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Question Had to file pro se suit due to statute limitations. preexisting condition hern. disc exacerbated by severe rear end collision. $30,000+ intreatment since accident. many attys. have declined to accept case due to preexisting, my not seeking emergency treatment, difficult problematic case. before/after mri's show exacerbation (increased protrusion. Persistant severe pain in spite of steroid injections, facet denervation, disc decompression, therapy.
Must now answer interrogatories from huge law firm and comply with considerable discovery demands. need lawyer to handle this. Nobody wants case. Can you tell me how to find a "young" or "hungry" lawyer in or near Mesa, Chandler or Tempe, AZ who would help me or be willing to take over? ? I need to avoid continuing to consult with lawyers who ask the same stock 5 or six questions and then decline my case because it's nor a slam dunk. I just want the ins. company to pay my $30,000 med. bills.
Answer Steve:
It is not likely that you can win your case without an attorney. I guess you know that. But if you are forced to go it alone, you need to hit the law lib. and start learning the procedure of handling the lawsuit yourself. There are probably some books out there that will pretty much walk you through the process. Not easy to do though.
A second alternative may be to hire an attorney to supervise you case and advise you on procedure, without accepting your case or representing for the case.
The third choice is to simple go from attorney to attorney until you find someone to take the case. (Yellow pages, law periodical ads, other print ads.) Maybe you will find someone to take the case.
I can tell you that if someone came into my office in your situation I would not take the case. It is not that the case is not a "slam dunk" as you put it, it is that your case likely is not very well worked up. It would take me many hours of work to put on a viable case and it would cost me a lot of money to do so. TO hire the required expert witnesses for your case would like cost me 10 to 15K. It would not make economical sense for me to risk all the time and money it would take to take a shot at simply getting paid for my work.
If you of 30k in medical bills and it cost an attorney 10K for experts, 3K for exhibits, 3K to have exhibits put together and made presentation ready for an ELMO or powerpoint presentation, another 3K for the cost of the jury and court reporter and 1K in copy fees, witness fees. The cost of taking their doctors depositions would be about 1K each the cost of the defendants deposition 500 and for every addition witness, the price goes up.
That means a jury would have to make a 50K award to break even on the case. For you that means that if a jury award was 100K you would get 10K in your pocket after paying the medical bills, costs and attorney fees.
The only way I see you finding an attorney is if you are willing to pay all the cost of litigation in advance. You write an attorney a check for 20K to cover the cost of taking your case to trial. That places some of the risk of winning on you. The attorney is then only risking time. You still may not find an attorney if after reviewing the case it appears unwinnable.
Your in a tough place. No simple solution. Good luck
PS I take the time to respond to questions posted on here, but I do not have the time to proof read my replies. Please excuse the inevitable typos.
