There are a lot of misconceptions about personal injury lawyers. And one of them is that you'll end up with less money if you hire a personal injury attorney to help with your case. Today we are talking about some things and go over a lot of good question. One of the biggest questions is.

Am Going to Lose Money from Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney?

That is a great question, I'm going to say “yes”. If you hire a personal injury attorney, you will get more money and let me give you an example. I'm going to go over a real-life example. If you're in an auto accident or injured on the property of another. You go to the ER just once. Again, most cases you have much more treatment, but just as a baseline.

You go to the ER once and the emergency room bills $7,500. If you have health insurance Medicaid or Medicare. They always come back and they say “hey we have a contracted rate" there may be a bill of $7500, but we pay the health insurance paid $3000. Let's assume again, is a very basic easy assumption. That you get two times your medicals, again your medical, you send this medical bill over to the other side and you get $6,000, two times $2,000.

Collateral Source Doctrine

Let's go through, the same attorney, if you have a personal injury attorney. First I want to say about, We go through this all the time the “collateral source doctrine”. First of all, you can go back to look at other shows and see it. But the collateral source doctrine says, if collateral source namely your health insurance reduces the amount of a bill. You don't have to show that to the other side. You've been paying for years and years and years, for this health insurance Medicaid or Medicare.

The other side doesn't get to see this reduction. You would redact or cover up. What do you send to the other side? You would send that $7,500 you would cover up not just with a line. It would be totally redacted to the other side's insurance company. Here you are, there's a build $7,500 and that's the contracted rate. You don't show the insurance paid off $3000 out a show, the reduction of $4500 same scenario. $7500 build you get two times medical. You get $15,000, but you may have to pay back the $3000.

When Do You Have To Pay Back The $3000?

The $3000 is health insurance, remember the health insurance paid that out back. They have a right to subrogate and get that back. If you settle your case. If you go to trial, you may have to pay back $3000. But there's another law, if you hire a personal injury attorney on a contingency fee, you get to duck. How much you are paying back by the same percentage of personal injury attorney’s fees and cost? This is called subrogation. 

And attorney applies something that's known as Colorado's make-whole law. And essentially what it says a lot of words here you can look at it but I want to jump forward it says, you get to deduct the amount the proportional share of attorney’s fees and costs. 

Working With an Attorney Vs Working By Yourself

If you hire a personal injury attorney, and he's on a third contingency fee. If the health insurance wants back $3000, you get to take a third off of that. You're paying the personal injury attorney a third, you get to reduce a third. That $3000, that you have to pay back is $2000. That we can compare just on this one scenario.

Whether you go through yourself or whether you go through with a personal injury attorney. It is again yourself two times meds there's $6000. You have to pay back that $3000. Because you don't have a personal injury attorney. You get to net $3000, an attorney. Again two times med you use collateral source doctrine to only send the $15,000. You may have to pay back that $2000.

If you use a personal injury lawyer, you get $8000 back. If you do not use a personal injury lawyer, you get $3000. That's just on this one scenario. Where you only went to the ER once. Obviously, you're going to have more treatment. It's going to be much more dramatic. 

Med Pay or Caller Car

That $2,000 everyone has on their caller car, something that's called, "med pay". If you have that, I won't able to use their health insurance first. Then their medical payments second. Here's the reason, why you may have to pay back health insurance? But your medical payments on your car.

You don't have to pay that back there's no right for subrogation. You play this properly; you follow a personal injury attorney’s recommendation. You get $15,000 again, the $2,000. That you may have to pay back to your health insurance. You use your "med pay" from your car insurance to pay that back. You take out that $5,000 as well.

You're really getting $10,000 vs. getting $3,000. If you don't hire a personal injury attorney. There are all these laws, that you can use, that are just stacked on top of each.