Articles Posted in Lawyers

| by

After decades of dealing with insurance adjusters in personal injury cases, this Syracuse personal injury attorney has come up with his personal list of do’s and don’ts in his dealings with them.  I published my first two rules yesterday here.  Below are the last three rules for dealing with a personal injury insurance adjuster:

Rule # 3:  Know the Medical Records Better than the Adjuster

When adjusters calls me, I often put them into voicemail so I can review the medical records and highlight the key facts before speaking to them.  I then call them back with the highlighted records in front of me.  Now I am ready to talk.  That’s because adjusters often have a “cherry-pick” method of discussing a case.  They take only selective quotes from doctors that supports their position that the injuries are not so bad.  But it won’t work with me.  I am ready to cherry-pick back at them.  The adjusters will quickly see I am no pushover and they are going to have to deal with me, and with ALL the medical records, not just their selective reading of them.  Believe me, it’s worth the effort.

Continue Reading ›

| by

After decades of dealing with insurance adjusters in personal injury cases, this Syracuse personal injury attorney has come up with his personal list of do’s and don’ts in his dealings with them.  Check my five hard-and-fast rules here:

Rule #1:  Do Not Allow Your Client to Give a Recorded Statement

This is rule number 1.  It’s hard for me to figure out why insurance adjusters keep asking for this.  I can only assume it’s because some personal injury lawyers are dumb naïve enough to allow them.  The adjusters try to sell the recorded interview by telling you that, once they have it, the case is more likely to settle.  They will say it will help them assess liability and your client’s credibility.  As long as your client is truthful, what have you got to lose?

Continue Reading ›

| by

As a New York personal injury lawyer, I know that words are weapons.  When I prepare to try a personal injury lawsuit, I arm myself with the word-weapons I will parade before the jury.  They are arrows in my quiver.  I carefully pick them, and fine tune, and then deploy them.  I am the general, the commander, and they are my infantry, my soldiers. Below I will give you some examples of how I choose and deploy my soldiers for battle.

But before I do, let me tell you that words are also my enemies.  Certain words will forever be banned from my trial lexicon.  The prime example is the word “accident”.  Whether my client was injured in a car collision, or in a scaffold collapse, or slipped and fell in a supermarket, you can sit through the entire trial and never hear the word “accident” spill out of my lips.  I will never say “car accident”.  I will say “collision” or “crash”.

Why?  The whole premise of a personal injury trial is that the plaintiff’s horrific injuries were no “accident” at all.  They were caused by the NEGLIGENCE or CARELESSNESS of the defendant.  The word “accident” implies that no one is to blame.  An accident simply happens.  In popular jargon, this is expressed as , “s_ _ _ happens”.  The whole point of my personal injury trial is to prove that s_ _ _ did not just “happen”.  Rather, the defendant MADE it happen by CHOOSING to cut corners, not pay attention, allow himself to be distracted, or whatever.

Continue Reading ›

| by

Becky Kinney                                                           Michel Tortorello

This Syracuse/Auburn NY injury lawyer is proud of his staff!  Before I tell you why, let me give you a little background.

First, working in a New York personal injury firm, whether in the Syracuse area or elsewhere, is stressful.  Litigation can be intense.  The pressure to get papers out on time, and in perfect order, is sometimes overwhelming.  When an attorney is about to go to trial, reams of binders, exhibits, and copies must be produced.  And you know who gets stuck with all that hard work?  The lawyers?  Hell no!  Staff.  And who has to deal with a stressed-out-on-edge lawyer?  Staff.

Continue Reading ›

| by

I get calls and emails all the time from people seeking a New York personal injury lawyer.  One of the first questions I ask them is, “have you talked to any other lawyers”?  Often the answer is yes.  That’s a bad sign.  I am usually going to turn that case down. If other New York personal injury lawyers have rejected the case, chances are there were good reasons.

So my next question is:  “Why did those other lawyers turn your case down”?  Common answer:  “They said I have a good case but they are too busy to take it”.  Yes, many lawyers will claim they are “too busy” to take a case to avoid having to explain to a caller what is wrong with their case.  “Too busy” is just two words.  It takes two seconds.  Explaining why the case is no good involves a dialogue and some explaining.  Most lawyers don’t have the patience for this so they opt for the “too-busy” excuse.

At my law firm, we are different.  When we turn a case down, it is never because we are “too busy”.  No New York personal injury lawyer in his right mind would turn down a case for that reason.  In our view, it is dishonest to turn a case down for that reason.  If it is a good case, any New York personal injury lawyer worth his salt will take it.  A lawyer is never “too busy” to take a good case, only a bad case.

Continue Reading ›

| by

Happy New Year’s readers!   In my last blog I talked about my New Year’s plan to volunteer on a week-long assignment in an immigrant detention center near the Texas-Mexico border. I was to help asylum seekers advance their claims.  Not really in my wheelhouse, since I am a New York personal injury lawyer.  But I speak Spanish, and am married to a Guatemalan, and wanted to help out with all the Central Americans claiming asylum on our border right now.  I am writing now to report that my efforts were successful.  Here is an article by a reporter at the Finger Lakes Times about my journey.  Thanks for reading!

Mike Bersani

BORDERLINE: PART II: Freedom fighter

Continue Reading ›

| by

Most lawyers, whether they make their living representing personal injury victims or others, have a few heroes who inspire them to fight the good fight, to go above and beyond, and to be courageous warriors for their cause.  We at Michaels Bersani Kalabanka are no different.  So let us tell you about one of our heroes, George Michaels.

To tell the George Michaels story, we need to take a walk through the New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center (located right next to the historic William H. Seward museum and about a mile from the Harriet Tubman home, in our home town of Auburn, New York), which had its grand opening on November 13, 2018. The Center celebrates New York State’s progressive history of promoting social and equal rights by luminaries such as Harriet Tubman.

As we start our tour, the first thing we see is a seven-and-a-half-foot commemorative statue of Harriet Tubman, which adorns the entrance.

Continue Reading ›

| by

We are proud to announce that U.S. News & World Report  has once again honored Michaels Bersani Kalabanka with its “first tier” ranking in its “Best Lawyers in America” listings for personal injury litigation firms in the Syracuse, New York metropolitan area. In the 2019 edition, just as past editions, the firm was ranked “first-tier” in the categories of both “personal injury” and “product liability”.

These days, personal injury trial lawyers like us are bombarded with letters and “announcements” notifying us that we have been selected as part of an “elite group” of trial lawyers.  These letters go on to tout the very “stringent requirements” that attorneys must meet in order to qualify for the elite listing.  Only a very small percentage of lawyers, the letters say, have been selected.  And guess what?  YOU have been selected!

There’s only one hitch:  You have to pay for it.  These type of “award” or “honor” letters almost always end with a sentence like this: “to have your name registered as a member of this select group of top attorneys, simply make payment of (a few hundred dollars) to ____”.

Continue Reading ›

| by

I hate to break it to you, but despite all the cute auto insurance ads on TV, insurance companies are not “nice guys”.  At least not if you were injured through the negligence of their insured.  You have to understand this very important fact right from the get-go:  In personal injury litigation, insurance companies are not your friend.  They are not a “good neighbor”.  They are not a cute little lizard.  They are not “by your side”.  You are not in “good hands” with them.  They are a business.  Their business is to pay you as little as possible on your claim so they can yield a bigger profit.

Case in point:  Last week I settled a case for a woman who fell off a horse at a local riding stable during a riding lesson in upstate New York (near Syracuse).  It was her first time on a horse. The saddle spun around while she tried to mount, throwing her to the ground, where she suffered a serious femur fracture.  Turns out she weighed more than the saddle setup could handle. The stable owners knew it, but failed to warn her.  Here was the original position the insurance company took (you need to click the image to read it):

After we got that letter, we sued  the stable owners.  We then took the deposition testimony of the owners and witnesses.  The insurance company lawyers then asked the trial judge to toss out our case because our client had “assumed the risk” of horse riding lessons, and had signed the waiver.  The trial judge dismissed our case.   We then appealed to the appellate court in Rochester, New York, got the trial judge reversed, and the case reinstated.  Last week, at a mediation, we settled the case for $130,000, which by the way was the amount of money we always thought the case was worth.

Continue Reading ›

| by

M&S’ senior law partner, Lee S. Michaels, is not only a top New York personal injury lawyer, but also an award winning adjunct professor at Syracuse College of Law.  He teaches young soon-to-be lawyers how to try a court case.  This is called “trial practice” in law school.  The Syracuse College of Law website recently featured an article about Lee’s amazing trial teaching techniques.

Lee’s trial teaching philosophy is simple:  The best way to learn to try a case is – well – to try a case.  So his students all have to try one to get their final grade. It’s just a simulated trial, sure, but a very realistic one nevertheless.  The students take on roles such as prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer, and witnesses in a fictitious criminal trial.

Lee tries to make the simulated trial as realistic as possible, “with a little help from his friends”.  He calls on former students – now judges – to act as trial judges.  Lee’s class’ most recent  “trials” starred Auburn NY’s City Judge David Thurston and US Northern District Magistrate Judge Thérèse Dancks, both former students of Lee’s. Also participating were Auburn City Judge Michael McKeon and Lee’s former student Kevin Kuehner, a Syracuse trial lawyer

Continue Reading ›
Contact Information
Auburn Office
17 E Genesee St #401
Auburn, NY 13021
Phone: 315.253.3293Fax Number: 315.252.6970
Liverpool Office
245 Commerce Blvd
Liverpool, NY 13088
Phone: 315.253.3293Fax Number: 315.252.6970
Syracuse Office
499 S Warren St #513
Syracuse, NY 13202
Phone: 315.253.3293Fax Number: 315.252.6970
Geneva Office
20 Maxwell Ave
Geneva, NY 14456
Phone: 315.253.3293Fax Number: 315.252.6970
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2024, Michaels Bersani Kalabanka
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design