Ohio Personal Injury, Product Liability and Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Barkan Neff Handelman Meizlish has extensive experience representing claimants in the areas of personal injury, product liability and medical malpractice claims. We take great pride in providing aggressive, high quality legal services to injured and disabled clients. We do not represent businesses or insurance companies - only people like you and your family. Cases are handled by an assigned team of an individual lawyer and a paralegal who are trained and available to help with your case.

SOURCES OF RECOVERY

Personal injury settlements are typically made in a single lump sum payment. Our office does not pursue personal injury claims unless the person who caused the injury or our client has some resource from which to pay the injured party. There is usually insurance through an automobile policy. After someone is injured through the fault of another and comes to our office, one of the first things we do is identify and confirm sources of recovery. Once a source of recovery is confirmed, the treating doctor is notified of the existence of insurance to cover the costs of care and treatment provided to the injured party. Our office makes every effort to confirm other sources of recovery such as private health insurance policies, group medical insurance coverage, and process payment to the medical provider for care and treatment while the patient is being treated in advance of the final settlement. The fee agreement signed by our clients authorizes us to pay all outstanding bills to their health-care providers from the settlement proceeds.

INVESTIGATION

Investigation of a personal injury claim involves contacting witnesses and securing statements as well as obtaining police reports, hospital records and emergency squad records. It may also include obtaining photos and diagrams of the area where the collision occurred or of the product involved. In many cases, the facts leading up to the cause of an injury may be clear. For example, if the injured party’s car was rear ended, very little investigation is necessary to determine that the other driver was at fault and responsible for the injury.

COURSE OF TREATMENT

Our office notifies the doctor that we are representing the patient and monitors the injured party’s course of treatment with the health-care provider. This is done through direct contact with the doctor’s office and through contacts with the patient. We are interested in knowing the frequency of doctor visits, complaints, the patient’s general health, and progress.

After the client recovers or reaches maximum medical improvement, we request a medical report from the doctor. This report will be submitted to the insurance company in support of the patient’s claim. The report is important because it should indicate the patient’s history and complaints, the doctor’s initial objective and subjective findings, the doctor’s initial diagnosis, course of treatment rendered and its effect, the patient’s prognosis, an estimate of the need for future medical care, if any, an estimate of that future medical care, and the residual disability expected. Finally, the report should contain the doctor’s opinion whether the injury treated was directly caused or aggravated by the accident.

MEDICAL CHARGES

In addition to requesting the medical report, we also will request an itemized statement of charges for treatment rendered the injured party. This will usually be requested in duplicate. On one copy the doctor should identify the amounts that have been paid by the client, his insurance carrier, other sources or by anyone else on his behalf. The other copy should be a listing of total charges without any reference to payments. We also ask that you enclose any charges for preparing the requested medical report. Please note that the injured party, not the insurance company, eventually pays the charges for these reports.

EVALUATION

Upon receipt of the medical report and other medical evidence, lost wage information, and other damages the patient has sustained, the office PI team evaluates the case, discusses it with the client, and eventually presents it to the insurance company by way of a demand for settlement. Our office provides for group interaction of the lawyers and paralegals, so that ideas are shared as to the value of any particular claim.

NEGOTIATION

Negotiations between our office and the insurance company may take weeks and often months. The client is kept fully informed of settlement negotiations and has the final say in all cases as to whether to accept a settlement. We make recommendations based upon the firm’s experience in handling these types of claim.

LITIGATION

If the injury claim cannot be settled through negotiation, suit is filed in court against the party responsible for the injuries. The insurance company defends on behalf of its insured. The insured has no choice as to the lawyer hired. While the case proceeds through the court system, negotiations towards settlement continue. The time involved between filing the lawsuit and jury trial is approximately 24 months. Remember, during all this time the insurance company has not made any payment for the injuries caused by its insured.

SETTLEMENT

When a claim is resolved either through negotiation or judgment, the insurance company issues its check in one lump sum payable to our client and our office. Payments for costs, attorney fees, and medical bills are made through our trust account. In the case of the treating doctor, our trust account check is sent directly to the doctor, payable to the doctor, for the amount due and owing. The balance goes to our client as his net share of the settlement proceeds.

CONCLUSION

We have attempted to explain and highlight some important aspects of personal injury claim, and how Barkan Neff Handelman Meizlish handles them. Since each claim involves a different patient with personal injuries, each claim is handled on an individual basis.

We believe the doctor should be able to practice medicine by concentrating on providing the best medical care and treatment to his patient. The lawyer should be able to practice law by concentrating on providing the best legal representation to his client. We believe that each should strive to better understand the role of the other and this information is offered in that spirit.