California Personal Injury Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez
Yes you read the headline of this article correctly; I am sick and tired of ambulance chasers who give ethical personal injury attorneys such as me, a bad name.
An ambulance chaser has been defined by an online dictionary as:
“A lawyer or entrepreneur who hurries to the scene of an accident to try to get the business of any injured persons.”
First of all let me tell all of you something right now, lawyers or their representatives are prohibited from soliciting your business at the scene of an accident in the State of California.
Any attorney who engages in such conduct can face disciplinary proceedings.
If someone is coming up to you at the scene of an accident and recommending an attorney to you; chances are they are engaging in prohibited conduct.
You should never select an attorney based upon a solicitation at the scene of an accident, at your doctor’s office, by the tow truck driver, by a body shop, etc.
Always select someone based upon your own research.
My good friend who is an ex NICB agent, and who now runs an investigative corporation, has told me stories of unethical attorneys illegally paying runners, cappers, doctors, tow truck drivers, body shops, to refer cases to them.
He has also told me stories of personal injury attorneys who are in illegal partnerships with non attorneys to get business.
No attorney can fee share or be in a partnership with a non attorney to get your business.
To be frank, I am absolutely shocked to hear such stories. It is beyond my belief that some unethical attorneys are engaging in such behavior. It is to be frank, despicable.
For attorneys such as me who play by the rules, it is outrageous to think of the poor victims of this type of illegal activity.
Going one step further, you may have recently heard about the explosion in San Bruno and the horrible aftermath.
Sure enough, there are some bottom feeder law firms putting out press releases trying to scavenge business from those poor souls in San Bruno.
Historically in the State of California, attorney advertising was prohibited. In the last several decades attorneys have been allowed to advertise. Some have taken it too far.
I am not against attorneys being allowed to advertise, but I am against what I consider to be ambulance chasing in advertising.
The same thing happened after the Chatsworth Metrorail crash, and many other disasters.
As for me, I am no ambulance chaser. I do not need to be because I am good at what I do.
All of my past and present clients know this to be true. To be good at what you do, you need to actually care about your clients, and get them the money that they deserve.
Ask yourself a question; have you ever heard any other personal injury attorney discussing the topic of this article? Heck No. Do you wonder why? It is the dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about.
Well I am talking about it.
I would like to hear any comments you have. You may comment by clicking the comment link below.
By California Personal Injury Attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © September 15, 2010
As a personal injury attorney in Las Vegas I whole heartedly agree with your rant against ambulance chasers. In fact, we recently had a case where a sleazy lawyer was bribing hospital personnel to gain access to the hospital records and contact information of recently admitted car accident victims.
A person who hires a professional such as an attorney should seek out the attorney, not fall for a sales pitch by someone soliciting for the attorney.
Always hire the best personal injury lawyer for all your injuries (monetary, physical and emotional) caused during accident.