Question about Personal Injury Demand Letters...

by JK
(Placitas, New Mexico)

Does an attorney have the right to file a personal injury demand letter without consulting the client first?

Is the amount of the demand usually 3x the expenses?

Thank you for your help.

Disclaimer: Information provided in your response is not formal legal advice, it is generic legal information and is based on the very limited information given in your question. You should always get a formal case evaluation from a licensed attorney.

ANSWER for "Question about Personal Injury Demand Letters...":

JK:

The answer to your first question is a qualified “no”. We say qualified because if you had already retained the attorney to represent you in a personal injury matter, unless you had expressly told her not to send a demand letter, she would normally send out a demand letter in the normal course of business. That is what personal injury attorneys do.

You must remember time is always of the essence in personal injury lawsuits. There are many reasons why your attorney sent the demand letter. The most important of those is to represent you to the best of her ability. An attorney has the right to send a demand letter, whether she consulted with you or not.

Normally when an injured party retains an attorney to represent them in a personal injury lawsuit, the attorney acts relatively independently. It would seem when you first retained the attorney you must have had some discussion of what the case was “worth” and what kind of settlement you could expect to receive.

Even if there was no specific discussion when you hire an attorney it is always a good idea to trust them. Remember they don’t get paid unless you do. That alone would tell you that attorney is going to do everything in her power to recover the largest settlement possible.

Best of Luck,

Law Guy