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Ambulance chasing? Lawyers zero in on metro-east clients

Here's an article on point about lawyers who solicit accident victims after having obtained their personal information from police accident reports. I've been writing about this for years. If you get a letter from a law firm following an accident, does that letter make you want to rush to the phone to call these unknown, faceless lawyers? Let me ask you a better question: If a man knocks at your door, out of the blue, and tells you he was driving around your neighborhood and noticed that your house needs painting, are you going to let him in to paint your house? You know nothing about this person; you didn't call him; you don't know anything about his credentials or his references. Do you let him in? The same exact question for some lawyer who sends you a letter telling you that he (or she) can answer all of your legal questions and solve all of your legal dilemmas, without knowing a single thing about you.

You are best off to send him on his way. If you really need an attorney, you should be the one doing the research and learning how to select an attorney for your possible case. Some lawyers use the argument that injured victims may not know their rights. That may be true. But ask yourselves another question: Why is a law firm sending me letters and promising to send an investigator to my home the same day I call? Are they that desperate to sign me up? Is my case that valuable to them, without them even knowing what injuries I suffered in my car accident? Here's the article. You decide.

Ambulance chasing? Lawyers zero in on metro-east clients

BY BRIAN BRUEGGEMANN

News-Democrat

Injured in a car accident? Need a lawyer?

Don't worry, you no longer have to watch daytime television, waiting for the lawyers' commercials. The lawyers are already looking for you.

Personal-injury attorneys are getting -- or trying to get -- access to crash reports from police departments across the metro-east. The lawyers' investigators scour the reports, looking for names and addresses of people who have been injured or might have a lawsuit on their hands. The chosen people then get letters and brochures in the mail, in which the lawyers tout their ability to win multimillion-dollar settlements.

Two law firms in particular, both with headquarters in Wisconsin, are blanketing metro-east police departments, trying to get their hands on crash reports. Some of the departments are allowing access, while others are resisting on grounds that letting people see the reports could lead to identity theft, or would be too much of a burden for police.

Some police officials flat-out call the practice ambulance-chasing. But the lawyers say they're trying to inform people of their rights and put them on a level playing field with insurance companies.

"Insurance companies can immediately contact people after an accident, and people should have the option to know what their rights are, if they want to talk to a lawyer," said Michael Hupy of the Milwaukee-based Hupy and Abraham law firm. "Many people still think you have to pay a fee to talk to a personal-injury lawyer."

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE GO TO:
http://www.bnd.com/news/crime/story/485257.html 

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