Back in our February 2025 Newsletter, we discussed the various types of damages a person can ask for in a personal injury case, including non-economic damages.  Jurors are tasked with assigning values to things without a price-tag, such as pain, visible scarring, inability to sleep, not being able to do certain activities a person loves and increased dependency on others.  While difficult, as Americans, we rely on the collective life experiences of 12 people sitting on a jury to appraise the fair market value of those losses.  Coming to a value becomes especially difficult when a person is killed due to negligence because people always wonder how do you value a life?  If it is a child, what might they have become?  If it is a parent or primary bread winner for a family, is their value reduced to the value of their salary for the years they would have worked?  What about a single person with no children or immediate family – is their life worth any less?

Our readers may be surprised/disturbed to know that the US government DOES put a value on individuals.  Governmental agencies use something called the Valuation of a Statistical Life to figure out whether to enact regulations that can potentially save lives but have a cost in economic activity.  For instance, the Department of Transportation currently values a life at $13.7 million and the Environmental Protection Agency values a life at $11.5 million.  It is sobering to realize our government cannot “save lives at any cost” when confronted with the actual expenses of saving lives and, essentially, must make a business decision.

Jurors in wrongful death trials are faced with deciding the dollar amount that makes a family whole for the loss of an individual.  They consider everything from how the loss impacts a family and the community by listening to evidence about the decedent (the person who was killed) and the decedent’s family/friends.  But now that this information exists, we ask: if you were sitting on a jury, would you substitute the collective wisdom of the group (as our founders intended) or would you rely on the information in the government stats?  We would love to hear your thoughts on this very difficult topic and, who knows, maybe one of our readers will end up on a jury and have to decide this exact thing!

Buyer beware!  These companies claim to protect their customers from unexpected and expensive auto bills for a low monthly fee of $50-$150.  Our office has been getting calls from customers who find out the hard way that these companies, similar to insurance providers, try and deny as many claims as possible to save money.  If they do not deny the claim outright, they stipulate they only cover low labor costs, oftentimes using after market or salvaged parts for the repairs or they may only pay a portion of the bill if new rather than salvaged parts were used for the repairs.  Understandably, many reputable mechanics blacklist these companies, especially if the mechanics provide their own warranty on the repair.  Mechanics do not like to provide warranties on salvaged auto parts, which means that it can be hard to find a shop that will work with the warranty company and, even if you find one, the repairs may not be what you expect.

CarShield paid a Federal Trade Commission fine last year of $10 million dollars for false advertising.  That’s a huge fine, but they were also barred from allowing celebrity endorsers to make false misrepresentations (as one would hope).  Endurance, another popular company, was hit with a class action case for consistently failing to honor car repair contracts by intentionally delaying repairs or denying large portions of the mechanic billing.

While these companies may offer some protection, it can be limited and may take significant time and effort to get repairs covered.  Rather than paying the monthly premiums to a warranty company, we suggest putting that money into an emergency savings fund to build a significant cushion after a few months in case a repair becomes necessary.

From time to time, clients call and ask which type of cases we handle.  Our practice is built on referrals from satisfied clients.  We know that if we work hard and do a good job for our clients, they will tell their friends about us.  The best compliment from a former client is that client entrusting us with the potential case of their friend or family.  Our office specializes in the following cases:

1. Personal Injury (auto collisions, trucking, motorcycle, slip and fall, dog bites)
2. Work Injuries
3. Traffic tickets and DUI/DWI

If you know someone that meets these criteria, please have them call our office.  If someone does not quite fit the above criteria, please still have the prospective referral give us a call as we can usually help the person find the right attorney via a referral.

Thank you very much to everyone who already left a review, we appreciate it!  If you have not left one and have some kind words, we would appreciate the time.