Personal Injury — Lee's Summit and Jackson County

For years I was on the other side of these cases.

I served as defense counsel for national insurance carriers and for a large self-insured retailer, defending car accident claims, slip-and-fall cases, trucking accidents and wrongful death suits. I saw how a claim gets evaluated from the inside: what an adjuster sets as a reserve and why, which injuries get taken seriously and which get discounted, what makes a file get paid and what makes it get tried.

Then I spent the rest of my career on the plaintiff's side.

Most lawyers have done one or the other. Knowing both is the difference between guessing what a case is worth and knowing how the other side is going to value it before they tell you.

What that actually means for your case

The insurance company is not deciding your case on what happened to you. It is deciding on what it can prove, what it thinks you can prove, and what it expects a jury in this county to do. Those are three different questions, and the answers are not intuitive.

A few things I learned defending these claims that are worth knowing:

Gaps in treatment get used against you. If you stop going to the doctor for six weeks because you are busy or because you cannot afford the copay, that gap becomes an argument that you got better. Go, and keep going.

Recorded statements are taken early for a reason. The adjuster calling you the day after the wreck is not gathering information for your benefit. You are not required to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer.

Property damage photos drive bodily injury valuation more than they should. Minor visible damage gets used to argue minor injury, whatever the medical records say. Photograph everything.

What gets posted publicly gets found. Defense counsel checks social media. So did I.

Cases I take

Car and truck accidents, including collisions with commercial vehicles.

Slip, trip and fall, including claims against retailers, restaurants and property owners.

Wrongful death.

Cases where a minor child is receiving settlement money. Missouri requires court approval for a minor's settlement, and it is a separate proceeding with its own requirements. I have handled many of these, and it is a place where things go wrong when a lawyer has not done one before.

I do not take every case that calls. If your case is better served by a firm that tries catastrophic injury cases full time, I will tell you that and point you there.

How the fee works

Personal injury cases are handled on a contingency fee. You pay no attorney fee unless there is a recovery. Case expenses are handled separately and we will go through exactly how before you sign anything.

The first conversation about an injury case costs nothing.

If you were hurt in the last few days

Get medical attention and keep going to your appointments.

Photograph the vehicles, the scene, and your injuries. Do it now; conditions change and stores fix hazards.

Report the claim, but do not give a recorded statement to the other side's insurer before you have talked to a lawyer.

Do not sign a release or accept a quick settlement check. Early offers are made before anyone knows what your treatment will cost.

Write down what happened while it is fresh, including what was said at the scene.

Missouri has deadlines for filing suit, and they are shorter for some claims than people expect. Do not let one run while you are deciding.

For referring attorneys

If you have a client with an injury claim and personal injury is not what you do, send them over. I handle the case, you stay informed, and your client stays your client for everything else.

Talk to me

Call or text 816-888-0632. Tell me what happened and when, and I will tell you honestly whether you have a case worth pursuing.