Holistic representation

When we help folks who have been involved in serious injuries, we encounter people who are in their darkest moments. Many are fortunate enough to have social safety nets to help them as they piece their lives together while we work through litigation to obtain financial compensation.

But occasionally there are clients who lack that foundational support: an injury takes their life from one on the edge to one over it. That was the case for one of our recent clients. We’ll call him Tom.

Tom, like too many out there, developed an opioid addiction, which led to Tom spending many nights on the street. Tom’s addiction had nothing to do with being hit while crossing the street, however. The evidence and the witness testimony demonstrated the driver of the car just completely did not see him.

Clients like Tom can be more challenging. Because of Tom’s situation he did not have the ability to attend physical therapy. His ability to take care of himself after he was discharged from the hospital was limited. And communicating with him was challenging. We wanted to make sure Tom got the help he needed, while knowing that providing support money directly to him may only further fuel his addiction.

Fortunately Bryan Vix, the lawyer handling Tom’s case, had experience helping those with addiction and was sensitive to Tom’s needs. To solve the communication problem, Bryan made sure we provided Tom with a cell phone. To help make sure Tom’s significant other would be entitled to any settlement should Tom overdose during the case, we pointed Tom to a good estate lawyer and advanced the costs for a solid estate plan and will. On particularly harsh nights where Tom was unable to crash at a friend’s, Bryan took Tom’s call and we made sure Tom had a place to stay.

During the course of representation we educated Tom about structured settlements and their benefits. With that education we were then able to help Tom see the wisdom at resolution in putting most of his funds into a structure, thus ensuring he’d have money every month for food and rent.

Every client has different needs. We work to help them where they are at.