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How Long Will My Case Take?

How Long Will My Case Take?

When we get hired, clients will always ask us, “how long is this going to take?” And what I always tell people, “it’s going to take as long as it takes for the other side to offer you a fair value on the case. Until then, we’re going to keep on marching towards the courtroom, and marching towards a trial.” Some cases resolve in a matter of months, some take a year, some take two years or more. It really depends on the circumstances of the case. At the end of the day, there’s nothing that can require another party to settle a case. Settlements are voluntary. It’s when two sides come together and settle a dispute. If one side doesn’t want to settle, you can’t make them do it. The way that you make them pay you money is by taking them to court, going to trial, and getting a judgement against them. Then they have to pay.

Police Body Cam Cases

Police Body Cam Cases

Every police department is different on what types of cameras they might require, whether it’s body cam, some police officers have cameras on their tasers that are activated when they deploy them. Anytime we’ve got somebody alleging that the police did something wrong, it’s important that there be some type of video evidence. If there isn’t video evidence, then we’re generally looking for an independent witness who can verify what happened. Because a lot of times what we find are the statements between the person who is having the encounter with police differs greatly from what the police say happened. Now, sometimes the police are telling the truth, and the person that had the encounter, they had force used against them, they were arrested, maybe they were in the wrong, maybe they’re lying about what happened, maybe they just have a different memory of what happened. But unfortunately, sometimes the police don’t tell the truth. Maybe sometimes they shade the truth and try to put a spin on facts. And so that’s why it’s important to try to find any kind of video evidence you can. Of course with cell phones now and what we find a lot of are bystanders recording encounters with cellphones, and that can be helpful as well.

Who Is Darl Champion?

Who Is Darl Champion?

I grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina. My mom worked for the civil service at Fort Bragg army base for about thirty-seven years, and my dad was a college professor. He taught at the local college there in Fayetteville. I graduated from high school, I went to public schools, and then went to a small college called Methodist College which is located in Fayetteville. And that’s where my dad teaches and still teaches to this day. Went to law school at Mercer which is in Macon, Georgia. And then after that I did a two-year clerkship with a federal judge in the middle district of Georgia.

Following my clerkship, I moved to Atlanta and I’ve been here ever since. One of the things I like about Atlanta is the variety of things to do, the variety of people, the diversity, there’s something here for everyone. So there’s professional sports, there’s college sports, there’s museums, there’s concerts, there’s a variety of types of restaurants, there’s people from all over the world, people from all over the country here. And so it’s got something for everybody and I really enjoy that about Atlanta, and that was one of the things that kind of reminds me a little bit of the small town I grew up in North Carolina because it was near an army base, so there’s a lot of diversity, there’s a lot of different types of restaurants, and so I really enjoy the mix of that here in Atlanta.

There was never a time in my life where a light bulb went off and I said, “aha! I want to be an attorney.” But it was sort of a natural progression from my interests in terms of what I like to read and what I like to learn, and kind of what my personality was. I’ve always liked rooting for the underdog, I’ve always liked fighting for people, I’ve always liked helping people. And so the law seemed like a natural fit where I could kind of combine my interests and the things that I was interested in from an education perspective as well as to fit my personality and what I liked to do, and what I really really liked to do. And one of the best parts about my job is I get to come to work everyday and help people.

So when people call me, they’ve got a problem and the problem needs to be solved. Whatever type of situation they’re in involving a personal injury, whether it’s medical malpractice or a products liability case, maybe they got injured on somebody’s property, maybe they were injured in a car accident, we’re able to take their case to make sure that they get better not only personally but that they’re able to get a good result on their case. A successful scenario for me is taking a case where it’s difficult, maybe the insurance company or the large corporation, whatever it is, has denied that they’re responsible for the wrongdoing, or maybe they’ve denied that our client is hurt, or their injuries were caused by this incident. Being able to take that case and dig into it, you know, work it up, do a really good job, find witnesses, you know, get the documents, find that smoking gun and show the other side that they need to pay, that they’re responsible, and holding them accountable, that to me is a successful result.

It isn’t always about the money, and it’s hard to measure a success by the money because you could have a case that maybe is worth three million dollars, getting a one million result sounds great, but it’s really undervaluing the case, so you can never look at just the dollar figure and say “hey, that’s a successful result.” You have to really dig in and look at all the facts of the case and say “what was the result on that case and was it good for those facts.” And what we try to do is we don’t want to have a single case here where the result is less than full value, by even a penny, we want to get not only the most that’s available, we want to get more than what would be considered a good result. So we really strive to do that, and a lot of times we do fight longer and harder than a lot of other law firms do, and so that does require patience sometimes by clients to understand that process.

Certainly if our clients just want to take a quick settlement and want to take whatever the other side’s offering, we’ll do that. If that’s what the client wants. But we really like it when the client gives us the opportunity to go the distance and to fight for them and get them a really great result. It’s hard to say that there is really a hard part about the job, because I love every aspect of what we do. I mean, from meeting with clients and interacting with them, to filing lawsuits and reviewing documents, I love doing, I love getting into a case and finding the smoking guns that show the defendant’s responsible, or finding witnesses, talking to witnesses. It’s hard to say that anything is a hard part when I really love every aspect of what we do. And again that’s whether it’s taking the case at the beginning and meeting with the client to whether it’s arguing a case in the appellate court. Everything is just really really enjoyable to me and I love it.

The Plaintiff has the burden of proof, so the Plaintiff has to gather the evidence so that they can prove the case in court, and that can sometimes allow for a lot of creativity. It could be creativity in how you get that evidence, how you track down witnesses, the types of questions you need to ask in depositions, the strategy involved in that. Sometimes it’s creativity in coming up with legal theories. Maybe our client has a case and it looks like it doesn’t fit nicely within a particular type of claim, but we can be creative and try to create new law, that’s one of the things that we’re not afraid to do here. If we feel like there’s an opportunity where the law is not clear but we can create new law on the case, we’ll take that case and fight it all the way to the appellate courts if we have to.

After law school, I spent two years clerking for a federal judge which was one of the best experiences of my life. I got to spend two years watching a lot of trials, watching a lot of hearings, reviewing a lot of briefs and motions that attorneys file, drafting opinions for the judge on those. And that was very enjoyable and I learned a lot from that perspective of how the courts view things and also how juries view things from watching a lot of trials. After that clerkship, I spent a little bit of time on the defense side. I always knew I wanted to be a personal injury attorney and represent people that were hurt, but I thought, “Well I’ll try the defense thing for a little while, maybe get some experience.” And after about the first two days, I recognized that was not for me, I didn’t even think I was going to make it a year. And so about six months into that job, I had a great opportunity come up to work with an experienced personal injury law firm, and I took that opportunity and worked there for a little over four years, where I really learned a lot, had a lot of great opportunities to learn about a variety of different types of cases.

My wife, her name is Julia, she’s a native of Costa Rica, we met in North Carolina when I was in college and got married in 2004. We have one daughter, her name is Elizabeth and she was born in 2012. We have a son that we are expecting this November in 2017.

For fun, there’s a lot of things to do in Atlanta. So having a kid and with one on the way, going to the zoo is great, going to the aquarium, taking her to a variety of different types of activities that she likes. Love watching sports, I have a lot of family from western Pennsylvania so we’re big Steelers fans. So I love watching Steelers games, love going to Steelers games, trying to go to Pittsburgh to see those. Love going to Braves baseball games, love watching college sports, anything really sports related I’m really into.

Is It Worth It To Hire An Attorney After An Accident?

Is It Worth It To Hire An Attorney After An Accident?

A common question that I think members of the public have is whether it’s worth it to hire an attorney after an accident. And everybody is looking out for their financial interests when making that determination, and rightfully so. We don’t want our clients to be in a worse-off position for having hired us, we want our clients to benefit from an attorney. I think there’s a number of ways that clients benefit from an attorney. One of those ways is the higher settlement, or if the case goes to trial, certainly, you don’t want to be handling that on your own. So one is just getting a higher number overall. Number two, is having somebody by your side that knows how to navigate the process. It’s hard for a person that doesn’t deal with these types of cases on a daily basis to know if they’re getting fair value. There’s a lot of other nuances too. For example, who pays the medical bills? Does my health insurance pay the medical bills? Does my health insurance have to get paid back? Certain types of health plans do have to be paid back, but it depends on the type of health plan, the language in the health insurance policy, and a variety of factors. Part of it is about getting our clients more money but part of it is also navigating that process to make sure that in addition to the overall number being higher, that the number in their pocket is higher. Clients may think that they have to pay their health insurance back if they don’t. Well if they’re trying to save money by not hiring an attorney, and they pay their insurance company 10, 20, 30 thousand dollars that they were not owed, then that client is going to be worse off. Hiring an attorney makes sure that the client is in the best possible position to get an overall result that is good. The other thing that I think is very important is a lot of people don’t want to deal with a personal injury case on their own. They don’t want to deal with the headaches of it. They’ve had a car accident, they don’t want to worry about getting the medical treatment and making sure that the bills are being paid the right way. They want to go to the doctor and get better, and we’re able to help our clients through that entire process so they can just focus on getting better.

Common Mistakes People Make After An Accident

Common Mistakes People Make After An Accident

One of the number one mistakes that people will make after an accident is trying to handle the case on their own and not hiring an attorney as soon as possible. Sometimes we’ll get a case that’s maybe six months into the process and the client had been handling it on their own, so they’ve given recorded statements to the insurance company, they’ve said all these things about their injuries, or the insurance companies got them tripped up in their recorded statements that they’ll use against them later, maybe there’s some sort of gap or delay in treatment. There’s a number of things that can go wrong when a client doesn’t have an attorney by their side advising them. Another common mistake that clients make is not getting medical treatment. I think it’s common for people to get in some sort of accident, whether it’s a car accident, a slip and fall, or whatever it may be, and to feel like “ok, I’m going to go home, take some pain medication and try and ride this out, let my body heal.” And two or three weeks go by, maybe a month goes by, and they’re not better, so then they go to the doctor. Well the insurance company’s argument is “why did you go so late?” And what I always tell clients is, it’s about documentation and being able to show the other side and to prove to them that you were hurt. If it’s not in a medical record, the insurance company and their defense attorneys aren’t going to believe you. In a jury, if the case goes to trial, a jury may have a hard time believing that you were hurt if you didn’t get medical treatment. So delays in getting treatment at the beginning of a case, and gaps in treatment as the case goes on can really, really harm a case.

Georgia Car Accident Guide

Georgia Car Accident Guide

Our website includes a free Georgia Car Accident Guide that anybody visiting the site can download and read. And that has some educational material about every aspect of a car accident, including not only the personal injury side, but the property damage side as well. And kind of walks people through the process step-by-step on what to expect. I wrote that so that people would have a great educational resource for when they’re involved in a car accident and can get some of those questions answered, because what I have found in representing people who are car accident victims is they have a lot of questions and they just don’t know what’s gonna go on. And that uncertainty can add to the stress, and so the goal of the Georgia Car Accident Guide is really to remove some of that stress from the uncertainty.

Medical Bills

Medical Bills

When somebody’s been injured and they have medical bills coming in, they often ask us “what do I do with these?” And there’s a number of different options. If our clients have health insurance, health insurance should be getting billed. If they don’t have health insurance, or maybe there’s a copay or deductible they can’t afford to pay, sometimes we can ask the doctor’s office to hold off on payment. It’s called a Letter of Protection. We just send a letter to the doctors saying “hey we’ll protect your right to claim this debt, and make sure that it’s paid back out of the settlement when we get it.” Sometimes our clients don’t want us to do that, sometimes our clients want to handle it on their own, and maybe set up a payment plan with the doctor’s office, or maybe talk to them directly. There’s a number of options though, and that’s why it’s important to talk to your attorney that’s representing you and make sure that your bills are being handled the right way. What we don’t want to happen is you have bills coming in and you just let them pile up, you don’t let the attorney know, you don’t ask the attorney for advice, and they go into collections and it harms your credit. At least tell your attorney about it, so that we can come up with a game plan on how we’re going to tackle those bills.

Statute of Limitations

Statute of Limitations

Georgia and every state has what is called a Statute of Limitations for a variety of types of cases. For personal injury cases in Georgia, the Statute of Limitations is generally two years from the date of injury. There’s a variety of things though that can extend that and there’s a variety of things that may actually shorten it, not necessarily the Statute of Limitations, but that may require you to do certain things pre-suit, before filing suit. For example, if you have a claim against a governmental entity like a city, a county, or the state, you might have to go through what’s called the Ante Litem Process, which certain government officials have to be given written notice of the claim in a certain way and in a certain form. If somebody’s sitting back thinking they have two years, but maybe they only have six months or one year to do the Ante Litem Notice and they miss that deadline, they can’t bring the claim. So it’s important to make sure that every case is analyzed to determine what the specific limitations period is. In terms of extending the period, there are things that will extend the Statute of Limitations period. For example, if somebody is a minor, they generally have two years from the date they turn eighteen. But there’s a variety of things that need to be taken into account with that too. So if somebody’s a minor, the parents actually have the claim for the medical bills, and the parents have two years from the date of the injury to bring the claim for the medical bills. If they don’t do that, they’re not able to recover for that claim. So, it’s important that every case be analyzed to determine what specific limitations periods may apply to the overall case and any claims within it, because if an attorney sits back and misses that deadline, the client can be seriously harmed if they’re unable to bring a lawsuit later.

Bicycle Accidents

Bicycle Accidents

Bicycle accidents are becoming more common. Part of the reason is you see cyclists on public roadways a lot more, you also see a lot more people engaging in cycling on trails and other areas for recreation. If somebody has been involved in an accident while they’re riding a bicycle, it’s important to determine what kind of case it is. So if somebody’s hit by a car, obviously we have to look at the other driver’ insurance company.

But it’s important to know too if you’re on a bike and you get hit by somebody else on a motor vehicle, your own car insurance may provide protection for you. Your uninsured motorist coverage may protect you. Or if you’re cycling and let’s say you get hit by another cyclist, you might think “well that guy doesn’t have bicycle insurance like people do with car insurance.” But their homeowners insurance may apply to them. Or maybe a pedestrian steps out onto your path while you’re riding your bike on a local trail, like the Silver Comet Trail near our office, that pedestrian may have homeowners insurance that covers them.

So it’s important that you always talk to a bicycle accident attorney, and don’t just assume “well I wasn’t hit by a car so there’s not going to be any insurance.” Hire an attorney, let the attorney do the digging and find out, because there may be a source of insurance there that can help pay for your medical bills, your lost wages, and your pain and suffering. And if you were on a bike and in an accident, the chances are you probably had a pretty bad injury.

Spine, Back, and Neck Injuries

Spinal Injuries

One of the most complex things about spine injury cases is a lot of people have had back or neck issues at some point in their life. Maybe it’s, you know, they wake up with a stiff neck, or a stiff back. Maybe they throw their back out in the yard or playing sports. Maybe they’ve had a prior car accident and they’ve gotten some chiropractic treatment. Back and neck injury cases can be very difficult just because of that. Another reason why they’re so difficult is because it’s difficult to show what exactly you might see on an MRI to show whether that’s related to this specific accident or whether it was preexisting. Or maybe it was preexisting but this accident aggravated it and made it worse, and that may be recoverable. One of the best ways to show an insurance company, to show a defense attorney, to show a jury, that somebody’s back or neck injury is related to this incident, is to support it with as much facts as possible to get out there and talk to the friends and the family members and the coworkers who can talk about how they were before. Maybe they didn’t have any problems at all with their back or neck, maybe they had a prior back or neck issue but it wasn’t as bad and now it’s worse. So really being able to explain that and to show the other side that story is important to proving any case involving a back or neck injury.