. not paid by insurance). If I could get out of bed again, I could finally get to grad school and become that someone special who would make a difference in the world, not just this hopeless waif crying myself into a puddle over endless days and nights of sleepless agony. Yes, all my hopes were wrapped up into this settlement; it was the singular thread to which I was clinging with my shaky hands and spasmy neck... and all gone because of my horrible attorney.
So, take a lesson from my mistake:
Make certain your advocate is living up to his title, and do not be afraid to fire him and get a new one regardless of how complicated it may seem. Better a good attorney with a few facts awry than someone familiar with your case but who doesn't give a damn. And as for the prestige of the firm, I think I would have been better off with a smart attorney from a no-name firm than a remiss frat boy who was too overwhelmed with his cases to call me back [and too stupid and ignorant to give me proper advice when I eventually did reach him].
My solace is that karma will get him (though I do intend to throw a drink in his face if I ever have the misfortune of running into him at one of those outdoor cafe's near his office). And, somehow, though the bills have barely whittled down, I have managed to find those treatments that took me from an F to a C- or so on the pain scale, enough to allow me to be functional again. I'm a lot older than I expected to be without having made my mark on the world yet, but as you said, we still have our 30's. Wish me luck. And, thanks again for listening. This has been most cathartic. So few people can understand, and fewer care to listen in the first place... Add to all this the fact that I "look fine" on the outside!! Yes, empathy is so rare in my little world.
This post has been edited by CervInstabilityHMSandRSD: 09 September 2008 - 01:22 AM
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