I had a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee jump out of gear and knock me down and run over my leg and then run into the house across the street. My question is I turned this over to an attorney and he was to take the case on a contingency basis. He has not communicated anything for about 2 years and I have asked him for the file on 4 occasions, I suspect he missed the filing deadline, what are my options??

Thanks
Rundown in CA

I had a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee jump out of gear and knock me down and run over my leg and then run into the house across the street. My question is I turned this over to an attorney and he was to take the case on a contingency basis. He has not communicated anything for about 2 years and I have asked him for the file on 4 occasions, I suspect he missed the filing deadline, what are my options??

Thanks
Rundown in CA

Hi Rundown:

The statute of limitations (http://nolo.com/definition.cfm/Term/3A70C659-18F8-45C6-B520BB9A43E18BA7/alpha/S/) for a personal injury case in California is 2 years (http://injury.findlaw.com/personal-injury/personal-injury-law/personal-injury-law-limitations(1).html). If your current attorney hasn't filed your lawsuit, you may not able to do so now. If that is the case, do consider consulting another attorney to explore any claims you may have against your current attorney.

When it comes to personal injury law, meaning auto accidents, slip and falls, injuries from defective products or medical malpractice, I really like the book Win Your Personal Injury Claim (http://nolo.com/resource.cfm/catID/73BB194F-C331-4C03-82E96DC64062980C/104/199/) published by Nolo Press (http://nolo.com/resource.cfm/catID/73BB194F-C331-4C03-82E96DC64062980C/104/199/). It describes the law applicable to civil personal injury suits (also called PI law) and explains how to organize the records pertaining to your case so that you can demand settlement from the responsible party's insurance company or present a well thought-out, organized case to the attorney you choose to represent you. The Nolo people recommend hiring an attorney to file your personal injury case if you are not happy with the initial settlement offered by the insurance company, because they understand that in much of law, and especially in personal injury law, what you are really paying for when you hire an attorney is someone to be an excellent negotiator for you.

While Nolo is known for specializing in self-help law, they have nothing against attorneys; they simply feel in some parts of our country legal fees are so high that average working people have to file their own lawsuits. They do feel that everyone who hires attorneys should be fully informed about the legal processes so they can make sure the attorneys are doing the job right.

The usual strategy in insurance defense law firms, like the one I used to work for, is to count on being able to wear down or outmaneuver anyone filing his or her own lawsuit. They can send you so many different types of legal papers, each with its own deadline, until even the most organized person slips up and forgets to return something on time -- I've seen that small a mistake win a case for the defendant; the decision withstood an appeal to the California Supreme Court.

Has your attorney even started to gather the evidence in your case? Have statements been taken from witnesses? The best attorneys do this immediately, before people start forgetting details. Unfortunately, many PI attorneys will take on almost any case, obtain the evidence, have the medical reports evaluated by experts, and mail a settlement demand to the insurance company. As long as the offer is high enough that their 33% (plus costs) brings them a decent profit, they're happy.

Instead of paying for an attorney to collect the medical and property damage records and witness statements, most people involved in an accident can do that work themselves. The Nolo book will tell you what sort of records you need to obtain, how to organize them, and how to word your settlement demand. Provided you haven't lost your right to sue based on the statute of limitations, the other person's insurance company will either respond with an offer to settle the case for a small amount of money based on your proven property damage, medical expenses, and/or loss of work time, or refuse your demand. If you're happy with the proposed settlement, you have little else to do except examine the settlement papers carefully to make certain you understand each of the terms to which you are agreeing.

If you think your case is worth more, then the next step is to interview a variety of attorneys and choose the one who you think will most aggressively pursue your interests. Sounds like your case got "backburnered." While no one wants to come across like a pest, you are entitled to regular progress reports about your case. Your attorney might not inform you of each paper s/he files or conference s/he attends beforehand, but s/he should always be reasonably available by phone or email to respond to your questions, or s/he should designate a staff person to respond to initial questions from clients, since an attorney's legal assistant or secretary often knows more about your particular case than the attorney does.

The Nolo book recommends sending a certified letter to your attorney when all other methods of communication have failed. If your suit has been filed but you can't get a satisfactory summary of the status of your case or physical possession of the file, it may be time to start interviewing attorneys again. If you follow the advice in the Nolo book about obtaining and organizing all the records pertaining to your case, from the initial police and emergency room reports throughout the entire process of your treatment and recovery, including summarizing all your out-of-pocket costs and the names/addresses/telephone numbers of everyone who treated you, you will have saved your next attorney hours of work and allowed her or him to easily get a sense of the potential value and challenges of your case.

Good luck. I hope the above information will help you out. Since I'm not yet an attorney, I summarized the above information from the Nolo Press book I linked to above.