A person who is involved in a personal injury case is vulnerable to various parties looking to take advantage of their situation.
They fall victim to slick insurance adjusters, unethical doctors and ambulance chasing attorneys, just to name some. No group of people are more vulnerable to these parties than the historically underprivileged – members of the Latino community. My name is David Baez, I am a personal injury lawyer so I have firsthand knowledge of how my own people are mistreated after being injured as a result of someone’s negligence or fault.
For instance, just recently I was retained by four people who were run over by a drunk driver. One of the victims died. All of the victims were Mexican. All of them were preyed upon. As I was interviewing these folks, who did not speak English, I asked if anyone had called them. I expected them to say that an insurance adjuster had trying calling them because it is routine for them to call and get a statement from the victim of an accident to use it against him/her at a later time. What I didn’t expect to hear was that various attorneys had called them – attorneys who got access to the police reports and called the victims listed in them – unethical ambulance chasing at its worst.
These hard working people are Latino and they speak very little English. They have a limited understanding of the way that personal injury cases work in this country. They considered hiring the lawyers that were preying upon them because they thought what these lawyers were doing was the way things are done in this country. What’s worse is they don’t know of any resources that may be available to them for help. When they go to people in their own community to help, they are often given inappropriate referrals and other misinformation.
The ambulance chasing attorneys that called them would more than likely have provided poor representation. Luckily in this case, a colleague of ours, a well-respected Hispanic lawyer, knew these clients and referred them to us before they signed on with these bottom-rate lawyers.
If you or a loved one have been injured, and would prefer to speak with someone fluent in Spanish, call Willens Law Offices at 312-957-4166.