We hope all of you and your families are doing well. Unfortunately, we are all marching in unchartered territory. We wanted to let you know that we are still here working on your cases and we wanted to provide you with our thoughts on this crisis and how it may affect your case. Currently we are all still in the office and available by phone. Due to potential future government restrictions, we may have to close the office and work remotely. Please do not drop by the office unless you have a prescheduled appointment. If you have things to drop off, you can mail them to us, or you can alert us that you will be dropping the item(s) office and leave them in our mailbox in the front of the building.
First, we understand that many of you are still treating and have had your medical visits cancelled or postponed. We know that has been beyond your control and please don’t think that has ruined your case. Hopefully, this will end in the near future. If you are still having pains or problems as facilities begin to reopen, you will need to immediately begin setting up your appointments/resuming treatment. We all know that the various medical facilities were not so great before this crisis in calling you back and setting up follow ups, and that will only be worse now. So, remember that you must take the initiative yourself to reschedule visits/treatment. Given that there will likely be a mad rush when this passes, you should probably periodically call your providers or check their websites to see when they will be rescheduling so you don’t incur further delays by being at the end of the line.
For those of you that have finished medical treatment, and advised us of that, we have ordered your records and bills and are awaiting those. For the most part, the larger facilities are still processing those requests as before (a 4 week process time). However, some smaller facilities have closed and obviously those requests are not being filled. As none of us knows what the future holds, if the virus continues to spread and/or the larger facilities close, and others remain closed, that will cause delays in our ability to complete your demand letters for the insurance companies. The failure of the facilities to provide us with your medical records and/or bills will delay your demand from being completed and submitted to the insurance companies. Obviously, this could cause the cases here in our office (as well as other attorney offices) to back up, creating further delays for the law firms trying to complete the demands, as well as the insurance companies who are then hit with a barrage of demands after weeks (months?) of no one being able to complete demands.
For those of you whose demands we have submitted, for the most part, the insurance company claims offices are still functioning. However, we are seeing more and more delays as adjusters are working from home or taking on larger caseloads for the adjusters who are unable to work due to sickness and/or child care issues. In our opinion, some of these insurance companies are going to take advantage of the current crisis, and use it to their own advantage through delays or low offers. As each case, insurance company and adjuster is different, we will advise each of you as these offers come in. Again, be prepared for delays in the settlement of your case.
Currently, the courts are not scheduling hearings or trials at this time, and many of the attorneys we are facing are cancelling depositions. We will contact you directly if your trial or deposition is cancelled or postponed. Again, be prepared for delays in obtaining depositions or the trial of your case, if it was continued. Also, there could be multiple cancellations if the virus continues to spread and/or the government continues to enforce closures.
If you have any questions, please contact us. Thank you for selecting me as your attorney. Keep the faith, we all will get through this, it may just take longer than any of us expected and may cause delays much greater than any of us expected.
