Jeffrey L. Herman - Lynnwood, WA Personal Injury Attorney
BA, MSW, and JD degrees • Instructor, Wrongful Death Claims in Washington (Lorman Seminars) • Instructor, Shoreline Community College (Peoples' Law School) • Current Eagle Member, Washington State Association for Justice
Personal Injury Attorney FAQs Answered
We will sign a written fee agreement with you. We work on a “contingent fee” basis - we get a fee only if we get a recovery for you. Unlike “hourly fee” attorneys, we have an incentive to move the personal injury case forward.
We will thoroughly investigate the facts showing that the other party is at fault for your injuries, and get witness statements and photos if possible.
We will monitor your medical treatment, and will gather your accident-related medical records and bills.
While you are getting medical treatment, if any of your bills are going into collection, we will send the medical providers a special “no collection” letter asking the providers to hold off on collection until after the claim is resolved. This unique step helps preserve your credit rating and prevents bill collectors from harassing you.
After you are done with your injury treatment, we will review all of the evidence, and draft a “demand letter” setting forth the facts and summarizing the evidence. After you approve it, he will send it to the at-fault party’s insurer with a deadline for the insurer to respond.
We will negotiate with the at-fault party’s insurer and settle the personal injury claim if possible.
If we are unable to resolve the claim to your satisfaction, we will file a lawsuit against all at-fault parties, and will vigorously pursue the personal injury suit until it is resolved through settlement, arbitration, or trial.
After the personal injury suit is resolved, we will resolve your outstanding medical bills, and will negotiate to have interest charges or late fees reduced or eliminated. This increases the amount of your check.
If your medical bills were paid for by insurance, Jeff Herman will attempt to have these insurers reduce their bills to pay for a portion of his fees. If he can collect a portion of fees from the insurers, your settlement check will be increased by that amount. This way, the insurance companies pay part of the fees. This can wind up putting much more money in your pocket.
Before any money from your personal injury case is paid out, we will get your approval on the breakdown of payments to treatment providers, insurers, our fees, and other amounts to be deducted. Then we will pay the treatment providers, subtract our fees and costs, and disburse the remainder to you. Your recovery will typically be free of any claims on it (except for any treatment or charges that you didn’t tell us about). That way you receive the money with no strings attached.