Hello party people, Mike here behind the 1s and 2s. Literally, though, I am behind the 1s and 2s, because there are 2 1s and 2 2s on a keyboard:
(Yes, I thought of this on my own; yes, it is lame… but you did click and get to this point, so we are even).
I heard someone ask this the other day: do people who like to argue become lawyers or does becoming a lawyer make people want to argue? I think it depends on the person, but maybe a little of both. When I talk to a good friend of mine, she always tells me, “stop cross-examining me” (I don’t mean to) and our team here will always ask me if I “ever turn the lawyer off” (but, I can’t). So, I think my answer is that I became a lawyer because I think it fits my personality and character.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, because I wanted to, and I am the one typing, but mainly because–and this is important–no matter how “lawyerly” someone seems; no matter how well they can argue; no matter how great of a public speaker or salesperson they are–here is the important part: a personal injury lawyer’s written work product is the MOST IMPORTANT factor in determining whether your case settles for as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
A lawsuit starts with a Complaint, which is a written document. Without a well-written Complaint, the lawsuit will fail. A Complaint, then, is like the foundation of a house–it is not exciting or sexy, but it is vital (ps, if you know what’s going on with the foundation of my house, I hope you find this an amusing analogy). So, I wanted to share our Go-To Truck Crash Complaint: click here for the PDF version and click here for the Word copy.
When you have a case involving a semi-truck or other large commercial vehicle, you generally sue (1) the trucking company, (2) the trucking company’s insurance company, and (3) the truck driver. The Complaint must specifically state the allegations against all 3 and include facts supporting the allegations. Importantly, there are different allegations that must be made against the different defendants. For example, you will not make the same allegations against the truck driver, who was driving and caused the crash, and the insurance company, which obviously was not driving the truck.
If you have questions about truck crashes or what to do in certain situations, I can’t promise I have all the answers, but I am definitely happy to talk it out and see if we can figure it out together. So, please feel free to call me at 404-823-2280 (my cell) or email me at mike@rafilawfirm.com. In the meantime, check out my tip of the day on LinkedIn (search Michael Rafi) and throw me a like or comment every now and again.
Also, if you missed our Go-To Car Crash Complaint, you can take a look at that by clicking here.
Happy lawyering!