Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to questions many clients often ask.
Why should I pick you?
Our clients have told us they like the personal, honest attention they get. We can’t list all of our results because of confidentiality agreements, but we are very proud of our record and results. We have been able to help people pay for a lifetime of medical care, buy an accessible house and transportation, send their kids or themselves to college, replace a lifetime of lost wages, and change their lives for the better. A lot of clients tell us they like our office, away from downtown, easy to park, and accessible to the disabled. We’re not the kind of arrogant, greedy, pushy lawyers you hear about, and we try to be easy to talk to.
How long will it take?
It is hard to say — some cases can be settled in less than a year, other more complicated cases can take up to 5 years if there is an appeal involved. Most of our cases are settled or tried within 2–3 years.
What will I have to do?
You have to tell the truth to us and every time you testify or talk to your doctors or us. You have to follow your doctors’ advice and do everything you can to recover from your injury as much as you can. You have to keep us informed about your medical condition, employment status, and contact information. You have to give us access to your medical records and possibly your employment, tax and social security files. If there is a lawsuit, you will probably have to give the same access to the opposing lawyers. If there is a lawsuit, you will probably have to answer a set of written questions, give a deposition, and possibly be evaluated by doctors. If the case does not settle, you will normally have to attend the trial and testify. You have to be available to us to consult with and give us your decision on critical matters. And you have to be patient, it takes time.
What will you have to do?
In the usual case, first one of the lawyers personally meets with you, then we conduct our initial investigation. In the initial investigation, before suit is filed, we gather the important evidence that we can access without suit, and then make our initial evaluation of your case. If, after the initial evaluation, we decide to proceed, we usually file suit. Lawsuits usually take 1 to 3 years, but can settle anywhere along the way. We gather documents from, and exchange documents with, the defendants in the case. We study and summarize the medical records and other important documents. We take local and out of town depositions. We prepare you and represent you at your deposition. We hire experts if necessary, prepare them and attend their depositions, take the depositions of witnesses, inspect the scene of the negligence, request Court orders to access information, appear in Court, and generally get your case ready for trial, and either settle it or go to trial.
Learn more | Our Obligations to Clients
What will it cost me?
For cases that require experts, like medical negligence and products liability cases, our fee is normally 40% of the gross amount. For cases that don’t normally require experts, like many car crashes or slip/trip and falls, the fee is normally 33%. In almost all cases, we pay all the expenses of a case, like expert fees, travel costs, deposition charges, and medical record fees, and if we don’t get you anything we don’t charge the expenses to you. If we do get you something, the expenses come out of your share at the end of the case. The only exception to us paying all of the expenses, is that sometimes, on cases that require us to consult an expert before we can decide if you have a case, we may ask you to pay some money up front, usually $950, to cover part of that cost.
How do you get paid?
We work on a contingent fee, meaning we don’t get paid unless you do. If the case doesn’t work out, you don’t owe us anything.
How much is my case worth?
That depends mostly on the extent of the injury involved. Other factors, like where the case would have to be tried, the degree of negligence of the other party, the extent of insurance, and other variables, also affect the value. We will talk to you about our assessment of the value. It is ultimately only your decision whether to accept a certain amount in settlement, based on our advice.
What all will come out of it?
Medicare and Medicaid
You may have to partially reimburse, out of your portion of any settlement or award, Medicare and MO HealthNet (“Medicaid’) for medical bills they paid because of the defendants’ negligence. Coffey & Nichols will identify and attempt to reduce any applicable Medicare or Medicaid claims.
For Medicare’s site about reimbursement claims, click here. For Missouri’s statute regarding reimbursement of Missouri HealthNet, Missouri Revised Statute §208.215, click here.
Hospital bills
Hospitals, if they do it right, can claim part of your portion of the settlement or award for related unpaid bills, but they often do not correctly make their claim under the statutes and their recovery is limited. Missouri Revised Statutes §430.225 -§430.250. Also, recoveries under the Wrongful Death act are not subject to these claims. American Family Mutual Ins Co v. Ward, 774 S.W.2d 135, 137 (Mo. Banc 1983).
Worker’s compensation
If you have a worker’s compensation case and a case against someone other than your employer growing out of the same injury, the worker’s compensation insurer will likely have a claim of reimbursement out of your portion. Missouri Revised Statutes §287.150. These can be substantial, and in our opinion the size of the reimbursement claim could affect whether pursing a claim against someone other than your employer is likely to help you. If we think we can help you and take your case, we will normally negotiate the worker’s compensation reimbursement interest before reaching any settlement in the case we handle.
Private medical insurance
If you get your health insurance through your or a family member’s work, the private insurance companies who paid related medical bills can sometimes, but not always, have valid claims for reimbursement out of your portion under the federal law known as ERISA. Coffey & Nichols will examine any such claim and advise you if, and how, to deal with it.
Learn more | ERISA Liens and Personal Injury Cases
How much will the expenses be?
If your case does not require an expert witness or extensive out of state travel, we estimate spending $2,000–$20,000 on your case. On cases that involve one expert on our side and some out of state travel, we usually spend $30,000–$50,000. If there are multiple out-of-state experts, the expenses can be even higher.
How do I know what the expenses are in my case?
We keep a running total of the case expenses, so just ask. You can get a detailed accounting anytime you ask, and we will give you one at the time the case is paid out, assuming we got you something. If we don’t get you anything, we don’t get reimbursed for our expenses from you or anyone else. When we are negotiating a settlement, we will tell you what we expect the expenses to be, and what we expect you to end up with.
Likelihood of settlement/winning… How will it end?
We can’t know for sure, and, although we would not take your case unless we thought we were making a good investment of our time and money, there are absolutely no guarantees. We will talk with you about what we think the possibilities and probabilities are, based on our view of the law and the facts and the injury, and on our knowledge of what juries and insurance companies have done in the past with cases similar to yours.
What we can’t do
We can’t promise you your case will turn out well, and we can’t go forward with a case we later learn lacks merit. We can’t present evidence we believe is false, we can’t lie to you, and we can’t lie to others, although we can refuse to answer about some things.