Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
How do I go about contacting your office?
You can call toll-free 1-888-684-3999 or if you
live in the Lansing area (517) 332-1370. In addition,
you can send an e-mail to xneumanx@aol.com or use
this online submit form, provided that you understand
the privacy issues involved in sending personal
information over the Internet. In either case, our
office should get back to you promptly, upon which
you can set up a free initial consultation with
Attorney Scott Neuman.
Could I handle my case without an attorney?
Possibly, but by doing so you would lose a lot
of the advantages that come from having legal counsel
and potentially a lot of compensation. Attorney
Scott Neuman has experience with the complexities
of insurance law, settlement, and negotiation. He
will fight for your just compensation.
What is just compensation?
Just compensation is different for every case.
You are generally entitled to pain and suffering,
lost wages, medical expenses, economic loss, prospective
future medical cost, and various other damages.
Attorney Scott Neuman can analyze and explain to
you the legal details and possibilities of your
specific case. With this information you will better
be able to make a decision about what compensation
you feel you deserve and the legal course of action
you are willing to take over your loss.
Will I have to pay any money up front?
Generally, no. Sometimes there are court and other
"out-of-pocket" costs involved that Mr. Neuman will
ask you to cover. In most circumstances, however,
Mr. Neuman will take your case entirely on a contingency
fee basis, meaning that his compensation will be
a percentage of the money recovered as a result
of your injury lawsuit. This percentage depends
on the circumstances of your case and whether the
case is settled out-of-court or in trial. The fee
agreement you sign with Mr. Neuman will go into
further detail on this issue.
Should I settle or go to trial?
This is one of the biggest questions that you must
consider, and the answer is different in every situation.
Mr. Neuman will be able to help you form this decision
after examining the details of your specific case.
Often the answer depends on what the insurance company
has offered as compensation and your personal needs.
Sometimes legal litigation can be long and drawn-out,
and it can take up to several years to receive any
kind of return. Settlement, on the other hand, can
lead to a quick resolution of the situation but
also a less-than-deserved amount of compensation
for you.
Attorney Scott Neuman can give you more precise
information concerning your specific case, and with
the support of his legal expertise you should be
able to form the decision that suits you the best.
He can be reached at 1-888-684-3999.
Auto & Motorcycle Accidents
If you are involved in a vehicle accident, follow
these rules to protect yourself from liability and
ensure yourself just compensation:
- Stop and make sure that some kind of warning
(flags, flares, hazard lights, etc.) are used
to prevent further accidents.
- Contact state, local, or city police.
- Write down names, addresses, phone numbers,
license numbers, and insurance information from
any other drivers involved and, if possible, names
and phone numbers of witnesses to the accident.
- Make sure that the licenses of other drivers
are current, and that their registration numbers
match the license plate numbers on their vehicles.
- Cooperate with law enforcement authorities,
and avoid any confrontation with the other involved
parties.
- Make sure to seek medical attention as soon
as possible, as many serious injuries that are
caused by vehicle accidents may not be apparent
for a few days. In some cases, serious injuries
cause little to no immediate pain.
- If possible, ask a friend or family member to
take photographs of the accident scene and of
your injuries the day of the accident and a few
days later. This is very important, as sometimes
it takes a few days for bruises and scarring to
occur.
- Make sure to contact a lawyer, who will be able
to answer specific questions concerning your particular
accident and its legal possibilities.
If you feel that you are at least partially at
fault, it is a good idea to remain silent about
the details of the accident to anyone, including
insurance agencies, until you have contacted an
attorney. He or she will make sure that your statement
is clear and consistent with the facts.
Injuries caused by vehicle accidents are a very
common type of personal injury. Often such injuries
can be devastating for both the victims and their
families, and when they occur due to another driver's
negligence the law allows for actions that will
insure just compensation for affected parties.
Usually, it is not necessary to go to court on
such injuries, as out-of-court settlement is usually
a just as effective means of obtaining compensation.
Sometimes, however, an insurance company will deny
liability and a lawsuit may be necessary.
Mr. Neuman can help you work out the details of
your accident, and explain to you what the appropriate
legal course of action will be. He can be reached
at 1-888-684-3999.
Medical Malpractice
Whether or not you can sue your doctor for medical
malpractice is a difficult question that requires
an attorney for proper analysis. There are two major
considerations: first, that the doctor made an error
due to carelessness, and second, that there is provable
damage.
Because medicine is not always an exact science,
doctors often make a diagnosis that after time proves
to be faulty or even damaging. Demonstrating that
a doctor made such a diagnosis is not enough to
prove that the doctor is at fault for the patient's
suffering. Thus, there is a legal acceptable standard
of care that physicians must adhere to when they
make a diagnosis or administer a medical procedure.
The patient has the burden of proof to demonstrate
that the doctor was somehow careless in his or her
practice. If a medical procedure is particularly
complex, even direct damage inflicted by the doctor
onto the patient may not be a result of carelessness.
The patient must then prove that carelessness on
the part of the doctor has led to obvious damage.
If the damage caused to the patient is not substantial,
it may not be economically worthwhile to take the
case to court because of the the cost involved in
litigating a case of medical negligence.
For example, if a careless diagnosis made by one
doctor is discovered and corrected by another before
significant damage occurs, the first doctor may
not be held accountable. Mr. Neuman can explain
to you what kinds of damages can be attributed to
a doctor's negligence and argued in court.
Medical malpractice is not limited to doctors,
however. Health care practitioners include nurses,
dentists, psychiatrists, and even hospitals and
HMO's. Carelessness on the part of a health care
practitioner can range from failure to diagnose,
failure to adequately inform the patient of the
risks and complications of a surgical procedure,
failure to perform a surgical procedure consistent
with the standard of care, failure to properly monitor
patient's progress, and failure to refer a patient
to a specialist.
It is important to remember that negligence on
the part of a doctor is legally similar to that
of even a taxi driver. Both are professionals who
must adhere to a reasonable standard of care and
may be held accountable for carelessness that leads
to damage. When you contact a lawyer to discuss
the possibility of bringing a doctor to court, keep
in mind that the lawyer must prove both the the
doctor was careless in his or her practice and that
this carelessness led to significant damage.
Attorney Scott Neuman can give you more information
about your particular case and can be reached toll-free
at 1-888-684-3999.
Slip & Fall Accidents
The term "slip-and-fall" is used to describe cases
that occur when someone falls and injures him or
herself on someone else's property. Other property-related
injuries include inadequate security, elevator accidents,
and ventilation injuries. The vast majority of premises
liability cases are lost because laws heavily favor
property owners.
Just because an accident occurs on someone's property
does not give make that person responsible for injuries
that occur on the premises. The victim of a slip-and-fall
must prove not only that dangerous conditions on
the property directly caused the fall and resulting
damage, but also that those conditions existed directly
because of negligence on the part of the property
owner.
Negligence on the part of the property owner is
not easy to prove. The victim must demonstrate that
the property owner had or reasonably should have
had knowledge of the dangerous conditions, had the
ability and opportunity to correct the problem or
warn of its existence, and negligently failed to
do so.
Furthermore, the property owner does not have to
immediately fix a hazard. He or she has a reasonable
amount of time to rectify a dangerous condition.
Rules concerning dangerous conditions vary from
state to state and are based on the type of property
where the fall occurred.
Many slip-and-fall cases are lost because the victim
of the accident is unable to prove how long the
condition existed and whether the property owner
should have reasonably rectified the situation.
Even when the property owner has made been negligent
in this capacity, he or she is not always fully
responsible for a victim's damages. The property
owner can simply ask in court whether or not the
victim saw the hazard in advance.
If the answer is no, the property owner can argue
that the condition was not an obvious one that he
or she could be held responsible for. If the answer
is yes, the property owner can argue that the victim
is responsible for his or her own accident because
they saw the hazard and were negligent in avoiding
it. This catch is largely responsible for the failure
of many slip-and-fall cases.
However, victims due compensation often compromise
on a settlement with property owners outside of
court. An attorney can help you decide what the
best way to handle your case is an whether or not
your case would hold up in trial. An attorney's
legal expertise and ability as an advocate is furthermore
essential in out-of-court negotiations.
Attorney Scott Neuman has been a very successful
advocate and can be reached toll-free at 1-888-684-3999.
