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Some common misconceptions people have about personal injury lawyers is that they’re quote-unquote ambulance chasers, and nothing could be further from the truth. We meet with clients who have been seriously injured day in, day out. We’re listening to their stories and trying to get them the compensation they deserve. Even though whatever monetary compensation we can get them is never going to bring back their lives before their injury or their good health. They need advocates to be able to get the compensation they deserve.

SEF-44 insurance is an endorsement on your insurance policy that you can purchase. It’s an optional coverage in Newfoundland and Labrador, and what it does is it’s called family protection. So, the minimum policy limits in Newfoundland and Labrador are only two hundred thousand dollars, and sometimes, if someone’s not able to work, for example, ever again or they have a significant injury that requires a lot of care costs, that’s not enough money. So, if you have SEF-44 insurance on your own automobile insurance policy, you can get money from that endorsement up to the maximum of whatever you’ve purchased. It’s additional coverage that protects you and your family or anyone in your vehicle against people who don’t have enough insurance; everyone should have that.

Roebothan McKay Marshall ensures that victims get the compensation they deserve by helping victims navigate through a personal injury claim process. Helping them deal with insurance companies, ensuring they have access to treatment, and ensuring they’re restored financially, emotionally, physically, and possibly to where they were before an accident. It’s gratifying, enlightening and rewarding to carry an accident victim through the process from front to back and to make sure that they’re compensated as best as possible. Our firm has been the biggest and, I would argue, most prolific for a number of years. Our track record speaks for itself in the settlements and the compensation we’ve gotten for our clients.

Before you accept any settlement that an insurance company offers, you should contact a personal injury lawyer to find out what your rights are to find out if the settlement is appropriate and if it is fair compensation. A lot of times with insurance companies, if they know you’re not represented by a lawyer, they’ll offer a small amount of money in the hopes that you will accept it; you’ll sign a release and walk away. What people don’t realize is that if you do that, you can never come back again if the injury gets worse; there’ll be no more compensation available. So, if you speak with your personal injury lawyer, you can find out if that compensation is appropriate or if you are entitled to more.

It’s important for people to know when they’re involved in an accident that they can give us a call and talk about it; they don’t have to make decisions about their claim immediately. They have the ability to just call and talk about what their rights are. We’re always there seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It costs you nothing to speak to us, and if you recover nothing from the claim, we don’t get paid. It costs absolutely nothing to call and talk to us.

Well, initially, the most important thing is to listen. You know you’ve got to get a feel for what your client is going through and where they’re coming from. A lot of times, it’s the first time you’ve met this person. You know it’s a small province we live in so eventually through the conversation you’ll know somebody that knows somebody, I mean sometimes you find out your cousins or something like that. The first thing you’ve got to do is listen, and you’ve got to get the situation, so you can best sort through it and give advice that gives immediate help to the case.

One of the biggest things that sets Roebothan McKay Marshall apart from other law firms in the area is our collective experience and expertise. All of our lawyers have been working for many years, sometimes upwards of 30 years, on these types of cases. So, we have the resources if there’s a new question or a new legal issue that arises. Collectively as a team, we have so much experience that we can bring that all to bear on an issue. I think that’s one of the most important things; in any case, you have legally, you want to ensure that your lawyer has expertise and experience in that area. As a team, we really do have that, and we can bring that to each case we have.

The best advice I can give to someone that’s been in an accident is to first and foremost be concerned with getting better and your health. That’s something that I’ve said to people every time I’m on the phone with them is to leave all the background work with us and just focus on getting better. We’ll try and make the process as less stressful as possible for you.

Trauma is quite common for accident victims. It’s understandable because when you think about how these accidents occur, and often you can just be driving along, there’s no warning, and then suddenly, your life has been changed, no fault of your own. It’s very important that people communicate any experience or symptoms of trauma so we can do a better job of making sure that compensation reflects that.

What sets Roebothan McKay Marshall apart from other firms is the level of specialization that every lawyer has. There are really broad backgrounds and experiences, and I think that’s really important. So, when you’re looking for a lawyer, you should look for someone you can communicate well with, who you’re comfortable with and who you feel will advocate for you.

The first call is generally a lot of questions. I hear it in the client’s voices that they’re upset, overwhelmed, and don’t know what to do. So, we try to calm them down and give them as much information as possible, but in a way, they can understand. We do this day in and day out so we have all the answers to their questions; we know what they should do and what they shouldn’t do. After the calls are over, clients will generally say to me I feel like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulder; I know I have somebody in my corner. I know that you’re there to look out for me, and I’m looking forward to working with you on the file.

The way we practice here with our personal injury is that everyone can afford a lawyer because we ultimately do it on a contingency basis. There’s no fee until you get a settlement, so we only get paid once the settlement comes. There are no upfront fees, retainer, or hourly billings; there’s nothing to worry about. We carry all that until we ultimately get you a settlement, and the fee comes from there.

When I initially meet with clients, I always tell them this is all about them; it’s their injuries and their process through the personal injury claim. It’s their compensation, so most of all, they must feel comfortable with the person they’re talking to. So, you have to have the ability to explain to them so that they understand the whole process. You have to be able to empathize with the things that they’re going through.