Your attorney may be in violation of attorney ethical rules. You should provide him one more opportunity to provide you copies of your file by making a written request. If he fails to comply, you should explore filing a grievance with the state supreme court's attorney regulation office.
Full Answer
As mentioned earlier, you have exactly 5 days to file an accident report with the police in Connecticut after a car accident. Any damage to property and injuries that exceed $1,000 needed to be reported right after the accident.
If you were in an accident in Ohio, you have five days to report the accident to the police if: Someone was injured or lost their life.
Texas law gives you ten days to report the accident.
If nobody has been injured as a result of the accident, there's no legal requirement to provide details of your car insurance, but it might speed up the claims process if you exchange insurance company details and policy numbers.
46 daysInsurance companies in Ohio have 46 days to settle a claim after it is filed. Ohio insurance companies also have specific timeframes in which they must acknowledge the claim and then decide whether or not to accept it, before paying out the final settlement.
While a car might sometimes appear undamaged upon inspection after a car accident, you may find that the car actually has some damage later on. A police report will help to establish the link between the car accident and the damage, and can prevent people from making false claims about car damage.
In terms of car accidents and laws regarding insurance, some states are “no-fault” states, while others have “at-fault” laws in place. Texas is an at-fault state when it comes to car accidents; specifically, it is a “comparative fault” jurisdiction.
15 daysIn the state of Texas, insurance companies have 15 days to approve or deny a claim. They may extend that to 45 days if they have sufficient grounds and a sound explanation for doing so. Fortunately, this means that Texas is rather speedy when it comes to the claims process.
In Ohio, the statute of limitations for accidents that result in bodily injury and/or damage to personal property is two years from the date of the accident. This means that if you attempt to bring a claim against another driver after two years, your case will likely be dismissed.
Do You Have to Call the Police After a Minor Car Accident? Ohio's state laws say that you do not have to contact the police after every accident. In fact, for minor collisions, you have the legal right to leave after you stop, speak with the other driver, and exchange contact information.
The police need not be called to the scene of such an accident, but it must be reported - by both drivers - at a police station within 24 hours.
three-yearCar accident claim time limit: Car accidents and road traffic accidents in general have a three-year limit from the date of the accident. If you were left incapacitated and unable to claim for some time after your accident, you would have a three-year limit from the date of recovery.
If he fails to comply, you should explore filing a grievance with the state supreme court's attorney regulation office.
Send a letter to the attorney requesting a copy of the complete file. If Attorney refuses, make a complaint to your local county Bar Association.
Your attorney may be in violation of attorney ethical rules. You should provide him one more opportunity to provide you copies of your file by making a written request. If he fails to comply, you should explore filing a grievance with the state supreme court's attorney regulation office. Report Abuse. Report Abuse.
If the attorney doesn't surrender the file, then, I'd think that your next step would be a complaint to the Bar Association. Report Abuse. Report Abuse.
Send a demand letter to the attorney requiring that he provide you your entire file. Client files are the property of the clients and attorneys may not withhold them including for non-payment of attorney fees. Under the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC), rule 3-700 requires the attorney on termination of their representation to return all client papers and property on your request. Under RPC 3-500, an attorney is required to comply with reasonable requests for information and copies of significant documents when necessary to keep the client informed.
Your lawyer is obligated to provide copies of his/her file to you, for a reasonable charge.
I always give my client a copy. It seems strange not to do so. Ask your lawyer for it. I would be very surprised if your lawyer didn't give you a copy. More
In most states, the answer is “Yes” and the client can fire an attorney and receive a refund of unearned retainer. TX is frequently different. I agree with Mr. Guest: Ask for a copy. If he won’t give you a copy, then try firing him. He may have to pull out the contract to show you that you can’t fire him or that he need not refund.
If the insurance company is not playing nice or refusing to acknowledge the full extent of your claim, you would definitely want to talk to an attorney.
If a lawyer takes one-third of your recovery, then they'll need to improve your expectedresults by more than 50% to justify hiring them.
In a lot of instances, insurance companies do in fact do their jobs as expected. There are definitely situations where you'd want an attorney to be involved, but there are also times when obtaining counsel is simply overkill. Let's take a look at some of the cases where you may NOT need to hire an attorney after an accident.
Don't doubt there are attorneys who'll take on smaller claims in exchange for a higher percentage of the recovery.
Most injury and accident law firms offer free initial consultations, so feel free to ask around and get some advice before going forward with your claim .
Generally, if no people were hurt, or there was no damage ( no broken bones or potentially lingering injuries that cause you to miss more than a couple days of work), then it may not be worthwhile pursuing a personal injury claim. Just be careful making this judgment of “no injuries” yourself.
You're certainly entitled to have counsel present to protect your rights in small claims court . The law firm, however, is likely going to expect a fee for their services rather than working on contingency, since the expected recovery would be very small. It depends on the situation.
Another reason to contact the police at the time of the accident is because of potential injuries.
If you forgot to exchange contact and insurance information with the other driver before they drove away, or if they drove away without offering this information (also known as a hit-and-run ), it is crucial that you call law enforcement and get a police report. Make sure you ask for a copy of the report, as you may need it when filing your claim.
After a car accident, insurance companies often want to know who was at fault to determine whose insurance is responsible for covering damages.
If you don’t call the police from the scene of the accident, you should file a report with your local police department or the agency that has jurisdiction over the accident site. Whether you’re planning on filing a lawsuit or need to make an insurance claim for a car accident, time is of the essence.
If there is no police report for an accident, remember, it’s your word against theirs. Sometimes, however, like in minor car accident cases, police officers don’t always come to the accident scene, especially when there are no injuries. If you have experienced a car accident, regardless of how minor it seems, it is in your best interest ...
If the other driver is uncooperative, or if you have reason to believe the other driver doesn’t have insurance, you should request the involvement of law enforcement at the accident scene to help you obtain this information.
However, many injuries do not become apparent until days or weeks following the accident. If you don’t immediately contact law enforcement to report the accident, and you discover at a later date that you were injured, the other driver might claim that the accident never occurred.