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Blackman Legal Group - What's My Case Worth
[GRAPHIC: Case Value]
DOUG LLEWELLYN: When you go in with a case, do you have any idea of, of what kind of, you know, money you can recover for these people? How does that work?
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: Yeah, we...
DOUG LLEWELLYN: Do you set a figure that you're going after?
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: Yes, we do. We evaluate the case right from the beginning.
DOUG LLEWELLYN: Right.
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: We don't really come up with value for purposes of settlement until later on in a case when we know the full extent of the problems, how long the treatment lasted, how long were they disabled, do they have scars, are they left with residual disabilities, things of that nature.
By the time we go into trial it's usually a couple years down the road. So at that time we have an idea of what the losses have been in the past and we know if there's going to be future medical costs or disability periods in the future. We can evaluate the economics pretty carefully.
The intangible is what--is the value of the enjoyment of life, or the ability to function in life. And that's, that's a little bit harder to value.
DOUG LLEWELLYN: You know, with courtroom cases being so popular on television, everybody, everybody sees lawyers on TV. Do cases like this end up like the ones we see on TV a lot? I mean do you, are you in there cross examining the other attorneys, or the, the witnesses?
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: Well I guess, yes, we do.
DOUG LLEWELLYN: It, it's the same thing?
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: That's why they dramatize it on television. They don't happen in 40 minutes. The trials usually go on for a week or two.
DOUG LLEWELLYN: Right.
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: And the final arguments, which are so beautifully done in six minutes or five minutes on television, usually take more like a half an hour to an hour. But about 2% of the cases we handle actually wind up in trial.
DOUG LLEWELLYN: I was just going to ask you.
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: Yeah.
DOUG LLEWELLYN: Of all the cases you handle how many of them end up in court. So it's just about 2%. A pretty small number then, right?
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: In front of a jury, 2%.
DOUG LLEWELLYN: Yeah. Yeah.
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: One to two percent. Fifty percent of them wind up in litigation. And about half of them can be settled with no litigation. If the case is properly investigated, studied and presented, the carriers usually respond appropriately and settle the cases.
DOUG LLEWELLYN: And your, your opponents on the other side, nine times out of ten are the insurance companies? Is that who you're dealing with?
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: Primarily.
DOUG LLEWELLYN: Yeah.
CLIFFORD BLACKMAN: Also government entities and large corporations.
