Our office receives calls every day from injured victims, asking us if we would take on their personal injury cases. They also contacted another personal injury lawyer to ask the same question and got turned down. So naturally, they become frustrated and confused as to why someone would reject their case.
Generally speaking, if a personal injury lawyer rejects your case, it’s because of the particular facts and circumstances of the case when you try to describe it to the attorney. You have to understand that the legal profession is highly based on facts so it shouldn’t be a surprise if the slightest unfavorable facts will make an attorney reject your case.
If you’re one of these victims whose cases were turned down by an AZ personal injury lawyer and you’re left confused as to why, here are a few reasons that might be the cause.
Personal injury lawyer can turn down a case due to conflict of interest
A strict ethical code is governing the work of each individual
personal injury lawyer. This code and obligation still exist, even if the cases is over and they no longer represent their client. So if a personal injury lawyer has once represented an individual or company, that you’re bringing a claim against, they will not be able to represent you because that would be a
conflict of interest.
Personal injury lawyers have strict data systems in place that make sure they don’t get into a satiation where they represent two clients and create conflict of interest. So if your case was turned down, that the most likely reason.
The defendant has no insurance and is judgement proof
When a defendant is “judgment proof” it means that he/she doesn’t have insurance, money or assets that they can use to cover their liability in a personal injury case. A judgment is important (essential) in every personal injury case, because it establishes how much the defendant is required to pay as compensation for harm/injuries he/she has caused.
Without any insurance or assets that will ensure payment of compensation, the judgment is not good. In cases like this, it would be impossible to collect compensation and a personal injury lawyer won’t do the work on a case for which there will be a worthless judgment.
Personal injury lawyer has a large case load
A personal injury lawyer is a human being just like everyone else, and can take on so many clients/cases at a certain time. Sometimes, the attorney’s case load is so big, that taking on any additional cases will mean that he won’t be able to give it (or all the other cases) the necessary attention. This could of course result in poor case management and he might even eventually lose the case or not get the outcome it should have. If this is the reasons why your case got turned down, you shouldn’t fee discouraged. Instead, you should keep looking for another personal injury lawyer how has the necessary time and resources to dedicate to your case.
Your personal injury case requires too much work
There are many personal injury law firms and they can all be created and structured differently. Some hire only the tenacious and hard-working attorneys, while other like the approach of least resistance, going for the easy cases. This is why some personal injury law firms pride themselves on how much money the won for their clients but not how much they won for themselves. A personal injury lawyer who is looking for easy cases is basically waiting for a low hanging fruit and is not willing to put in additional hard work for the case.
So, if your case was rejected, it is also possible that the attorney estimated that it would be too much work for him and simply doesn’t want to deal with it. It won’t be possible for them to cover their expenses and profits, for the amount of work they’ve done.
A personal injury layer might turn down a case because of your personality
Not every personal injury victim is easy to work with. Some of them can be really abrasive and difficult to interact and communicate. This can cause many obstacles for the case itself and will make the attorney’s job even more difficult, stressful and complicated.
Some clients also like to be a “know-it-all” pretending that they understand the legal matter better than the lawyer itself. Or they might be impatient, expecting immediate or quick results while in fact, a personal injury case can take several years to resolve.
In order to win a case, the client and personal injury lawyer must work together, harmoniously. But if you’re proving to be a difficult client, the attorney won’t think that your case is worth the trouble even if it’s a great case.
