Phoenix Car Accident Lawyer Why People File Car Accident Claims
I find it very interesting that people who are involved in an Arizona accident will call our office and say how they don't want a McDonald's case verdict or anything like that but they do want to be compensated. What is interesting about that is 1) many people know nothing about the McDonald's case and 2) it is amazing how influential the insurance industry is to convince everyone how bad it is to file a claim or lawsuit against someone.
McDonald's Coffee Injury Case
With reference to the McDonald's coffee case, most people only know what they have been told by the media which mostly comes from the insurance industry as only their insurance industry has enough money to go on TV and do all sorts of other stuff and alter facts about a case. What really happened in the McDonald's coffee case is that an older woman was burned by hot coffee because of McDonald's choices. You see McDonalds decided that they would create a campaign to let everyone know that their coffee was the hottest. In doing so, they made the coffee so hot that many people were getting burned. All of these people, society never heard of but McDonalds and the others knew that the coffee was too hot - so hot that it would cause injury sooner or later.
Real Facts Of Case
As a result, the woman was severely burned. It was not just a little burn, but very significant burns on her body. When the case went to Court, the Plaintiff's lawyer asked for what we call "punitive damages." Punitive damages is where a company or individual acts such that their conduct is seen with an "evil mind." When a Plaintiff's lawyer ask for punitive damages the jury can award money damages to punish the Defendant for their egregious actions. The way the media portrayed the McDonald's case is that some woman got burned because of her own actions and millions of dollars was awarded to the Plaintiff. That is not what happened at all.
What happened was that McDonalds knew that they should not be serving coffee this hurt because others had complained of the temperature and being hurt... a little. As a result, McDonald's was warned to lower the temperature of their coffee to avoid future injury and McDonald’s chose to not do so and keep the coffee at the hot temperature because they didn't care who got hurt, they only cared about sales.
Injury Case Goes to Court
When the case went to Court, the Judge found that there was enough evidence for the Plaintiff's lawyer to argue that McDonalds acted with an evil mind. The jury found that as well and awarded one day of coffee sales to the woman as a punishment. That is where the millions of dollars comes in.
Did you know that the Judge has the power to reduce the award a jury gives? So when you are on a jury, you actually do not have final say, the Judge does. In this case, the Judge did lower the amount of the award in fact and the woman did not get the amount that the jury awarded her.
Perception of Society When Pursuing An Injury Claim
The perception of society now is that it is bad to make a claim when you are in an auto accident or have received personal injuries from the negligence of another individual. As Arizona lawyers who help individuals everyday who have been hurt by the negligence of another individual we here time and time again that people don't want a McDonald's coffee case verdict or they just want their vacation pay paid back, or they just want their medical bills paid.
Arizona Injury Law
The law is set up so that the only way a person who is hurt by another individual can get back to square one is through making a claim. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to file a lawsuit but you do have to make a claim. We all pay insurance companies thousands of dollars and as a whole billions and billions of dollars to insure us. In my opinion, and of course I (Alexis) am bias as I am a personal injury lawyer, but in my opinion that is exactly why we have insurance. We have insurance so that if an innocent individual is wronged, the insurance company will pay.
Auto Accident and Other Personal Injury Claims
If you are injured in an auto crash in Arizona and you incur medical bills and lost wages, you should be entitled to compensation of your medical bill and lost wages, but also for all your pain and suffering. It is the pain and suffering that makes our system as it is and people should know there is nothing wrong with pursuing what is fair, which includes money for pain and suffering, future medical bills, permanent injuries, and all the other elements that make a person not whole when they have been hurt by another individual. This is why we have insurance and people who are hurt should not be made to feel that making a claim is the wrong thing to do.
Arizona Lawyers Who Can Help
With that being said, not all injuries are worth pursuing and there certainly are some people out there who bring frivolous cases but there are a whole lot more people who are injured because of someone else’s negligence and deserve fair compensation. If you are someone who doesn’t know if you have an injury case and are looking for Arizona personal injury lawyers who can help, feel free to give us a call. We have offices Valleywide and we can come to you. Call us Valleywide at 602-267-1280. You will not be disappointed in Arizona’s Husband and Wife Law Team’s client communication and legal abilities.
