Arizona Personal Injury Laws

Jones Raczkowski PC has been around for more than (25) years, doing essentially the same work that we’re doing now. Our work is premised and our longevity is built upon client satisfaction. Most of our business has been built on word of mouth from clients, from other lawyers, doctors, and various people in the community. One of the things we pride ourselves on is educating clients as to the process, so that the client understands, through staff or the attorneys, what will happen to them, when it will happen, what the likely result is – the process. You can look at all the paper and all the credentials, but sometimes it just comes down to looking somebody in the eye, speaking with them face to face, and deciding, “Do I trust somebody?” because any attorney-client relationship is built upon trust.

If trust exists, things are going to go fine. If trust does not exist, it’s not going to go fine. One of the things that you get with our firm is, when you come in, and we’re about to retain you, or you’re going to retain us, is you’re always going to meet with an attorney. So you get that eye-to-eye, face-to-face meeting if you’re local, here in Arizona. At the time you retain us as your attorney, not only are you getting an attorney, but you’re going to get a retained paralegal who’s going to be assigned to your case. The paralegal is your direct communication, although you have the direct email of the attorney and the attorney’s direct line. You’re not getting an email that goes to some third party or something like that. When you get my email, you’ve got my email. I also have a telephone number. And I put my direct-dial on my cards, which means it rings at my desk. And if I don’t pick it up, it goes to my voicemail – not some third party’s voicemail. It goes to mine. I try to return calls within (24) hours.

But one of the things that we have is if a client has been unable to speak with their attorney, for whatever reason, they can call the assigned paralegal and say, “I want a telephone appointment with that attorney.” And it gets calendared for a specific time and a specific date, for a discussion, for the attorney to call you, or for you to call the attorney, so that hopefully any problems regarding communication get nipped in the butt. If you think you have a case like that, talk to us at Jones Raczkowski, (602) 840-8787.

By: Mack Jones

Phoenix Personal Injury

If you’re injured, call 911 or the police. If appropriate, request that a report is made. Do your best to write down information on all involved persons, witnesses, insurance details, vehicle descriptions including the vehicle license number of witnesses, time of day, place and date.

Medical Attention

Immediately seek medical attention. Your safety is priority one. Many injuries may not seem that significant at first, but may become more serious over time. Keep all of your medical records.

Contact Attorney

Consult with a personal injury lawyer as soon as practical. There may be things that the personal injury lawyer can do in the short term to help you through the recovery process. You may have questions such as who is responsible for repairing your vehicle, paying for your medical care costs, paying for your rental car and finding qualified medical care. A personal injury lawyer will make sure that all of your rights are protected.

Remain Silent

Make sure that you do not talk to anyone about the accident that led to your personal injury. Never talk with or give a recorded statement to an insurance company, even your own until you first speak with a lawyer. These statements may later be used against you.

Lorona Mead

Listen to everything your doctor says and follow through with any recommended treatment. If you have questions or would like to know more about personal injury, contact me at (602) 385-6818 or email me. If you have additional questions regarding what to do after experiencing a personal injury, please visit an attorney’s profile and complete a contact form today.

By: Jess Lorona

Friedl Richardson is concerned about community safety. We have to live in this community and we want it to be safer for us, for our families, and for our community. What we’re trying to do is make the community safer. Whether a person harms another person intentionally or chooses to break the rules that govern every member of society, whether it’s traffic laws, whether it’s bicycle laws, whether it’s homeowner’s laws, by enforcing those rules, we make the community safer for everyone.

By: Thomas M. Richardson

Phoenix Car Accident Claim Process

So, you’re involved in an accident, your vehicle has been damaged, is it repairable, is it a total? We’re going to help you out with that. If it’s repairable, you got a diminished value claim. We’ll help you pursue that as well. You need some medical treatment? We’ll make sure you get to the appropriate providers.

Once you’ve got yourself well, then it’s time to try and settle your claim. We’ll present a demand to the insurance company, document all your losses, medical expenses, your out of pocket expenses, your lost wages, value for pain and suffering, and we’ll give them an opportunity to pay you fair value.

And, if they choose to do so, great. If on the other hand, the insurance company wants to be stingy, we’ll litigate and we’ll force them to pay you fair value. Come to us and that’s what you can expect.

By: David Wattel

Bad Surgical Outcome Litigation in Orlando

A lot of clients call and ask us if they can bring a case after a bad surgical result. A lot of times early on we don’t know if the bad result was the result of negligence or just a bad outcome. A lot of things can happen; infections, injuries, nerves can get cut even if the doctor doesn’t do anything wrong, but there are cases where the doctors or nurses are negligent and cause harm. So until we get the records and have them reviewed by experts, we really don’t know if you have a case. So if you have a question about whether or not you have a malpractice case, call me, Nathan Carter at Calling, Gilbert, Wright, and Carter at 1-800-49-LEGAL.

By: Nathan Carter

Medical Malpractice Claims in Phoenix

We handle medical malpractice claims. A lot of lawyers don’t. They’re very time consuming, they’re very expensive often times. We have an obligation to establish that your physician has breached the standard of care, fell below the standard of care, and that that breach has caused you injury. You may have been harmed by your physician, and you may have a viable malpractice claim, but it may not be economically worth pursuing.

Pursuing Malpractice Claims

Often times these days, medical malpractice claims take tens of thousands and we’ve had some, as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars in client costs to pursue them to conclusion. It’s gotta be a good injury, it’s gotta be significant, because otherwise, it may not be cost-effective to pursue it.

Wattel & York

If you’ve been injured, give us a call. We’ll tell you if we think we can help you out. Call is free, consultation is free. We represent you. We work on a contingency basis. That means no money up front. We get paid at the end of the case. And if we don’t collect money for you, there’s no fee.

By: David Wattel

About Jess Lorona

My name is Jess Lorona, I practice personal injury and civil litigation at the law firm of Lorona Mead PLC. I’ve been practicing law for 31 years. I am a native Arizonan and because of that, I have a lot of experience with all of Arizona.

Experience

I think that people hire me because of my experience and the training that I’ve had. I believe people hire me because of the fact that I’m a judge pro-tem. I serve as a judge in various courts. Having experience in all of these courts gives you the ability to, in any situation, know how to handle a case and I think that’s very valuable for any lawyer. I think my approach to law is based upon my experience, my experience in the courtroom, my experience outside of the courtroom.

Key Differences

I think that what makes me different from other attorneys is I have compassion, I’m a very caring person and I’m very humble. I believe I’m very concerned with a client’s needs. I always maintain contact with my clients. I make sure that they feel comfortable with me and with their case. You know, clients always have questions and concerns. A lot of times they don’t know the system and have never been involved with the system before and because of that, they’re very scared. They may have a million questions. They really don’t know what’s going on so it’s our job to make sure that they feel good. I think I can help my clients by understanding their needs. They need to feel it’s ok to call you on the phone everyday. They need to feel it’s ok to send you an email to ask you questions. They need to feel like their questions are important. We need to treat all of our clients like they’re important and their questions are important. I make sure that they know that I care about their case and I care about them more particularly. And I think that the client needs to know at that first meeting that hey, Jess is going work really hard for me, no matter what he’s going to work hard for me.

Lorona Mead

In today’s day in age, less and less cases settle, so a lawyer has to be ready to fight a case. I will fight to the end. I will take the case to trial and do whatever is necessary to make sure that my client achieves a result that is beneficial to him or her. If you want an attorney that’s honest and dedicated, then you should call me, Jess Lorona, at (602) 385-6818 or email me.

By: Jess Lorona

My name is Mark Raczkowski, and I’m an attorney at Jones Raczkowski PC in Phoenix, Arizona. Under most circumstances, if you slip and fall on somebody else’s property, they will not cover your medical expenses. Depends on what type of insurance coverage, if any, that they have as well as what assets they might have. But if you slip and fall and been seriously injured on someone’s property, the first thing you need to do is speak with an attorney that is familiar with the types of issues that come up in slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall cases. My office has focused on slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall cases for more than 25 years, and we know what to expect with regards to defendants that own property where people have been hurt. If you have questions about a serious injury that you’ve suffered as a result of a slip-and-fall on someone else’s property contact me through my website at www.azpremiseslaw.com.

By: Mark Raczkowski

Hi, my name is Nathan Meyer. I’m a partner at Jaburg Wilk. My practice areas include insurance coverage, insurance bad faith, insurance UM and UIM litigation, as well as commercial litigation, professional liability litigation, and general liability litigation. There’s actually been some very favorable rulings for insurance companies regarding punitive damages. It started with a United States Supreme Court case in 2003 in Campbell. There is also recently been some Court of Appeals cases that has significantly reduced punitive damages award amounts to much more reasonable amounts in Arizona.

Reducing Punitive Damage Awards

In the United States Supreme court case “Campbell”, the court actually reduced a $145 million punitive damages award all the way down to a million dollars, or at least they said – they told the Utah Supreme Court, “We’re sending this back to you, and you need to reduce this award to something around a million dollars.”

In a recent Arizona Court of Appeals case, there was a $54 million punitive damages award. And the Court of Appeals initially reduced that from $54 million down to $620,000. Then the Arizona Supreme Court actually reduced it from $620,000 all the way down to $155,000. So it’s a substantial reduction.

Also you have another recent case called “Orellana the Prime Life Insurance Company”, and they reduced a punitive damage award from about $1.3 million all the way down to $320,000. So courts are really reducing some of these egregious punitive damages awards amounts down to something much more reasonable.

3 Factors Courts Consider When Reducing Punitive Damage Awards

In “Campbell V. State Farm”, that 2003 United States Supreme Court case, the court established three guide post a court should look at when they’re reviewing these large punitive damages awards.

One is reprehensibility, the degree of reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct. Two is the disparity, and that’s where you get the ratio of the punitive damages to the compensatory damages. And the third is comparability to civil authorized fines, and those are usually fines authorized by statutes.

For example, in Arizona there is a maximum $50,000 fine per six month period when you violate the unfair claim settlement practices act. So those are the three things that courts look at when considering whether to reduce punitive damages.

By: Nathan D. Meyer