Why a Kentucky Personal Injury Lawyer Might Decline Your Case
If you’re injured in an accident, seek medical attention and contact our office so we can discuss whether you may be entitled to compensation. We speak with many people but only take a fraction of those potential cases for various reasons. We don’t want to discourage you from talking to us, but there are limits to what we can do.
Satterley & Kelley PLLC, in Louisville, is a law firm that gets results. We have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for people throughout Kentucky. We take on large insurance companies and Fortune 500 companies and win. If you have questions about how we can help you obtain compensation for your injuries, call us at (855) 385-9532.
You may assume that because you’re hurt, an attorney will take your case and fight for compensation. Satterley & Kelley, PLLC, does not accept every potential client we speak with. There are many reasons why we may decline your case, even if you genuinely feel you were wronged.
We earn our pay by obtaining a share of your recovery. We invest a lot of resources into our cases, and each is a gamble. Before we commit to a case, we make educated guesses on the outcome. Based on our experience and knowledge, we believe that the odds are in our favor and that the financial result will be positive for both us and our clients.
Lack of Clear Liability
For a successful personal injury claim, we must prove that it’s more likely than not that the defendant (the other party) caused your injury. Kentucky’s liability (the other party’s fault and legal obligation to pay a claim) laws are classified as pure comparative negligence. That means if you’re at fault, you can still maintain a legal action, but your recovery will be reduced by your share of the blame for the accident.
Your liability and the amount you’ll recover are intertwined. If you’re determined to be half at fault, a jury will award you half the damages it would have if the defendant was totally to blame. If the fault is mostly yours, it also makes your case less attractive.
A main reason we may turn down a case is that liability is too unclear or difficult to prove. If there is not enough evidence to show who was at fault, and by how much, we may be unable to build a case. A “he said she said” vehicle accident where both drivers blame each other, and there’s no strong evidence either way, can be very challenging to prove.
Minimal or No Damages
Liability is part of the battle. Even if the other party’s fault is clear, there’s no guarantee we’ll accept your case.
Your damages, the financial and non-economic losses you suffer, may not be enough to justify our involvement. In personal injury law, damages include medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other losses caused by your injuries. If they are minor and without lasting limitations, there may not be enough at stake for us to invest our time, resources, and effort in pursuing your claim.
Expired Statute of Limitations
Even if evidence of liability is clear and you’ve suffered substantial losses, if you waited too long to file a lawsuit, you may not have a case. Unless there are facts that would justify an exception to this rule, Kentucky’s statute of limitations (or deadline) to file a lawsuit is one year from your injury. It is very rare that a plaintiff will be allowed to continue a lawsuit after the statute of limitations passes.
If too much time has passed since your injury, the statute of limitations has expired, and we don’t have a valid reason to ask for an exception to this rule, we won’t get involved. The state’s statute of limitations is a primary reason we ask people injured in accidents to contact us as soon as possible. We want to thoroughly evaluate and prepare a case before we file it. That work takes time.
The Defendant’s Ability to Pay
Even if your case jumps through these hoops, if there’s no viable source of recovery, we will not get involved, or what we can do is limited. If the person driving the other car has limited insurance coverage and not many personal assets that we could obtain through the legal process, your recovery could be much less than the harm you suffer.
This is a reason we advise people to purchase as much uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage as they can afford when buying vehicle insurance. Once they have reached their coverage limit, you can seek compensation from your own carrier.
If evidence of liability is clear but the other driver’s coverage is limited, their carrier may cover the claim up that amount, and their involvement with the case ends.
Unrealistic Expectations or a Poor Fit
You need to decide if we’re a good fit for you, and we will determine if you’re a good fit for us when we talk to you and consider your situation. We stay away from potential clients who:
- Have relatively minor injuries, but expect a substantial recovery
- Are very motivated to seek retribution against the other party at a trial and don’t want to settle their case. Most cases resolve through negotiations. Reasonable clients will accept fair and reasonable settlement offers, not go full speed ahead with a lawsuit just to prove something
- Don’t tell us the truth or try to hide important facts from us
A personal injury case is a team effort. We will put in a good-faith effort into your case. We expect the same from you.
What You Can Do If We Decline Your Case
You’re free to talk to other attorneys about your situation. They may have a different opinion or see things that we do not, so they will take your case. We have successfully accepted clients rejected by others, so being rejected by an attorney shouldn’t necessarily be the end of the road for your case.
Lawyers Experienced in Kentucky Injury Law
Satterley & Kelley, PLLC attorneys take on insurance companies and win when accidents injure innocent people. If you have questions about compensation for your injuries, or are seeking legal representation, call us at 855-385-9532, locally 502-589-5600, or contact us online to arrange a free initial consultation with a Satterley & Kelley PLLC lawyer.