Mysty April 30th, 2009
Do I need an attorney? Can’t I just handle this myself?
I can’t tell you how many versions of these questions I have heard in my approximate 15 years of working in the legal field. I had an incident occur today, however, that reminds me of exactly why the answer to the “Do I Need” question is often, “Yes.”
It started out as a relatively “normal” day – except for the fact that my husband was appearing as a witness in a criminal trial and needed me to drive the kids to school. Less than 1/4 mile from my house, at the intersection of Rancho & Oakey, I hit a MAJOR pothole which rattled my car and created a very concerning dragging noise.
Upon arriving to school I see that the result of my pothole adventure was that a part of the wheel compartment has come loose. Having bigger fish to fry I continued on about my day, determined to call the construction company working at the intersection.
This afternoon I finally got around to calling the phone number associated with the Dust Control permit, posted prominently at the intersection. “How did you get this number”, a very gruff individual barked. I tell him that his super-secret bat line number is posted on a very large billboard at the construction project. After explaining why I am calling, I receive a second number for the Risk Manager.
Fast forward, voicemail to Risk Manager “Lou”, phone call with “Lou”, phone call with Lou’s Safety Director, appointment with Safety Director to inspect damage, another phone call from Safety Director at which point I am told that the pothole belongs to another company. I also find out that another driver blew out his tire on the pothole shortly after me and now claims to suffer a hernia from trying to change the tire.
I’ve left a voicemail for the new “pothole owner”, a guy named Robert whose receptionist screened me pretty thoroughly before dumping me into voicemail. We’ll see if I get a call back. Meanwhile I’ve been contemplating a lease turn-in and don’t look forward to getting any hassle about this pothole damage.
So the saga continues, but the point remains that this is a simple issue of minor property damage from a pothole. Fortunately both I and my girls are doing fine. Further, due to some recent changes in my life I now have plenty of time to play phone tag with risk managers, safety directors and the like. Imagine, however, that you were involved in a serious accident suffering not only a damaged car, but a damaged body. This is why people need and hire attorneys. You don’t have the time and quite frankly you’ve done nothing that should require you to chase down the responsible parties in order to be made whole.
I’ll keep you posted on my quest to get my car AND the pothole fixed. Stay tuned, however, for my next post on things you should look for when hiring an attorney.
Much love,
Mysty
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