We Have Filed Suit
We have filed a lawsuit in your case. If we have an email on file, we should have emailed you a copy. If you have not received it, let us know please.
After we open your case, we attempt to make contact with the other side, usually an insurance adjuster, immediately. Most cases settle, but most complicated cases will never reach their full value until a lawsuit is filed. This is because insurance companies – and some lawyers – are willing to settle your case quickly for 50 cents on the dollar. From the lawyer’s perspective, while they receive only half the fee, they do almost none of the work.
Our philosophy is the opposite: I always do the work so the insurance company knows it will never get away with paying our clients half of what their case is worth. We’ll make every effort to settle your case as quickly and efficiently as possible, but we’ll never recommend a settlement to you that we don’t believe in.
This is a good time to mention the inevitable disclaimer: We cannot make you any promises, nor can any other lawyer. If our firm accepts your case, it is because we believe in it, and we believe we will be able to recover for you. But in law as in life, nothing is 100% certain. We cannot guarantee you will receive a certain sum of money or a certain result, and neither can anyone else. What we can tell you is that we will work our hardest to assure the best result possible for you.
We file suit in more than half of our cases. In fact, in most serious cases, it becomes necessary to file a lawsuit. This is in part because Louisiana has a short statute of limitations, or prescriptive period, as we call it here. In most cases, we have only one year from the date your incident occurred to file a lawsuit, and we rarely wait till the last day. This is because we do not want to take any risk that your case will be dismissed on some technical or procedural ground we could not foresee. Normally, we will file suit at least 60 days before the statute of limitations on your case runs.
This does not mean your case will never settle. Our firm tries cases, and if it becomes necessary to bring yours before a judge or jury, we have no problem doing so. However, the reality is that most cases still settle, even after a lawsuit is filed.
The best way to get your case in position to settle is to prepare it for trial. While this sounds like a contradiction, the fact remains that lawyers who do not properly prepare their cases receive smaller settlement values. Therefore, while our goal remains to get the best settlement possible for you, our focus will shift to preparing your case for trial, because that is the only way to get that maximum value.
We need your assistance to move your case along efficiently. We will contact you to assist us with answering written discovery. We will contact you to set a time for your deposition to be taken, and a time or times to meet with us to prepare for your deposition. If you miss our call or text, please return it at your earliest convenience. This allows us to get your meetings scheduled as quickly as possible and move your case along. Rarely do cases settle without the plaintiff’s deposition being taken or the plaintiff fully answering written discovery.
We will be there with you to guide you each step of the way, but we need your assistance and cooperation in returning our calls and scheduling with us promptly.