FAQ Friday with Gregory Herrman, November 3, 2017| Corpus Christi Personal Injury Lawyers

okay well hello everybody this is Greg Herman again with Herman Herman it's frequently asked questions Friday ok so the first question we have today is do I recommend a a certain body shop the answer there is no I never recommend body shops I discovered a long time ago when we reverse mate a body shop and that car isn't repaired perfectly they get mad at me so I quit recommending in my firm quick quick recommending body shops years ago we want you to pick out your own body shop and then if you guys aren't happy you know y'all can take it up with them and if there's somebody that referred over there then take it up with that person but we certainly do not recommend any body shops and you know believe it or not but seems like people care more about their their cars than they do their body you know if I send somebody to a doctor and the doctor you know isn't they're not totally happy with the doctor they can live with that but I better not send them to a bad body shop or I'll never hear the end of it so anyway that's why we do not recommend a lot of shops ah the next question was if an apartment complex has maintenance issues such as a lifted board and a trip over it what are my legal options if I injure myself well let me say first of all before you even think about legal options make sure you go report it right away and fill out an accident report form because in invariably in this type of case they'll say well he didn't tell us she didn't tell us we didn't know we don't have any any indication right so if it happens immediately go report it and that way there's no question and try to get the manager out there to look at it take pictures of it you should take pictures of it with your iPhone or whatever you've got if you don't have a phone with a camera go find some other does and take pictures of it because they will change it or they will fix it before we can get out there generally although you'd be surprised sometimes they don't and we lock there and it still hadn't been repaired but the smart thing goes take over take a picture immediately and then go report it immediately now the the apartment complex does have to have some kind of notice that there's something defective like a lifted board but they also have they also have a duty to make reasonable inspections so if they're out making reasonable inspections and they just check this area and it was fine and then something happened after that let's say somebody else comes along that lives there and they damage something and they caused this board to left and then you trip over you know nobody's gonna say that apartment complex was negligent you know because they had a reasonable inspection period they checked up on it and every time they checked everything seemed to be fine but most of the time what happens is apartment complexes don't go around inspecting their property and they don't go around looking for defects of geof's and so most of time this thing's probably been that way for a while if you ask around at people an apartment complex other people probably say oh yeah that's been that way for a while I've noticed that hopefully I people have even reported it before and so definitely if it's been reported before or it's been that way a long time then the apartment complex either knew or should have known that this defect existed and so then yes they they will be responsible other than you know they're all is also the issue of your own negligence too so and I think that's kind of the subject our third question what if I'm partially at fault am I eligible for compensation so let me just address that here so so what happens is let's say you go to trial in this case the defense lawyers in this I will you know did you see the board first were you looking out for your own you know for where you were walking and if it comes across like you weren't paying attention to where you were walking yourself and you're partly at fault where it was sticking up so far that nobody could have not seen it then obviously a jury's gonna say well you know what and we think you're partly at fault for this accident too why weren't you walking where you were going why won't she even paying attention we're we have text and and walking were you you know doing something else you know had you been paying attention as you were walking you would have seen this board you wouldn't step down you wouldn't trip over it so the defense lawyer almost always tries to put part of the fault on you for whatever accident happens because if he can then they don't have to pay as much money and so the way that works is let's say that jury finds the apartment complex ninety percent fault and you ten percent fall then you only get recovered ten percent of your damages same thing in the state apartments fifty five percent at fault near forty five percent you only get a recovery fifty five percent or damages and that goes all the way to fifty percent so even if you're fifty percent fault you get a recover 50 percent of your damages the problem is if you're over fifty percent let's say you're forty five year you're 55 percent of Falls and the apartment complex is at forty five percent you would think you'd get a recover fifty five percent of your damages but or 45% your damages for the part they were a fault but you don't if you are more than 50% fault you don't get it recover no matter what even if you're even if you were just 51% of Altima the apartment complex the jury decides just 49% you think you out of get you know 5149 percent of your damages well you don't you get nothing so so if it goes to trial the defense lawyer will always try to put some negligence on you to try to either block you completely from recovering or at least reduce the percent they have to pay you and so the last part of the second question is if apartment complex has maintenance issues such as a lifted board in that trip over it what are my legal options if I injure myself so that kind of feeds into the last part of this question your legal options are of course go talk to a lawyer and a loogie lawyer can get into more detail with you but he will explain to you he or she will explain to you that you know here's what happens if we go to court and if it's truly not your fault and you know you feel good about it then that that may be a case if they don't offer you any money or don't offer you enough money you would want to go to court on but if it's pretty iffy like nobody had ever reported this before nobody else knew about it it was sticking up far enough to somebody that you probably should have seen it you know where if you admit you know hey I wasn't watching where I'm going probably I say you don't want to go to trial on this kind of case you know your Bible either lose or not not get very much so but again a lawyer can explain all that to you and more detail depending on your circumstances and so that brings up one one other issue I'm thinking about it is don't talk to any insurance adjusters until you you know retain a lawyer because the adjusters can do the same thing the jesters are trained they're not trained there to just take your information down and to treat you well and to be fair with you they are trained to save their insurance company money so they're gonna do the same thing the defense lawyer would have done you had you gone to trial they're gonna try to get you to admit part of this is your fault and you should have been paying better attention and had you paid better attention accident probably wouldn't happened so don't talk to any insurance adjusters about it come talk to a lawyer and so finally as to legal options you know lots of people think oh if I hire a lawyer that means I have to sue the insurance company through the apartment complex or sue the other person that is not not true at all we do not follow law suit without your permission most of the times what we do is we just help you file an eclaim and in most of the time we can get the insurance companies just to pay the claim without having to do anything else now there are times that they just refuse to pay and they don't think it's our fault or they just say they don't think it's our fault or they don't think you will file a lawsuit and then it's up to you whether or not you want to go go forward and file a lawsuit but there's lots of other things you can do before that point you can also sometimes file a lawsuit and just get the case ready for trial and they will pay you before you get to trial and they'll settle it so you know it doesn't mean if you go talk to your lawyer your next thing you know you're gonna be in court and you're gonna be cross-examined so there's lots of other things that can happen again consult a personal injury lawyer so anyway that is it for today's frequently asked questions please submit any questions you have online either by message or on our Facebook page and we will see you next Friday Oh actually next Friday imma be out of town yeah I will not be your next Friday so the Friday after that we'll see you guys on FAQ Friday