Tennessee Injury Law Center
The cynical answer is people only do it for the money, as if wanting to be compensated for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering etc. caused by someone else ‘s mistake equates with greed. Of course, it does not (more on that later). But there are other more layered and nuanced emotions that occur when someone makes the choice to file a lawsuit following an accident that has left them seriously injured or killed a family member. The Law Offices of John Day has been helping accident victims and their families for over 34 years, and these are just a few of the motivations and emotions at work that we see when folks are deciding whether to pursue their legal rights.
Fear – This emotion is two-sided. Potential clients who contact us are scared about the legal process and the legal system. Overwhelmingly, the people who call us have zero experience with the legal system. While others have had only limited experience that was perhaps negative such as a divorce. On the other side of the coin, our potential clients are afraid for their future if they do not seek legal help and compensation. If injuries or death from an accident causes a breadwinner in the family to be unable to provide for their family, often they have no choice but to seek compensation from the person who caused the accident.
Responsibility – The vast majority of our clients want the person who caused them harm to be accountable for the harm they caused.
Possibility and Hope – In cases where a corporation has made decisions based on cost effectiveness vs. safety or where a company’s protocols and procedures leave a safety gap, injury victims want to present their case in hopes of effectuating change and making things better for the next summer camper, the next product owner, the next customer at the store, etc.
Defiance – Let’s be clear, the insurance companies hope you will simply go away after an accident. The stonewalling, lack of communication and transparency, the low-ball offers, the hostility are all an effort to make you walk away. In this setting, pursuing your legal rights is an act of defiance against the money and the power that seek to protect the wrongdoer.
Dignity – Maya Angelou said: “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” Whether you have been seriously injured in a car accident or if you are a crime victim due to poor security or you are the victim of a wrong site surgery by a doctor, you deserve to be treated fairly and with dignity in the aftermath of your injury.
Until you have been an accident victim, these emotions and motivations are maybe not obvious. In fact, we often hear from potential clients that they “are not the type of person who files a lawsuit”, but they quickly come to understand why people do it once it happens to them and they see how they will be treated by the insurance company. Of course, this is human nature and is understandable – we all know the old adage about walking in another person’s shoes.
At the Law Offices of John Day, our award-winning lawyers understand the complexity of the decision to seek legal representation. To be sure, it is not just about the money. As always, we are here to answer your questions and explain your legal rights, and we do that for free. If you decide we are the firm for you, we handle all accident cases on a contingency basis which means we only get paid if we recover money for you.
Nashville: 615-669-3993
Murfreesboro – 615-867-9900
Brentwood: 615-742-4880
Toll-Free: 866-812-8787
- Hat tip to Seth Godin and his post about the Emotions of Voting which got us thinking about the emotions involved in our work.