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Lawyers in the House with Montlick - Your Legal Podcast
037 Similar Cases, Different Outcomes

037 Similar Cases, Different Outcomes

Lawyers in the House with Montlick

Attorneys in Podcast: Jennifer Fleming, Esq.

One thing our lawyers can’t stress enough is that each case is unique. That’s why it’s SO important that if you’re injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you give us a call first so we can walk through your specific situation.

We often get callers saying “My brother was in a similar accident and his case was worth $350,000, so that’s what I’ll get too, right?”

Well, today Montlick attorney Jennifer Fleming and former Montlick managing attorney Kathy walk us through why that isn’t always the case, and how two similar cases (say, a rear-end accidents with neck injuries) can diverge depending on the particulars of your situation, including your specific medical history, the defendant, your insurance carrier and more!

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The purpose of this show is to provide general information about the law. Our guests will not provide any individualized legal advice. If you have a personal situation and need legal advice, contact us for your free legal consultation with a Montlick attorney.

Topics Discussed on the Podcast

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00:05	ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Lawyers in the House. With Montlick. Wish you had a lawyer in the family? Now you do. Here’s your host. Veronica Waters. VERONICA: Hey, welcome to Lawyers in the House with Montlick. I’m your host, Veronica Waters here for another fantabulous episode talking to Montlick injury attorneys about how they can help you in your everyday lives when things aren’t so everyday and you get hurt along the way.
00:35	VERONICA: Identical twins. At first glance, they look the same, but if you look very closely and pay very close attention, despite having nearly identical DNA, there are some differences. Guess what? Personal injury cases do not have identical twins. And on the surface, it might seem like there’s a typical personal injury case. It’s a car accident, or it’s a dog bite, or it’s a construction accident.
01:03	VERONICA: But like twins and like snowflakes, no two cases are alike. And that’s what we’re talking about today here on Lawyers in the House with Montlick. In the seats next to me, two of my favorite Montlick injury attorneys. You know what? Everybody’s my favorite, right? Okay? I love them all. But two of my favorite ladies are in the house with me, Montlick injury attorneys, Kathy Opperman, and Jennifer Fleming. Kathy Opperman, a managing attorney at Montlick, has practiced law for more than 30 years, and that’s on top of a previous career as a registered nurse.
01:37	VERONICA: Kathy got her degrees in nursing and in law in New Jersey and in New York, and she’s now based in Georgia. She joined Montlick in 1994? KATHY: I think that’s right. VERONICA: Right, Kathy? KATHY: Trying to repress it. VERONICA: You’re forever young. She is licensed in at least three states. She is a mom. KATHY: Yes. VERONICA: In every state and all 7 continents. And she likes to kick back with a good mystery thriller from time to time, right? KATHY: Very true.
02:07	VERONICA: Kathy, what prompted your pivot from medicine into law? KATHY: Well, I was enjoying nursing. It was just a very fulfilling profession, but as time went on, I needed a shift. The politics of nursing were changing, and it was making me a little bit unhappy. So I thought, what could I use my background for? And a good friend of mine said, what about law school, which I had honestly never thought of. and then I just really enjoyed law school and felt like with my background, personal injury or medical malpractice would be the place for me, and that’s where I’ve been ever since.
02:42	VERONICA: So it serves you well, your medicine – your medical background? KATHY: It does. It does. Yes. Yeah. Even though they’ve changed the way things chart right now, because I feel like I’m a little bit older than a lot of the nurses now. But it gives you a better understanding and also it helps to trigger what the next question should be, what to look for. VERONICA: Are you… is it once a nurse always a nurse? Are you still considered a registered nurse today? KATHY: You can renew it and do your CLEs and things like that.
03:13	KATHY: But as far as friends and family go, no matter how long I’ve been out of nursing, if someone has a problem, they’re calling me, even if I’ve never heard of the disease before. VERONICA: KO is on speed dial. KATHY: That’s exactly right. VERONICA: What makes you a stellar attorney? KATHY: Oh, I don’t know. I never thought about that. Well, if I’m a stellar attorney… JENNIFER: She is. KATHY: I think one of the things that I bring to clients is empathy and a lot of that has come from nursing.
03:46	KATHY: I have a real sense of people suffering and going through hard times and understanding when they’re unhappy with the whole situation and taking that on you… or they’re crying or they’re not understanding the advice that you give them. It’s not their fault. It’s in such a bad situation. And that’s why we are there at Montlick to help get them out of that situation. VERONICA: You must have the patience of a saint. KATHY: Sometimes, don’t ask my children.
04:16	VERONICA: And nodding her head so vigorously at how great an attorney you are is the great attorney next to you, Jennifer Fleming. Welcome back to the house, Jen. JENNIFER: Thank you for having me. VERONICA: Jennifer Fleming joined Montlick in 2007, and she’s been practicing for, I want to say more than 15 years now. I actually joined in 2013, but I’ve been practicing since 2000. VERONICA: How did I get those numbers so wrong? As long as I’ve known you, this is crazy. JENNIFER: I’m so old, and the numbers just get confusing at this point.
04:44	VERONICA: All right, Jennifer earned her… I’m not saying anything about her age. You can see she’s got a baby face. Jennifer earned her bachelor’s and her juris doctor, degrees in Delaware. She’s been recognized by professional organizations on numerous top ten lists of personal injury attorneys. And in recent years, she’s like racked up a series of them year after year, right? She’s also like Kathy, licensed to practice law in several states, at least three states.
05:11	VERONICA: And when she’s not working on a case, you might find Jen volunteering with organizations that help people with housing insecurity or help women or help children or all of the above. And then when she’s not doing that, she likes a good round of golf. JENNIFER: True. VERONICA: Am I right? JENNIFER: That’s true. Yes. I’m not what you would call a good golfer, but I do like to golf. Oh, okay. I think it’s fun when I moved here. The weather is nicer than in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Yes, that’s true. And so friends of mine were taking some lessons, women, and I thought, yeah, I’m going to do that.
05:43	JENNIFER: And I bought a set of golf clubs on a whim and I was like, let’s try this. Let’s give it a shot. VERONICA: And so you really like it? I do. No clubs in the bushes? JENNIFER: No, I’m not an angry golfer. I just do it for fun and the good weather and the good times. VERONICA: Good for you. And Jennifer, I saw your eyes bugging out when I asked Kathy this question. So now I have to ask you, what makes you such a stellar attorney? You’re not making these top ten lists year after year for nothing. JENNIFER: That’s such a tough question.
06:13	JENNIFER: It’s really hard to be introspective when it comes to that. I think with Kathy, I also have a lot of empathy when you deal with people year after year that are really at their lowest point. You really feel for them when you have relatives that have gone through similar things or yourself, you’ve been injured. I’ve been in a car accident. I have had back issues, which a lot of our clients have had.
06:35	JENNIFER: You really see firsthand how people and their families can be affected. not just your clients, but their entire lives can be affected by their injuries. That really pushes you to try to be better for them and get the best possible outcome that you can. And through failures, there are things that you try that don’t work. And you think, okay, I’m not going to do that again. And it’s noted and you move forward, and you do better. VERONICA: Always getting better. Knowing better, doing better. What’s your favorite part of being a lawyer?
07:06	JENNIFER: It’s always helping. I mean, that’s just in my soul, what I like as a person, as you talked about, helping people with housing insecurities or women’s shelters or any way you possibly can. I mean, what better feeling is there than helping someone else at the end of the day? VERONICA: Jennifer Fleming, Kathy Opperman, Montlick injury attorneys. Thanks so much for being in the house. We’re talking about how no two cases are alike. Personal injury cases are not identical twins.
07:36	VERONICA: Even if they start off at the beginning seeming very similar. Boom, you get a call. There’s a car accident or somebody’s got your number. They’re bringing up 1 800 LAW NEED and they’re saying, what, to you? What’s one of the first things that you hear when these cases come your way? JENNIFER: I was in a car accident, and I think it’s worth this because I talked to my neighbor, and they told me that they also had a car accident, and they got $5 million for their case.
08:04	JENNIFER: So how do I do that? VERONICA: Wow, real calls come to you, right? JENNIFER: Yeah. All the time. Yeah. Yeah. Or you know, I saw a billboard and it said that I can get a $100,000 because I was in a car accident. And so, you know, you have to start with, okay, let’s break this down. You know, what happened in your accident? How did it happen? What are your injuries? What’s the property damage? You start to ask the questions that matter.
08:33	JENNIFER: And we always have to say, what happened to your neighbor or your brother that you’re comparing your case and your accident to? Because every single little detail really, really matters. And those intricacies really affect the value of every case. VERONICA: It is what we talk about from time to time on the show. Those two words, it depends. It’s not the same for a reason. Kathy? KATHY: Absolutely. I mean, there’s so many variables even for two people in the same accident.
09:04	KATHY: Depending on where you’re sitting in the car, you know, whether you’re the driver, whether you’re in the back seat, whether you’re the front seat passenger. Where did the at fault vehicle hit your car? So where did the impact come from? So at the very start, the very beginning, you’re starting off with two separate cases, even in the same accident. And then it goes on from there. Jen’s had several cases where people are in the same vehicle with entirely different injuries, and there’s a variety of reasons for that, including preexisting injuries and things like that.
09:35	VERONICA: I would love it if we could get into that later on in the show. Can we do… can we do that? I think that would be a great… maybe not even a hypothetical. You’ve seen it in real life, you said. KATHY: Oh yeah. VERONICA: Yeah, let’s talk a little bit about that. But just at the beginning here, let’s say that you each have low speed rear-ender. Seems pretty cut and dry. Seems pretty simple. My neighbor got 75 grand, so I should too. JENNIFER: Right. Well, let’s say Kathy’s in a low speed rear end hit.
10:05	JENNIFER: And I’m in a low speed rear end hit. We’re two different people. We have two different anatomies to us. I have… I have sciatica. I’ve had it for like ten years. I don’t know what Kathy’s prior back history is like. KATHY: Major, baby. Yep. Scoliosis, the whole work. So I got lots of rods in me. VERONICA: Lots of rods? Can you go through metal detectors? I always like to ask people. KATHY: Well, originally, no, I beeped every time, but now they’ve done something special with titanium.
10:35	KATHY: I don’t know what it is. So you can go through. Yeah. VERONICA: That’s interesting. So, let’s talk about that off air. All right, so we’re talking about, you know, the difference in injuries, obviously, is the major thing. The level of injuries in a personal injury case. How badly were you hurt? A concussion is maybe a little different and not as long-lasting as a broken bone. JENNIFER: Possibly. VERONICA: Possibly. JENNIFER: Again, it depends. I mean, is there a more lawyer answer than “it depends”?
11:07	JENNIFER: But a concussion could be… have lifelong ramifications. A traumatic… it’s a traumatic brain injury, and it just depends on the person. I mean, now we’re talking about traumatic brain injuries with football players a lot. VERONICA: Yeah, you just made me eat my words. We have heard how horribly concussions can affect you over the course of your life… particularly when they’re repeated. JENNIFER: Yeah. Right. And so, yes, on the surface too, to a juror or someone else, a broken bone can seem worse than a concussion, a mild concussion, and it can be.
11:37	JENNIFER: But it also could not be. You know, a broken wrist that gets fixed without surgery in 6 weeks on a young kid… I mean, a lot of kids break their bones. They fall off the playground. And a lot of kids also get small concussions. And those might not be as bad, but to someone in their 40s, they get a really bad concussion. I actually worked with an attorney- a defense attorney- who had had a really bad car accident and a really bad concussion and had to take time off of work because the concussion was very severe. Stuttering and wasn’t able to focus at work.
12:08	JENNIFER: And so you might argue that was worse than a fractured wrist that would heal in 6 weeks. VERONICA: Because you still have your mind. Functioning with… it’s just your wrist. And I don’t want to say just like a broken bone is nothing, but that is a – Look at Veronica learning as we go. That’s amazing. And I think I’m going to venture a guess to say that once you’re in these cases and examining these injuries, the depth of the injury, the type of injury, the preexisting conditions, the age of the person, there’s probably differences that show up in the way the insurance companies respond, too.
12:45	KATHY: Oh, absolutely. That’s why you need an attorney who really delves into your individual case. VERONICA: Let’s talk a little bit about how case A and case B might differ as we go ahead to our next segment and how you yourself can play a real role in steering the outcome of your case. And you don’t have to do anything at all. This is Lawyers in the House with Jennifer Fleming and Kathy Opperman.
13:18	You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 8 a.m. every Sunday if you want to listen live on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in the House with Montlick, I’m your host Veronica Waters here with Montlick injury attorneys Kathy Opperman and Jennifer Fleming, and we’re talking about the lessons that they’re teaching me that no two personal injury cases are the same.
13:44	VERONICA: And that means even if I, the patient, have had a previous personal injury case? KATHY: Yeah, absolutely. Everything is different. JENNIFER: Everything. VERONICA: So we’re talking about in my first example, let’s just do this throughout the show – case A versus case B, both A and B are low speed rear enders. It seemed like they would be so simple, right? And so much alike, you could maybe do it in your sleep. Yes or no? No, you’re laughing. No, wait.
14:13	KATHY: Don’t do it in your sleep, although there may be some attorneys who might try it. I don’t know. A bunch of variables. What kind of vehicle you were in? Where you were seated? What kind of vehicle hit you? JENNIFER: Yeah. If it’s a commercial vehicle, tractor trailer versus a privately-owned vehicle. That’s where a lawyer comes in, too. I mean, having a skilled attorney can really make a difference in these cases, too. If there’s a tractor trailer involved, are you getting an expert involved that needs to be involved?
14:43	JENNIFER: That can make a difference, is there something that the tractor trailer legally should have been doing that they weren’t doing? That can make a difference in your case. And without an attorney, you probably wouldn’t know that as a layperson. Other things… KATHY: Type of insurance in terms of which insurance company, which I won’t say any names, but some insurance companies are more amenable to settling. Others not. You could have the same type of injuries even in the same accident.
15:09	KATHY: And one case could settle within a few months and another case could end up having to be litigated, depending on the insurance company alone, not just your injuries.
15:39	VERONICA: I could have a role in my accident outcome without doing anything just because of my medical records. JENNIFER: Right. Oh, yeah. Prior medical issues that you’ve had, what your body shape, what your physical shape is. I don’t mean the shape of your body, but, you know, what kind of condition. The word I’m looking for.
16:09	VERONICA: Not if you’re fit and curvy, right? Yeah. Okay. VERONICA: Yeah. So again, so many variables that are going into this. And I really want to, in our next segment, talk about something that you guys mentioned, which was so compelling to me, same accident, different results. That is going to be incredible. No identical twins in personal injury. This is Lawyers in the House. I’m Veronica Waters. Stay with us. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick.
16:38	Join us 8 a.m. every Sunday on 95.5 WSP. VERONICA: Welcome back, Kotter. This is Lawyers in the House with Montlick. I’m your host, Veronica Waters, here with Montlick injury attorneys Jennifer Fleming and Kathy Opperman. We are talking about how no two cases are exactly the same. Great stuff in the first half and so many variables which go into whether your personal injury case will maybe be like your neighbors, which you’re expecting, or might be like your previous personal injury case.
17:09	VERONICA: If you missed any of it, don’t forget you can subscribe to us on YouTube, iTunes, Google podcasts, Spotify, find your favorite podcast platform. Like us and subscribe and you will get every new episode and hear all these great nuggets all over again. If you just want to review and if you’re so moved, like us, subscribe and leave us a review. Tell us what you think. Remember you can find us on social on every media platform at @Montlicklaw and drop us a line 24/7 at LawyersintheHouse.com.
17:41	VERONICA: No two cases are exactly alike. And I want to, in this segment, talk about same accident, but different results. Both from the beginning with the injuries and the outcome. Tell me about that, Kathy and Jennifer. Even two people in the same accident can have different outcomes? KATHY: Yeah. I mean, a common one is two people in the front seat, you know, the driver and the front seat passenger, and commonly the driver is kind of more aware of what’s happening.
18:12	KATHY: So for instance, we had a husband and wife. Wife was driving, and she heard that split second squealing of brakes, looked in her rearview mirror and saw the car coming. And she immediately just tensed, so she was hanging onto the steering wheel, her head, her neck, everything was just like one tight thing. And of course, this is all like in milliseconds. Her husband in the seat next to her, I guess he wasn’t really paying attention. He didn’t realize anything was happening.
18:41	KATHY: So when they got hit, they were both injured. His case finished after 12 chiropractic treatments. Her case went into litigation and is continuing litigation for a bunch of reasons. She already had a prior neck problem and all that tension, that tightness, and then the impact really caused more injuries. So needless to say, the insurance company says that was a prior accident problem, not this accident. And that’s where the argument is. VERONICA: Wow.
19:10	KATHY: And meanwhile, her husband got his case settled. VERONICA: That’s incredible. Yeah. Very different outcomes. Very different. One, not even having out-come yet. KATHY: Right. Exactly. JENNIFER: Some might say having a prior injury is really bad and some might say it’s helpful. I actually took a case to trial with someone that had prior injuries and it was to our advantage because it’s concrete medical records that you can show to a jury and say, here are the exact injuries from this prior accident, here are the exact injuries from this accident.
19:42	JENNIFER: The only intervening cause is this new accident. So if there are new injuries here and the only thing that happened in between is this new accident, the doctor is correlating this new accident to these new injuries. Now, if you don’t have any new injuries, it makes it a little more difficult. But it also can help you. So a skilled attorney would get those records and compare those injuries.
20:09	JENNIFER: And that is why it’s important to have an attorney to compare prior injuries that you’ve had, even if it’s not necessarily an injury, but let’s just say throughout the course of your life, you’ve had, you know, normal wear and tear or you’ve gone to physical therapy for a sports injury or just, you know, you’ve had some neck and back issues. And so you’ve gone to get some chiropractic adjustments throughout your life. It’s important to get those prior records to compare that. And the insurance company will oftentimes try to use that against you, but it can also be used to your benefit, really.
20:39	KATHY: It’s really important to get the medical records because the last thing you want is a surprise medical record showing up from the other side. And that’s one of the reasons it’s really important to have an attorney who asks you these questions and to be honest with your attorney. You know, don’t think insurance companies can’t track down your old accidents or your old medical records. They can. VERONICA: Got to be honest with your lawyer. KATHY: Got to be straight, absolutely. And the lawyer has to know what questions to ask.
21:08	VERONICA: Question for you: if I, God forbid, get in an accident with a friend, can we both use the same lawyer? Can we both come to you and have, you know, you guys together or one of you work on both our cases? JENNIFER: You can. Also, it depends on the circumstances of the case and who’s at fault and insurance limits. But yes, you can.
21:32	KATHY: Normally, if it’s two people in the car, you’re safe to say you could represent both because the way the insurance policies work or say, 50 per person for a total of a hundred, so there’s going to be 50 for the two people. If there were four people in the car, and they all want you, and that’s the only insurance, then you have a potential conflict with insufficient funds. And you have to address that. So I know some attorneys just sign up everybody in the car, and then they try to cut a deal with, I’ll give you a little bit, give you a little bit.
22:03	KATHY: That’s really not ethical and it’s not representing each person to the best of your ability. VERONICA: Wow, good to know. Ever had a case where you had maybe people in the same accident, but not in the same vehicle? JENNIFER: Yeah, so I’ve had that several times. I had a case where I had two completely different injuries. Tractor trailer kind of cut in front of two vehicles.
22:31	JENNIFER: One vehicle went underneath the tractor trailer and the photos… anytime anyone walked into my office and saw it… I had the photo blown up on a large board. It looked like a crushed tuna can- unrecognizable. The other vehicle had minimal property damage. The first person in the crushed car had a cervical fracture, a femur fracture, a rod in his neck, a rod in his leg, Staples in his head- very, very severe injuries.
23:00	JENNIFER: The second person had some sprains and strains in their neck and back. And so very different injuries, very different outcomes. Same accident, two different vehicles, obviously. And so we did represent both of them successfully, but obviously two different people. And it was almost like two different cases, even though it was… came from the same collision. And the person with the neck and back sprains had had some prior injuries as well.
23:28	JENNIFER: So we also had to get his prior medical records. VERONICA: Is it harder? JENNIFER: It’s not necessarily harder. It’s just different. KATHY: Yeah. And more intense. JENNIFER: Yes. VERONICA: More intense. JENNIFER: And it had to be litigated as well. That the tractor trailer did… insurance company did not want to settle pre suit with us for either of those cases, which you might think that the neck and back – the lesser injured person – they might settle, but they didn’t. And we had to hire an expert in that case for the tractor trailer. It was missing some reflective tape. It was at night and they failed to stop at a stop sign in a railroad track.
24:00	JENNIFER: So there were a lot of issues in that case. But again, important to have an attorney on cases like that that you would think, okay, even the person that’s really injured, maybe they would have settled that case because he’s really injured here. What are you doing? But they didn’t. So it’s important to have an attorney that’s advocating for you and making sure that the proper people are hired and retained so that we can litigate it successfully. KATHY: And in that instance, you were able to represent both clients in full capacity. There was no ethical issue.
24:30	KATHY: So both of them got the benefit of Jennifer. VERONICA: Why more intense, Kathy? KATHY: Well, any time there’s more than one person injured with different medical records, different mechanics when they were hit. You need to be careful not to lump all the same people… all the people in the same sort of category. Oh, they’re all in, you know, that accident would so and so… it’s an individual person.
25:02	KATHY: And that is one of the things that’s important that you have an attorney who knows you individually and will advocate for you individually. I’m not advocating for, you know, this young man’s mother who was in the car with him. And whatever her injuries were, whatever you do with her case is different than him. And same thing with what Jennifer did with these two. Two totally different scenarios. VERONICA: It’s attention to detail, obviously important.
25:30	VERONICA: But it is so fascinating that you have… and you two are both licensed in multiple states. You’re taking cases all over the country. So I wonder if that adds an extra layer of complexity because the laws are different or the way that you handle stuff state to state is different. KATHY: It can. I mean, we’re a national law firm, but we work with attorneys in other states.
26:02	VERONICA: Speaking of different injuries, same accident.
26:28	VERONICA: When we did our product liability episode, Alan Saltzman was talking about a case where, and I know Miss Managing Attorney remembers this, right? A case where several teens, I believe, were in a car. KATHY: Oh, yeah. VERONICA: And there was one who was most seriously injured out of all the people in the car because she was in the middle in the back seat before cars had the shoulder strap. That middle seat in the back. And her injuries were so much worse than everybody else in the car.
26:56	KATHY: Yeah. She went like flying through the middle and really, really was injured, yeah. VERONICA: And you guys were able to help her. KATHY: We were, yeah, sad as it was and for her family and it was a rough case, but yeah. JENNIFER: But that just shows placement in the vehicle. I mean, I currently have a case, husband and wife, same as Kathy did, but husband was driver, wife passenger, husband had fractured foot, almost got amputated. Wife had a cut on her forehead, which had some stitches, still painful, not nearly as bad, and actually the defendant driver passed away.
27:31	JENNIFER: It was a DUI case. And so it just shows three different people in the same accident, completely different outcomes, and how no case is the same with three people or that passenger in that product’s case with a car full of people. And unfortunately, circumstances can change the outcome. VERONICA: I don’t mean to be completely off topic here, but I’m very curious. Does anyone ever represent the at fault driver?
28:00	VERONICA: Does an at fault person who is injured get anyone to represent them anywhere if they’re injured as well? JENNIFER: Oh, for their injuries or to defend them? VERONICA: For their injuries, can an at fault driver ever hire a lawyer and say please help me? JENNIFER: They can try. KATHY: If you’re at fault, you’re at fault under Georgia law. VERONICA: Wow. Okay, good to know. Let’s harken back to insurance. You talked about the different ways insurance companies respond, right? We’ve heard a couple of those instances today.
28:31	VERONICA: Talk to me about the stuff that you guys look for when it comes to insurance because I know those sort of things can make a difference in how the cases come out. JENNIFER: Under insured – whether someone has any underinsured, uninsured motorist coverage or… VERONICA: UM, good old UM. JENNIFER: Yup, or resident relative UM, so that that can add to the value of your case. So if you are hit by someone and they don’t have enough insurance to cover your injuries and we need more money, then we look to your insurance coverage or any relative that you live with. That can add more money that we’re able to recover for you.
29:06	JENNIFER: If that’s not available, you don’t have the coverage or any relative you live with doesn’t have the coverage, then that’s less money that we can get for you. So that can change the outcome of your case and the value of your case. VERONICA: Yeah. And then some of the things that also can up the value of the case are those bad faith things. Punitive damages sometimes. KATHY: Well, yeah, like for instance, your DUI case, there would have been a punitive aspect to that. And that would have been a separate argument during the trial as a separate part of the trial to determine that amount of money.
29:37	KATHY: And you can recover even property damage recovery based on punitive damages. And again, it’s knowing the law and getting all the details at the beginning. You can’t, you know, months later say, oh, this was a DUI. VERONICA: You got to know up front, how to handle it and which way to go. Straight ahead on Lawyers in the House with Montlick, the Montlick closing argument. Stay with us.
30:08	You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with mount lick. If you want to listen to our radio show live, you can hear it every Sunday, 8 a.m. on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in the House with Montlick. I’m your host, Veronica Waters here with Montlick injury attorneys, Jennifer Fleming, and Kathy Opperman with what you’ve been waiting for all hour long.
30:31	VERONICA: The Montlick closing argument. Take it away. JENNIFER: We’re going to look at insurance coverage. Is there underinsured, uninsured coverage available? Resident relative uninsured, underinsured motorist coverage available, the amount of coverage. Is there a punitive damages aspect to your case?
31:04	JENNIFER: Does the case require an expert, a tractor trailer expert, a mechanical expert, escalator expert, any kind of expert? The individual client obviously is very important. Age, prior accidents, prior injuries, conditions, profession, do they make a credible witness? How would they testify? Any kind of wage loss? How would this affect their future income and their earning potential? Property damage and the mechanism of the injury based on the collision?
31:36	JENNIFER: Treatment, how long, how often, the diagnosis, the prognosis, what type of treatment they receive – all of those variables come into play, and really affect a case-by-case basis. KATHY: I mean, a knowledgeable attorney will get down to the minutia of what would be the location of a trial for your case because that could impact the value. That’s how much detail is required. VERONICA: Kathy and Jen, how deep into your careers here do you think you were before you realized how much minutia goes into maximizing the value of a case?
32:10	KATHY: It took me a while. I would say, take some years and you need good mentorship. Which we were lucky to have, or at least I was. JENNIFER: I was, too. KATHY: When you’re starting off sort of new, as in any job, a newbie, you just don’t know everything there is to know. And you think you know what you don’t know. VERONICA: It’s interesting, too that because of those multiple layers, it does mean that maybe the call that you got at the beginning when somebody says, hey, my neighbor got a $100,000.
32:43	VERONICA: I should get a $100,000. That person actually could get a lot more than a hundred K. Or a lot less. JENNIFER: Very true. It depends. VERONICA: It depends. It depends. So when we were prepping for the show, I was thinking, it reminded me of Robert Frost’s “two roads diverge in a yellow wood,” right? When you were out there and you’re hurt, you do not want to be caught out in the woods trying to go it alone. No two personal injury cases are the same and no two law firms are the same.
33:12	VERONICA: Tell folks what they need to know about getting in touch with you. JENNIFER: 1 800-LAW-NEED. KATHY: We are on all social media. VERONICA: That’s right. KATHY: Please contact us. And taking cases all across the country. VERONICA: Thank you so much to Jennifer Fleming and Kathy Opperman of Montlick Injury Attorneys. No two cases are the same, but both of these lawyers have an identical passion for justice. I’m your host Veronica Waters. We will see you next time on Lawyers in the House. We’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick.
33:43	Catch us live every Sunday, 8 a.m. on 95.5 WSB.

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