Right Turns Only – Foreword

Foreword

In the years that I have practiced law in Alaska, we have taken thousands of calls from Alaskans about their car accident claims. Most of the people who call have legitimate claims, but they know nothing about insurance law. They don’t know if they even have a claim. “Do I have a claim?” is the single most common question that I get from prospective clients. Frankly, that question comes from the fact that few people understand insurance. They are required to purchase insurance, and they buy insurance from companies that they think they are supposed to be able to trust because they are the “Good Hands People”, a “Good Neighbor”, or because they have a cute

lizard as their mascot. Few people actually understand what liability insurance is.

As to the question, “do I have a claim?”-as you will learn if you ever deal with lawyers, it is rare that you can get a lawyer to answer a straight question with a straight answer. When people ask me the question about whether they have a claim the answer, as it is with so many different questions, is “it depends”. It depends on whether you were at fault. It depends on whether you were hurt. It depends on whether there is any insurance out there to pay you. It depends whether there is enough insurance out there to pay you for the true value of your claim. All of these

questions are best answered by an attorney after researching and evaluating your case. The purpose of this book is in no way to give you definitive answers to those questions to the exclusion of the opinions of a competent attorney who has specific knowledge regarding your case. Instead, what I hope to accomplish in this book is to give injured people a reference that they can use to spot some of the more common issues associated with car accident claims. I do not discuss in-depth any legal concepts or cases or case law. This book is not intended to be a legal reference nor is it legal advice to the people who are reading it. I’m simply explaining some concepts. If you read this book cover to cover and understand

every syllable, you are not qualified to handle a serious automobile accident claim on your own behalf. I can tell you that, if myself or someone in my family suffered a serious automobile accident, the first thing that I would do is to hire a lawyer to help us. Representation in a claim that you’re bringing against a multinational, multibillion dollar corporation is not handled appropriately by someone who is going through a very difficult time physically, emotionally and financially. Talk to a few lawyers and hire the one that you like best. You will make more money at the end of the day and have fewer headaches and fewer opportunities to torpedo your own claim. “Do I have a claim?” is a question best answered by a legal professional. With that said let’s explore the question and its implicit subparts more carefully.