12 Secrets of Personal Injury Attorneys

While working as a prosecutor for Orange County, California, Bobby Taghavi had heard all the stereotypes about personal injury attorneys. “You hear they’re just ambulance chasers, that they’re just in it to make a buck and they just want to take advantage,” Taghavi tells Mental Floss. “And I’m sure just like in every profession there are people out there who do those things. But the reality of it is, most of if not all our clients have either lost somebody they loved or have been severely injured. Their entire life has turned upside-down and they have to rely on someone to get them justice.”

That someone might be Taghavi, who in 2019 moved from being a senior deputy district attorney—he was part of the task force that brought down the Joseph James DeAngelo, a.k.a. the elusive Golden State Killer—to personal injury practice, where clients seek restitution for being harmed through the negligence of others. While pop culture has often portrayed this area of law as a money grab—less Atticus Finch and more Saul Goodman or Lionel Hutz—it’s often the only avenue for individuals to get valid claims paid by formidable insurance companies.

To get a better understanding of the job, Mental Floss spoke to attorneys Taghavi and James Bergener, a managing partner and a founding partner, respectively, of Sweet James Accident Attorneys, a multistate firm that’s recovered millions for victims of auto accidents and other mishaps.

Without a personal injury attorney, Taghavi says, “victims are going to go up against an insurance company or defense lawyers that are legally trained and incentivized to pay you as little as possible.” Here’s how they make sure that doesn’t happen. (You can also check out our Secrets of Criminal Defense Attorneys.)

1. Most (but not all) personal injury cases are related to auto accidents.
2. Personal injury attorneys don’t see too many people faking it.
3. The sooner you call a personal injury attorney, the better.
4. Personal injury attorneys can get regular medical training.
5. You don’t necessarily want a big settlement in a personal injury case.
6. Most personal injury cases are settled—but attorneys prepare for a trial anyway.
7. Jury verdicts can be less about the attorney and more about the victim.
8. There’s a reason personal injury attorneys take a sizeable chunk of your settlement.
9. Personal injury attorneys have certain advertising rules.
10. Personal injury attorneys can still pursue damages even if their client is at partial fault.
11. Being a prosecutor and being a personal injury attorney aren’t so different.
12. Personal injury attorneys have one actionable piece of advice for you.

Most (but not all) personal injury cases are related to auto accidents.

According to Bergener, who has logged nearly 25 years in personal injury law, roughly 90 percent of his firm’s cases are related to auto accidents. “The rest are slip and falls, dog bites, and other cases where people are injured due to another’s negligence,” he says. “Sometimes a security guard gets a little too rough with somebody, or a faulty banister where somebody fall down the stairs, something like that. But the vast majority are auto accidents.”

Personal injury attorneys don’t see too many people faking it.

The Hollywood trope of a Saul Goodman coaching a client with a neck brace might make for an amusing scene, but it’s far from the norm in personal injury cases. “I kind of came into it thinking, ‘Oh, I’m sure a lot of people will be faking it,’” Taghavi says. “And it kind of restores your faith in humanity because you don’t see it much.”

But could an attorney even tell if a client is embellishing? Possibly. “Sometimes the best way to look at it is really the mechanism of injury,” Taghavi says. “If, based on that accident, 99 percent of people would not be having this particular type of pain, then you’re a lot more skeptical. But those are few and far between. Most people, you see the car, you see the damage, it makes sense the pain they’re in.”

The sooner you call a personal injury attorney, the better.

When ads for personal injury attorneys implore accident victims to “don’t wait, call now,” it’s not hyperbole. According to Taghavi, insurance companies know they have just a small window of time to render a potential problem toothless by having accident victims take whatever’s offered.

“In those first couple of days, the insurance company is going to be aggressive in terms of like, ‘Hey, we’ll pay for your medical bill. Here, sign this release,’” Taghavi says. “The moment you sign it, that’s when it’s really too late. They try to pressure to settle these cases early before a lawyer gets involved and is really able to maximize justice and compensation that someone is entitled to.”

Bergener adds that people may not always be aware of their physical condition. “They get into an accident, they talk to the insurance agent, they give a statement saying, ‘Yeah, I’m OK, I don’t feel hurt.’ Then they wake up and they’re just in pain. Now that statement is going to be used against them down the road … Talking to the defense is a no-no. They’re not on your side. It’s like the police. Anything you say can and will be used against you. Don’t talk to the insurance company.”

There’s another reason to get legal as well as medical assistance as soon as possible. “If you get into another accident, it’s hard to prove the original accident as being the causation of your pain,” Taghavi says.

Personal injury attorneys can get regular medical training.

When it comes to clients with medical problems, being versed in medical jargon can be helpful. “We actually have a fairly good grasp of medical terminology and issues,” Bergener says. “I’ve kind of picked it up along the way. Especially traumatic brain injuries, to make sure they don’t have symptomology for that. And if they do, that it can be addressed and treated. A concussion is a brain injury, and the NFL has shown those injuries can really mess with your cognitive abilities and your life. We’re aware of those things and orthopedic injuries as well.”

Bergener even makes sure his partners and attorneys have ongoing education: “We actually have doctors come in and give clinics and certain issues and things we can look for.”

You don’t necessarily want a big settlement in a personal injury case.

While it may seem like the end goal of a personal injury case is a multimillion-dollar settlement or jury verdict, that comes with a big asterisk. According to Taghavi, most big settlements are due to catastrophic injuries that can be life-changing. “When people talk about wanting more money, I say, ‘Look, if they were offering you a million or two million bucks, we’d be having this conversation in a rehab facility or in a wheelchair or [while] having some traumatic brain injury symptoms,’” he says. “The moment you’re getting those big numbers is because your life has changed.”

It’s not just injuries. Accidents can often lead to peripheral issues including divorces and pain medication addictions. In short: A sizable personal injury settlement isn’t the lotto. If you got one, you probably deserved it.

Most personal injury cases are settled—but attorneys prepare for a trial anyway.

Taghavi and Bergener estimate anywhere between 85 to 95 percent of personal injury cases are resolved through a settlement, where the defendant (often an insurance company) pays a negotiated sum to avoid a trial that could see them paying out far more.

“The thinking of how you build up a case is still the same,” Taghavi says. “If you’re building up the case from the beginning, you build up the leverage points, you take the depositions, you are able to set the case up in a way where the defense looks at it and says, ‘Hey, if we actually go to a jury, we’re going to end up paying a lot more than if we just pay now’ … If I can provide a lot of leverage prior to going in front of a jury for an insurance company to settle and give our client what they deserve, then I’ve done my job.”

It helps that Taghavi has gone to trial nearly 100 times, which signals to defendants that both he and the firm are fully prepared to see the case through to the end.

Jury verdicts can be less about the attorney and more about the victim.

Taghavi has recovered millions for clients. While he doesn’t shy from his reputation as an excellent trial attorney, he also says that a client’s persona can make a big difference when it comes to a trial.

“If your client is a good person and they’re a good client and legitimately hurt and not trying to embellish, that’s really the cheat code,” Taghavi says. “Yes, I can do a little bit better than the next [lawyer], but the reality is, I had good clients. They’re good people and they were hurt really bad and their stories made sense … As much as lawyers want to give ourselves credit, a good client is 95 percent of the game.”

There’s a reason personal injury attorneys take a sizeable chunk of your settlement.

Virtually all personal injury attorneys work on a contingency basis, meaning that they don’t bill clients for hours worked. Instead, they take a portion (which can vary by practice but could be as much as one-third or more) out of the settlement. It’s a big bite, but in Taghavi’s mind, there’s no other way it could work.

“There’s a reason why if you look at arenas around the country, sports arenas, half of them are named after insurance companies,” Taghavi says. “They make a lot of money. They’re powerful. They want to make sure they minimize the amount of pay they give to people who are injured. To be able to fight that on an hourly rate, 99 percent can’t do that.”

Even one deposition can cost thousands. Add in expert witnesses and billable fees, which can be in the several hundreds of dollars per hour for good attorneys, and contingencies are what permit victims to stand a chance—especially when the very accident being litigated may have impacted their earning potential. Says Taghavi, “How many people can afford that when they haven’t been working because they got into a car accident?”

Personal injury attorneys have certain advertising rules.

Prior to a 1977 Supreme Court ruling, lawyers were actually banned from advertising by the American Bar Association (ABA). After a case involving the Arizona state bar, the Court ruled it was a violation of their First Amendment rights. Since then, personal injury has become an ad-heavy area of law, with plenty of firms using radio, television, and billboards to publicize their services. The reason is simple: Unlike criminal defense or, say, trademark infringement, a sizable portion of the population has the potential to get rear-ended. And a number of people may not even realize they can pursue legal action for injuries.

But that doesn’t mean law firms can say anything they want. “Each state has a state bar that determines [rules],” Bergener says. “Each state is different. Texas is different from Georgia. There are claims we can’t make sometimes. Like, ‘This is the truth, but no, you can’t say that.’ Nowadays if you claim a certain recovery for—like, oh, we recovered $29 million, we have to have a disclaimer saying, ‘This isn’t typical and is based on these certain facts.’”

Personal injury attorneys can still pursue damages even if their client is at partial fault.

While some accidents are demonstrably the fault of someone driving erratically—running a red light, texting while steering—others may be a consequence of a plaintiff committing an error. But that doesn’t mean they have no legal recourse. Depending on the state, they could still seek restitution through what’s known as comparative fault.

“Say the case is worth $100,000 or the jury finds that the damages are $100,000,” Taghavi says. “The jury finds the defendant was 80 percent at fault and the plaintiff was 20 percent at fault in contributing to the accident. At that point, the judgment would be $80,000 to the plaintiff, because you take out the 20 percent they were at fault for.” (Other states might have other formulas, or might not permit any leeway for partial fault at all, which is why it’s best to consult with a local attorney.)

Being a prosecutor and being a personal injury attorney aren’t so different.

As a prosecutor, Taghavi helped convict a number of criminals. While it might seem like it’s worlds away from his current line of work, he feels differently. Whether you’re facing a defense attorney for an alleged criminal or an insurer denying wrongdoing, the burden of proof needs to be met.

“In both cases you’re standing up for someone who’s been hurt or injured not through their own doing,” he says. “Personal injury is the closest thing to [prosecution] where you can go into court and also stand up and be the plaintiff and be the voice of somebody who woke up one morning and didn’t think their whole life is going to change because of injury or lose a loved one because of someone’s negligence. It was an easy transition for me, being the voice of someone hurt.”

Personal injury attorneys have one actionable piece of advice for you.

No matter how savvy a personal injury attorney you have, the ceiling for recovering money is the responsible party’s insurance limit. If someone has, for example, an auto insurance cap of $30,000 and your medical expenses are $100,000, you are what Taghavi calls “SOL.” (That isn’t legal jargon. It means what you think it means.)

While you can’t do anything about people purchasing modest or minimum insurance policies, you can cover yourself with uninsured or underinsured policies. “What that does is it supplements someone who doesn’t have insurance who hits you, or even if they have $100,000 and your damages are $200,000, then yours kicks in and your own insurance can make up for it,” Taghavi says. “As long as the accident isn’t your fault, you won’t get dropped. You’ve been paying for it.”

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