What general questions should I ask my lawyer in the initial consultation?

With lawyers asking many of the questions during the initial consultation, clients sometimes forget to ask questions that would like to know about the lawyer or upcoming case. Here's a list of questions you should ask your lawyer:

1-Will you always be honest with me about my case and not just tell me what I want to hear? Honesty between the lawyer and client is imperative.  A lawyer needs to be able to trust his client and the client needs to know he can trust the lawyer.

2-How long will it take my case to settle or reach trial? Depending on the type of case you have, the case could take weeks to years to be resolved. Litigation can take a long time, due to no fault of the lawyer, and clients need to understand from the outset that the process is sometimes slow so that the client has reasonable expectations about when they can expect a resolution.

3-Should I post information about my case on social media? The absolute answer to this is NO.

4-How long have you been practicing law?  Our firm currently has 6 lawyers with a combined 50+ years of experience.

5-What type of cases do you and your firm handle? Our firm does not generally take cases we don't have experience in.  We have handled thousands of cases in the areas of workers' compensation, personal injury, social security, discrimination, bad faith and other claims involving injuries.

6-Will I be interacting directly with you, the attorney, or with someone else in your office?  Some offices are small with no support staff and some offices are large with many helpful staff members.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both.  Discuss the differences honestly with your attorney so you know what to expect.

7-How many cases similar to mine have you handled before? 

8-What is the best way to contact your firm (i.e. Phone, email, fax, etc)?  Our firm will communicate with a client in any manner they prefer, but we live in an email driven world, and often that is a quick and efficient way to pass along information.

9-How will you let me know what's happening with my case?  It is unrealistic and not productive for a lawyer or staff member to call you regularly to tell you "nothing new," but a lawyer should communicate with you about milestones in the case.  Sometimes much of this communication about the expected milestones should be discussed in the first meeting, but a lawyer or his staff should keep you apprised of changes in the plan, rulings from a court or administrative body affecting your rights, and information that is pertinent for you to act on.

10-What will be the action plan for my case?  Lawyers cannot always predict every twist and turn, but an experienced lawyer should be able to give you an idea of the steps that will be taken to protect your interests.

Teresa E. Harvey

Should you have questions regarding a legal matter and would like to set up a free consultation, please contact me by going to our website http://www.cglawms.com or by calling 601-948-8005 today.

How to prepare for your initial meeting with your lawyer

It is always best to be prepared to meet with your lawyer.

You should bring with you all documents you have that may be relevant to the potential case or issue you will be discussing with your lawyer.  You will want to let your lawyer review them to determine whether they are relevant to the case.

If you have a timeline intensive case, it will be extremely helpful to write down or type out a chronological timeline of events in your case.

If you have seen any doctors related to your case, you should bring a list of those doctors and, if possible, the medical records.

If your case involves an employment issue, make sure you have the full names of your supervisors or bosses involved and other co-workers who may be witnesses.

Make sure you know the relevant dates related to your case (for example, date of car accident or injury in a personal injury case, date of termination in an employment case, date of surgery or medical procedure in a medical malpractice case, date of injury in a worker's compensation case)

Teresa E. Harvey

Should you have questions regarding a legal matter and would like to set up a free consultation, please contact me by going to our website http://www.cglawms.com or by calling 601-948-8005 today.

I was in a car wreck on the job that is someone else's fault. I have a lawyer to pursue the person that hit me, but he won't take my workers compensation case. What can I do?

You can have separate lawyers for both cases.  But generally, our firm recommends that you get one firm to represent you on both aspects of the cases.  The interplay between the two can be very complicated, but not all firms have experience in both areas.  However, it is ok to get a separate lawyer to make sure your rights are protected on your workers compensation case as well.  If you are happy with your lawyer on the car wreck but want to get some free and confidential advice on the workers compensation case, call our office at 601-948-8005 or go to our website at http://www.cglawms.com today.  If possible, we will work to cooperate with the other lawyer to make sure both remedies are maximized.

Rogen K. Chhabra

I'm not happy with my workers compensation lawyer. Can I fire my attorney?

Yes, but be careful.  Lawyers are not magicians.  Sometimes people expect results that are impossible to deliver.  What you should expect from your lawyer is timely responses to your inquiries from the lawyer or properly trained staff and honest advice on the best way for your case to proceed. 

A few rules that you need to understand:

1.  Lawyers cannot speak to someone already represented by counsel.

2.  You can terminate your lawyer anytime, but you should make sure it is for a legitimate reason as opposed to unreasonable expectations on your part.

3.  Terminating a lawyer requires no special form.  It is as simple as writing to the lawyer and stating that you no longer need their services.

4.  You are entitled to your file.  The lawyer is entitled to reasonable time to provide your file back to you and retain a copy.

5.  The lawyer will be entitled to a lien for services against a future settlement or award, but you should not be expected to pay the lawyer on termination of you signed a contingency fee agreement.

6. The lawyer also has a right to terminate the representation.

7.  You are free to hire a subsequent lawyer after the previous lawyer has been terminated.

8.  If the lawyer filed your case, the court will often give you a limited amount of time to get a new lawyer or proceed with your case on your own.  Do not miss that deadline or your case could be dismissed.

If you find yourself without a lawyer in an injury case and don't know what to do next, please call our office for a free consultation at 601-948-8005 or by going to our website at http://www.cglawms.com/.  The consultation is free and confidential and you have no obligation to hire us.

Rogen K. Chhabra

Is my ex-spouse to be entitled to my workers compensation benefits in my divorce?

Maybe.  It depends on the benefits at issue.  I recently had the opportunity to testify in chancery court about whether workers compensation benefits were marital assets to be equally split in the divorce.  Every case is different, but in this case, the husband had received weekly payments for a period of 4 years, some argued to be before the parties separated and some after.  Then well after the separation, the husband received a settlement package worth more than $300,000.  The wife wanted her share.  My testimony was that the settlement was intended for future lost wages and for future medical treatment covered by a Medicare Set Aside (MSA), therefore they were not a marital asset.  The benefits paid during the marriage aside from the settlement were marital assets in my opinion, but the husband should get credit for the monies he used to benefit the marriage during that time.

Nobody wants to be in a divorce, but we have found that many people who get injured start to have marital problems.  You are already going through enough with the pain, treatment, reduced compensation for wages, stress, and to top it all off, it is hard on a marriage.  If you find yourself in this unfortunate position, you should get some free legal advice from a law firm as experienced as ours to help navigate the difficulties in dealing with the insurance company and the divorce court.  The consultation is free and confidential. 

You can call our office at 601-948-8005, or go to our website at http://www.cglawms.com/ and we will be glad to give you pressure free, honest, independent, and free advice about your best options in proceeding.  And as always, there is no obligation to hire our firm.

Rogen K. Chhabra

Can I choose my own physician in a workers compensation case?

YES, BUT be careful.  In Mississippi, after you have had a surgery or treated with the same physician for six months, you are stuck and you lose your choice.  This is critical because often insurance companies and employers will initially steer you to the doctors they know will be more on their side.  They just hope they can keep you there for six months before you find out you could have chosen your own doctor and never had to accept who they recommended for treatment to begin with.

You do not have to sign a choice of physician form to get treatment.  Most people don't think to ask this question and just assume the insurance company is steering them to the best doctor.  If you have been injured recently, you should seek attorney advice to make sure you are on a treatment path with doctors known to be fair rather than those who tend to side with the insurance company. So many of our firm's clients waited too late to get a free consultation, and we have to spend the rest of their case scratching and clawing to undo the damage that has already been done.

If you have been recently injured, or even if your injury was a long time ago, call our office today for a free and confidential consultation.  You will get to discuss the facts of your case, all the things the employer and insurance adjuster have told you, and most importantly, you will get advice on what you were told correctly and incorrectly.  It is a perfect opportunity to dispel the myths that you may have heard from a friend of a friend and make a decision on how you can best proceed in your best interests based on honest and real information rather than what others may have incorrectly told you. Contact the attorneys at Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A., at 601-948-8005 or by going to our website at http://www.cglawms.com.  As always it is free and you will have no obligation to hire us.  

Is the nurse case manager allowed to come into the doctor's visit with me in a workers compensation case?

In many workers compensation cases, the insurance company (who is not on your side) will hire a nurse case manager to be involved in management of your medical treatment.  Most nurse case managers are nice, compassionate, caring and will make an injured person feel good.  But one has to ask: are they on the side of the patient or on the side of the insurance company that is paying them?  A nurse case manager may be handy in scheduling appointments and keeping information flowing, but what happens when they meet with the doctor in private?  Are they trying to maximize the value and remedy in your case, or are they trying to minimize the amount of money that the insurance company has to pay.  The fact that the insurance company pays them to be there ought to make the answer to this question obvious.

Here's the answer:  NO.  You have a right to privacy when you are hurt at work, even when the insurance company is paying your benefits, and even when the insurance company pays for your doctor bills.  But it's not as simple as telling the nurse case manager to buzz off.  The Mississippi Workers Compensation commission has ruled that a nurse case manager can be involved, and the insurance company and its lawyers, nurses, and representatives can to talk to doctors with or without you around unless you exercise your right by filing what is known as a petition to controvert with the Commission.  So if you play your cards right and find the right lawyer with the he right strategy, you can prevent a nurse case manager from meddling with your case and let the doctor make decisions independent of influence from the insurance company.

People are often scared, skeptical and downright opposed to hiring a lawyer.  It makes them feel like they are in a fight they don't want to be in.  After all, if the insurance company is paying your benefits as required, why would you want to take a chance of messing that up?  The answer is simple: insurance companies cannot withhold benefits just because you hired a lawyer.  But a good lawyer can certainly hold their feet to the fire and make sure you get what you are really supposed to get without getting steered in the wrong direction by outside pressure.  If you are one of those skeptics, I would recommend you take advantage of the free consultation our firm offers.  The most important thing about the consultation is that it is confidential.  Your boss and your insurance company will never know you got armed with some free advice.  You do not have to hire a firm just because you consulted with one.  Instead, you can find out real information and real long term solutions without any obligation or risk of retaliation. 

Rogen K. Chhabra

For a free consultation to weigh your options and see if you really are being treated properly as they tell you that you are, contact the attorneys at Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A., at 601-948-8005 or by going to our website at http://www.cglawms.com.