There are four requirements:
First, the member must be injured. There is no coverage if the member’s car is damaged but the member is not injured.
Second, the member must be injured in a car accident caused by another car, not a commercial vehicle, a truck or a motorcycle.
Third, the member must not have any responsibility for causing the accident, i.e. the member must be 100% not at fault, and the person who caused the car accident must be 100% at fault.
Fourth, the car accident must take place in the State of Connecticut.
You can complete the notice of accident report on this website or call ClaimsMax.
ClaimsMax will confirm that you are a member in good standing and will ask your ClaimsMax lawyer to contact you to schedule an appointment.
Your ClaimsMax lawyer makes the determination as to whether a member is a car accident victim.
In most car accidents the police report is sufficient to establish who caused the accident (who is at fault) and who is the accident victim.
If there is no police report or if the ClaimsMax lawyer does not think that the police report is sufficient to determine whether the ClaimsMax member is a victim, then the member must pay for a private investigator. The investigator will conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the accident and prepare a report. The lawyer will review the private investigator’s report with the member and make the final decision as to whether or not the ClaimsMax member is in fact a car accident victim.
You and your ClaimsMax lawyer enter into a written retainer agreement. The agreement will reflect that your ClaimsMax lawyer will not charge you any legal fee, but that you are required to pay for litigation costs and court fees. The agreement will also state that you must cooperate with your lawyer to prosecute your claim, that the lawyer does not agree to represent you in an appeal if your claim goes to trial and you lose at trial, and that the fee is in compliance with Connecticut statutes.
Next, your lawyer collects information about, your medical treatment and costs, and your other losses, including your lost wages. Your ClaimsMax lawyer uses this information to negotiate a settlement of your claim. If your claim does not settle, then your lawyer will file and prosecute a lawsuit against the person who caused the accident.
Litigation costs and court fees vary widely.
Some claims settle without having to file a lawsuit. The costs involved in these claims are usually limited to the cost of obtaining medical bills and records ($.75 per page; set by state statute). Sometimes these costs also include the cost of obtaining a specially prepared report from a medical provider (commonly $500.00).
Some claims settle after filing a lawsuit but without having to prepare for a trial. The additional costs involved in settling these claims include the cost of filing the lawsuit in court ($360), the cost of paying a marshal to serve the lawsuit on the person who caused the accident (between $100-$500) and the cost of having a jury trial ($480).
Some claims settle after preparing for trial or after completing a trial. The costs involved in preparing for a trial and trying a case can be substantial. The additional costs may include the cost of hiring an expert witness, the cost of taking a person’s deposition, fees charged by expert witnesses to attend a deposition ( commonly at least $1,000), and subpoena fees. These costs can total thousands of dollars.
Statistics show that over 95% of car accident claims settle without having to start a trial or before a trials begins.
Generally speaking, the greater the costs of litigation, the greater the recovery.
Generally speaking, the total of litigation costs and court fees in a claim is much less than 1/3 of the recovery.
ClaimsMax is a third-party payer of legal fees. This means that ClaimsMax pays the legal fees for someone else – its members who become car accident victims. Other than selecting the lawyer and paying the lawyer’s fee, ClaimsMax plays no role in the relationship between the ClaimsMax lawyer and the ClaimsMax member. ClaimsMax cannot have access to the member’s confidential information relating to the case or interfere with the lawyer’s independent professional judgment in rendering legal services to the member.
Your ClaimsMax membership covers your legal fees only in cases where you become a car accident victim. You are free to hire your ClaimsMax lawyer for other work, but it is your responsibility to pay all associated legal fees, as agreed between you and the lawyer.
