The following is a list of eight mistakes people make that may ruin or cause serious problems in their Hawaii auto accident case.

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Mistake 1:  Don’t call the police when you’re in an accident.

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Many people are wise and call the police; however, there are still too many people who don’t call the police when they’ve been in an accident.  The most common reason people don’t call the police is that the other driver pleads with them not to call.  They insist that they will take care of all of the damage without getting the police or the insurance companies involved.  Don’t fall for this.  You will need a police report as evidence to prove that the accident happened.  You should call the police no matter how minor the car accident may be.

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Mistake 2:  Don’t get immediate medical treatment.

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If you feel that you may be injured, you should call the ambulance.  You should then take the ambulance to the hospital for treatment.  Not only is it essential to get immediate medical attention when you are injured, but it is also vital for your injury claim so that there is proof of your injuries.  If you didn’t call an ambulance or go to the emergency room, you should seek medical treatment immediately.  Go to the ER even if it is already the day after the accident.  As long as you had valid car insurance, then you don’t need to worry about your medical bills (up to $10,000) because all car insurance policies in Hawaii are required to provide medical coverage known as “No-Fault Insurance” or “Personal Injury Protection”.

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Mistake 3:  Don’t call a lawyer.

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Yes, you could have probably guessed that we would say this, but it’s true!  Even if you don’t call us, please contact a lawyer to begin getting legal advice regarding your car accident as soon as possible.  The insurance companies will start calling you with many questions and even want to take a recorded statement.  You should not deal with the insurance companies until you have a lawyer to protect your rights; this includes the other driver’s company and your own Hawaii auto insurance company.  It’s always sad to turn away clients because they waited too long to call us and made critical mistakes that ruined their case.

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Let’s put it this way: If something goes wrong with the transmission in my car, I’m going to take it to a mechanic immediately. I’m not going to try to fix it on my own. If I do try to fix it on my own, I may end up causing much more damage, and the mechanic will have a much harder time fixing the problem.

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Mistake 4: Don’t get consistent medical treatment.

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In an injury case, the evidence in medical records.  If you’re injured, you need medical records to back up those injuries.  Basically, from a Hawaii insurance adjuster’s point of view, you’re not wounded unless medical records prove you’re hurt.  You must not only get treatment after the Honolulu car accident, but you must continue to get consistent medical treatment until you’re completely healed from the injuries you sustained in the Hawaii auto collision.  It’s even better to get your treatment from Hawaii medical providers specializing in car accident injuries.  These providers do a good job of billing the No-Fault Insurance. They will also do a good job of documenting your injuries and treatment, which is critical to getting a reasonable settlement for your accident injuries.  Feel free to call us and we can refer you to some excellent doctors and therapists who specialize in car accident injuries and also accept Hawaii No-Fault Insurance.

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Mistake 5: Don’t listen to your lawyer.

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After all, you’re paying your lawyer for his advice, so you may as well get as much advice as possible from him/her and do your best to follow their advice.  A good personal injury lawyer will have many years of experience in many cases.  He can use the knowledge that he has obtained to get you an excellent settlement for your injuries.  With the readily accessible internet, it’s tempting to search online for answers to your questions instead of asking your lawyer.  The mistake with searching online for answers to your questions is that there is no guarantee that the source that you’re reading is reliable.  Also, auto accident laws vary from state to state.  There’s no sense in getting advice online from someone, even if that someone is a lawyer, who is not a Hawaii licensed attorney.

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Mistake 6: Settle your case before you’ve completed your treatment.

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Generally, it’s best to wait and settle your case after completing all of your treatment.  The reason for this is that you want the settlement to consider all of the treatments you’ve received.  If you settle your injury case prematurely, your future medical treatment will not be included in the insurance adjuster’s settlement valuation.  The exception to this advice is when there is no end to treatment insight.  Some people need treatment for years and maybe even the rest of their life.  Of course, you don’t want to wait years to settle your case and get the compensation you deserve.  In these cases, it’s best to ask your medical provider to indicate in his/her medical records that you will need treatment for years in the future.  Although adjusters don’t usually give full value to such an opinion, they may consider that when making their settlement valuation.

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Mistake 7: Have unreasonable settlement expectations.

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One of the most common ways to ruin your injury claim is to have unreasonable settlement expectations.  Although there is no perfect way to calculate what someone’s pain and suffering are worth, you should still try to consider a reasonable amount for your injuries.  Insurance companies can access data for millions of insurance settlements, arbitration awards, and jury awards.  They use all of this information to come up with what they consider to be a reasonable settlement amount.  In general, they make reasonable settlement offers.   Of course, there are also many times when they are unreasonable.  So what exactly is a reasonable amount?   One could argue that what a jury of 12 random people decides should be considered reasonable.  The dilemma is that you don’t want to pursue your case to a jury trial just to determine a reasonable amount.  It can take years to pursue a case to a jury verdict.  It can also be very stressful, expensive, and time-consuming.  The key is to get a reasonable settlement without taking your case all the way.  It’s a good idea to ask your lawyer if the settlement offer is reasonable.  It can also be helpful to try to put yourself in the shoes of jury members.  Of course, you should remember that most jury members have not been injured in an accident, most people don’t like lawsuits and injury lawyers, and most people think they pay high insurance premiums because of all the lawsuits.  In other words, if you have a minor car accident with minor injuries, then it probably won’t go too well for you if you take your case to a jury.  On the other hand, if you have a major car accident and significant injuries, such as fractured bones and/or surgery, then it’s more likely that a jury will feel bad for you and award a fair amount.

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Mistake 8: Go to court when you should have settled.

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This can be one of the biggest mistakes you can make regarding car accident cases.  Your lawyer will negotiate with the insurance adjuster to get them up to their “final offer”.  Once they make their final offer, the ball is in your court to decide whether to accept or take them to court.  The general rule is that if their offer is somewhat reasonable, you should take it.  Don’t be stubborn and hold out for every dollar you think you deserve.  If their offer is within a few thousand of what you feel is reasonable, you might as well take it.  The ramifications of taking a case to court can be severe, so there is no sense in taking the chance in court if their offer is close to an acceptable amount.  If you decide to file a court complaint, there may not be any turning around.  Once you file the complaint, the insurance company hires a lawyer to defend the complaint.  Those defense attorneys are not usually interested in settling the case.  They’re generally only interested in getting the case ready for trial.  They will send you interrogatories to complete, and they will want to take your deposition.  The case will first go to arbitration and the arbitrator will decide the amount you deserve.  If you decide not to accept the amount he chooses, you can appeal the case to a Hawaii jury trial.  The jury must award you one-third more than the arbitrator, or you may have to pay the defense attorney fees and costs.  The same goes for trial.  If the prosecution does not favor you, you must pay their attorney’s fees and expenses.

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One More Mistake to Avoid:

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Turning down a reasonable settlement offer can have serious consequences.  If you turn down a reasonable settlement offer and instead take the matter to court, the consequences can be costly.  You could end up paying large amounts for the insurance litigation costs. 

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After you complete your treatment, your lawyer will order all your medical records and bills.  He’ll then use these documents to submit the “demand letter” to the insurance company.  The demand letter is the letter in which the attorney indicates his client’s injuries and damages and then backs up the claim with the medical records and bills.  If you’ve lost wages due to your injuries, he’ll also submit your paystubs for the insurance adjuster to review.  The insurance adjuster will have 30 days to review the demand letter and offer an initial settlement.  You and the company may also have to pay the insurance company’s legal fees.

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Depending on the insurance adjuster and the insurance company, the initial offer will usually be 10-40% less than their final offer.  Your lawyer will then negotiate with the insurance adjuster to get them to raise it to their final offer.  This negotiation process can take one to three months to reach its final offer.  The negotiation process takes time because you must show the insurance adjuster you are not eager to settle.  You can take them to court if he doesn’t make a reasonable offer. 

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Deciding whether to accept their offer or not has consequences.  One consequence is that they could withdraw their offer.  Another result is that the arbitrator may not award you as much as their settlement offer.  Arbitration is mandatory.  It’s known as the Court Annexed Arbitration Program, or CAAP.  Although the arbitration award is not binding, you do have to consider the prize carefully.  If you decide not to accept the award and to move forward to the jury trial, you have to do 30% better than the arbitration award.  For example, if the arbitrator awards you $20,000, the jury has to award you at least $26,000.  You’ll have to pay the defense attorney’s costs if they don't.  So, even though you may be awarded the same amount by a jury as what the arbitrator awarded you, you’ll take home less money because you’ll have to pay their costs.  Their costs usually range between $1,000 to $10,000.  Their costs will mostly depend on whether they hired an expert or not. 

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Right after the accident, you may tell yourself that you’ll accept a reasonable settlement offer; however, although some of our clients think this when the case starts, they do not accept reasonable settlement offers later.  The reason for this is that they get wrapped up in their case.  They get so caught up in their case by thinking about the many doctor appointments, physical therapy appointments, massage therapy appointments, etc., and they don’t stop to think about whether the offer is fair.   After all, one of the most important things to consider when determining whether a settlement offer is fair is how serious the accident was.  If the accident was very powerful and caused extensive damage to all the vehicles, then it’s easier to convince a jury that you were seriously injured.  If the accident was minor and there was not much damage to the cars, then it will be very difficult to convince a jury that you were seriously injured. 

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Too many people forget to take into account the seriousness of the accident.  Sometimes it’s a couple of years after the accident, and all the clients can think about is all of the treatment they’ve received.  They start thinking that their case is worth a lot more than it is.  When this happens, we encourage the client to think back to the day of the accident.  We encourage them to think about how powerful the collision was and how much damage there was to the vehicles.  Next, we try to help the client put himself in the jury's shoes.  If you were on a jury and you saw pictures of a vehicle with very little damage, would it be hard for you to believe that someone could have been seriously injured in the accident?  If you were on a jury and had never been in an accident, would it be hard for you to empathize with someone involved in an accident?  If you were on a jury and you were losing money because you were missing work, would you feel generous towards the person claiming to be seriously injured in a minor accident?  If you were on a jury and pay a lot for your car insurance each month, would it be difficult for you to award a considerable amount to the person when you think that big jury awards are one of the reasons why you have such high premiums?  If you were on a jury and all you heard were jokes about “ambulance chaser” lawyers and people who fake injuries to get insurance money, would you be generous when asked to determine how much to award the plaintiff?

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We encourage you to ask yourself these questions if you find yourself in this situation.  By asking yourself these questions, you may be able to make a better, non-emotional, decision.  It’s also important not to forget that your lawyer receives a percentage of the settlement amount.  He has the same motivation as you: to obtain as big of a settlement or jury award as possible.  Try not to think that your lawyer has ulterior motives.  Try to listen to his advice.  Even if you don’t believe that he’s a genius, you should consider that he has probably settled hundreds of cases and litigated numerous jury trials, so he will probably have some good advice for you if you’re willing to listen.  Remember, just because the advice isn’t what you want to hear doesn’t mean it’s not good. 

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For more free advice if you’ve been injured in an auto accident in Hawaii, click here.