DIANNE'S DENVER LAW BLOG

If you’ve been in a car accident, most people understand what damages are: physical injuries, medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and so on. In the case of a Colorado workers’ compensation injury, people sometimes aren’t as clear about what damages are and how they can be compensated for them.

You’re not involved in a car accident every day. In fact, for most people a Denver car accident is rare – which is a good thing, of course. But that can work against you when you are injured. When people are severely hurt in an accident, it can lead to huge hospital bills, loss of income from work and even possible disability that can require long-term care.

This year’s state legislature passed a bill making a number of changes to Colorado workers’ compensation law. For the most part they’re administrative kinds of changes. But if you’ve been hurt in a work accident, there’s one you might want to take advantage of. It may seem like a small matter, but it can make things easier for you at a time when money is probably tight.

There are two kinds of damages in a personal injury accident: economic and noneconomic. Economic damages are easier for juries to determine because they’re more concrete – things like medical expenses and lost wages. There’s plenty of information available to go on, such as medical bills and check stubs. But it gets a little harder for juries to decide on noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish and loss of consortium.

Personal injury law is different from other types of law in one big way: how the attorney gets paid. At The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya, our fees are paid on a contingency basis. That means we take as our fees a percentage of any settlement or judgment the opposing party pays you. More simply, it means that we don’t get paid unless we get you a settlement or judgment. If we do, we get paid; if we don’t, we don’t get any money either. We take our fees this way for two big reasons.

It’s not unusual to be badly hurt when you’re involved in a Denver car accident. Broken bones, cuts, and damaged necks and backs can be pretty obvious. But psychological injuries can be just as painful. It’s important that you see a doctor for emotional pain as part of your recovery, for two big reasons.

There are a lot of reasons why you should call The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya if you’ve been hurt in a Colorado car accident. One of the biggest is that you need an experienced personal injury attorney who knows the law and knows how to build your case for maximum settlement value.

There are a lot of things that make The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya unique. One is that during your case you will work directly with an attorney throughout. Not many personal injury law firms can say that.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how the Denver auto accident attorneys at The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya work to negotiate a settlement in your car accident case, and the shenanigans insurance companies sometimes use to keep your settlement low so they don't have to pay out a big claim. This week I want to talk about what happens if the insurer refuses to negotiate a reasonable settlement.

It’s helpful for anyone injured in a Denver car accident to get regular and consistent treatment for their injuries. I see it over and over again: If you have any gaps in medical treatment following your accident, insurance adjusters and defense attorneys will use against you. And while gaps at any time in the treatment process will be used against you, the worst gap is not seeing a doctor and starting treatment as soon after the accident as possible.

Negotiating with an insurance company to get a fair and reasonable settlement for the injuries you’ve suffered in a Denver auto accident is as much art as it is science – and for sure it’s all about business.

Sometimes after a Denver car accident, a person will wonder whether they should handle a claim with the other driver’s insurance company on their own, assuming they can do as well as hiring an attorney. In rare cases that may be true. In most cases it’s not – and could cost you a lot of money. For several reasons, you should at least contact a personal injury attorney at The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya to discuss your case. There is no cost or obligation for us to sit down and look over your situation.

If you’ve been hurt in an accident at work, we understand what you are going through. The Colorado workers compensation attorneys at The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya have seen a lot of the common accidents and injuries that can happen in the workplace, and we can help you through the process of successfully pursuing your work comp case.

One of the things you can do to help your case as a client of The Law Offices of Dianne Sawaya is to keep careful track of your spending, receipts and other documentation. Even though it may seem like a trivial expense at the time you incur it, all the expenses add up – and you’re entitled to reimbursement for all your expenses. Keeping track of your expenses and receipts will help your Denver auto accident attorney prepare your case and document your costs.

Making a claim against a party who has injured you in a Denver car accident, slip-and-fall incident, motorcycle accident or other accident can be intimidating. But it needn’t be, and here’s why.

Here's an interesting fact: Statistics show that most Denver motorcycle accidents, scooter, moped and even bicycle accidents happen on trips that are only five miles long or less. Statistics also show that many Colorado motorcycle accidents happen at low speeds.

You've been injured in a car accident and you're hurt, maybe seriously. You might have visited the emergency department because of the accident, and almost certainly you've visited your personal physician. Now the hard part starts - recovering from your injuries.

Personal injury attorneys don't hesitate to represent clients who have been harmed by medical malpractice. But deciding whether a case is truly malpractice and whether it should be pursued isn't easy to decide.

Many people who call my office after they've been injured in a Denver auto accident or a workers' compensation case are hesitant to talk with one of our personal injury attorneys because they don't have any money and think hiring a lawyer will be too expensive. Personal injury lawyers are different than other lawyers, though. Here are several reasons why it's worth your time to talk with me.