Attorney Fees

• At Silver and Silver we do not charge for our work on a personal injury matter unless we are able to obtain a financial recovery for you. Our attorney fee for personal injury matters is one third of any recovery if we are able to resolve the matter without filing a lawsuit. We are able to resolve most of our personal injury matters before filing a lawsuit by dealing directly with the responsible person’s insurance company and often help our clients reach a fair result without having to deal with the stress of going to court or dealing with opposing attorneys.

Home and Hospital Visits

• If you are unable to travel due to your injuries, we will do our best to meet you at your home or in your hospital room as soon as possible.

How much is my case worth?

• Any lawyer who tells you they know what your case is worth before you have completed your medical treatment is not being realistic. The value of each case depends on a number of factors, including:
• How serious are your injuries? Obviously the more serious the injury, the greater the value of your case. Two injures that seem similar at first, may have very different results. One person’s broken arm may heal quickly and result in no long term problems, while another person with a broken arm may require multiple surgeries and may be left with a permanent disability. Until your medical treatment is either complete or your doctor has determined that your condition will not improve, it is too early to try to put a financial value on your case. Other factors such as scarring or the psychological impact of your injuries are also important to consider.
• How strong is the medical evidence? Some injuries result in medical evidence that is easy to demonstrate to a jury, like an x-ray showing a broken leg. Other injuries, such as back or neck pain are harder to prove because they do not usually result in clear medical evidence of the injury.
• How much medical treatment did you get? No one likes going to the doctor, but as far as insurance companies or defense lawyers are concerned, if your injuries are not documented by a doctor, it is as if they never happened. As long as your doctor believes you require more treatment, longer and more frequent medical treatment will generally increase the value of your case.
• Who is legally at fault for causing your injuries? In some cases there is no dispute that the other party is responsible for causing your injuries. In other cases, the chances of winning in court are lower because of a dispute about how the accident happened, different stories about the accident from different witnesses, or legal rules that sometimes do not fit with common sense. If your case is harder to prove in court, it is our duty to give you our best advice to help you weigh the risks against a potential settlement offer.
• How much money did you lose due to the accident? If you have suffered a great deal of lost wages or unpaid medical bills due to your accident, your case will be worth more than someone who had the same injuries, but was not working or did not have any unpaid medical bills.
• Who are the parties involved in an accident? Some defendants have less insurance than others or are more likely to be viewed sympathetically by a jury. During a trial, it is inadmissible to tell the jury that the defendant has insurance and that the insurance company will be paying your damages. Therefore, juries are likely to give a smaller award if you are injured by a pleasant retired person than if you are injured by a large and wealthy company. Similarly, some juries will be more likely to give a bigger award to certain plaintiffs than others. While this is not fair to the injured person, it is important that you have experienced legal counsel to help guide you through the process.
• Where can we bring your lawsuit? Different counties on average, tend to have different types of jurors, some of whom are more likely to support injured people while others are more likely to support defendants. A lawsuit that can be brought in a place that is more likely to have a pro-plaintiff jury is worth more than a similar case brought in a less favorable jurisdiction.

How long will my case take?

• Both you and your attorney have the same goal, to get your case resolved with the best possible result as quickly as possible. We know that you are suffering because of your injuries and will work tirelessly to get you fairly compensated as soon as we can.
• Until you have finished your medical treatment and we have investigated all of the other factors that we need to assess the value of your case, we cannot begin the process of trying to settle your case. Unless we know if your injuries will quickly resolve or if they will affect you for the rest of your life, it is impossible to get you fairly compensated for your injuries.
• If you are still in treatment a year after your accident, we will begin the process of gathering your medical records and trying to get a report from your doctor to establish that your how much more medical treatment you will require. We can then begin the process of negotiating with the defendant’s insurance company to try to resolve your case.
• If we have not been able to resolve your case within 18 months after the accident and we agree that your case is suitable for filing a lawsuit we will file a formal lawsuit against the defendant. Even after a lawsuit is filed, we can continue negotiations and try to reach a fair resolution to your case.
• In Philadelphia it generally takes about nine to twelve months from when your lawsuit is filed before you will have your trial, in other counties it can take significantly longer.