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You should not be worrying about paying medical bills. You should not be worrying about anything else. You should be focusing on getting better and letting your attorney handle the other parts. And if you have an attorney that is doing that the other way, you got the wrong attorney.
David Craig – Host:
I’m attorney, David Craig, managing partner, and one of the founders of the law firm of Craig, Kelley, and Faultless. I’ve represented people who have been seriously injured or who have had a family member killed in a semi or other big truck wreck for over 30 years. Following the wreck, their lives are chaos. Often, they don’t even know enough about the process to ask the right questions. It is my goal to empower you by providing you with the information you need to protect yourself and your family. In each and every episode, I will interview top experts and professionals that are involved in truck wreck cases. This is After the Crash.
David Craig – Host:
I’m here today with Robyn Pardekooper. Robyn is kind of a unique guest in that Robyn was a prior client of mine. I thought that it would be enlightening for those folks out there listening to listen to a client’s perspective. And Robyn was kind enough to agree to do this. Robyn, thank you very much for being a guest on our podcast.
Robyn Pardekooper:
No problem.
David Craig – Host:
So, Robyn, I think as a client, you went through the whole process. You had the misfortune of being in a really bad wreck where you got severely injured. So, you had to go through the healing process and the rehab process. On top of that, you had to go through the litigation process all the way through trial. We are not here today to talk about dollars or numbers or those type of things, but we’re here to talk about what the process is like. And I can’t think of a better person than you because you went through the whole thing.
David Craig – Host:
So, I guess let’s start off with just the initial trauma. It was horrific. I mean, you were injured. You hurt your leg very badly. Just walk us through the challenges of a physical injury on top of the litigation process, just in general.
The Challenges of a Physical Injury During the Litigation Process
Robyn Pardekooper:
Okay. Well, I fractured my left femur. So, I was initially in the accident, I was hit by a car actually. Then I was in the ICU for a week. I was a single mom. I had three small kids. So, my oldest, I think at the time was six or seven. Then my youngest, I believe was three or four. So, you can imagine it was pretty hard. I couldn’t go straight home after the that, because I wasn’t able to take care of myself, let alone three small kids.
Robyn Pardekooper:
So, after I got released, I was using a walker. So, I went home to my parents because I needed 24-hour care. Other than going to a rehab center where I wouldn’t be able to see my kids at all, that was the best thing for me. That way my parents could still watch my kids and I could still see them. It would keep my spirits up.
David Craig – Host:
I remember, because I met you at your parents’ house when I first met you, and you had rods through your leg, and an immobilizer. It was very bad. Like you said, you could have easily gone into a rehab facility where they would’ve kept you and taken care of you, but you wanted to be with your kids. I mean, you wanted to see your kids some and you wanted to be with your parents.
David Craig – Host:
But I can remember, I mean, it wasn’t like that your family was ready for anything. I mean, these things are unpredictable. You don’t expect them. You don’t plan for them. So, all of a sudden, one day your life is going down this one path, and then the next day you’re faced with this.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Right. I mean, I was very independent. My parents lived on the opposite side of town that I lived on and my ex-husband, so that wasn’t easy for him to try to get the kids to my parents back and forth. So, there were difficulties there because I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t help. My parents weren’t retired. So, they were still working, but trying to help. There’s a lot of things that are going through your head at the time other than just trying to get better. You have kids. You’re scared about the financial aspect. You still have bills to pay. I didn’t have a spouse.
Robyn Pardekooper:
I didn’t have a second income. So, there was a lot of other things that are going through your head other than who am I going to get for an attorney. That was the last thing that was on my mind. I was just worried about seeing my kids honestly and just trying to focus on, “Okay, how can I start walking again so I can move and help my parents help with my kids?” Because as a mom, that’s the hardest thing not being able to take care of your kids.
David Craig – Host:
I think that is true with the clients that I’ve signed up. I’ve been doing this for over 35 years, and one of the things that surprises people is that nobody ever really hires me necessarily because of the money. Nobody wants to make the phone call to hire an attorney. People are just worried about how are they going to take care of the bills. In your case, I mean, you had a lot of bills. You’re not working. You’re not able to do that. You’re not able to take care of your kids. You don’t know at that point, early on, how long is it going to take you to get better. Are you going to get better?
David Craig – Host:
So, at some point, usually people around you recommend that my clients get an attorney, but that’s not why people call. People don’t call because they want a bunch of money. They call because they’re scared, they’re worried, and they need help taking care of the things that they’ve lost.
Hiring an Attorney to Help with the Case
Robyn Pardekooper:
Right. I honestly didn’t even know where to start. Hiring an attorney was so foreign to me. I would have never thought that in my life I would have to hire an attorney. In fact, when my ex-husband and I got a divorce, we just agreed upon everything. So, we didn’t have to hire attorneys for that. We’re very civil with each other. I hadn’t had an attorney in my life before that. So, I didn’t know where to start. I lucked out that someone recommended you to me, so that helped.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Because it hadn’t even crossed my mind that I need an attorney. Like I said, I was just focused on my kids and where I was going to go and how soon I could get back home to be closer to their dad and get them back into their bedrooms and for them to be in their surroundings.
David Craig – Host:
Let’s talk about when you hire an attorney. I’m very fortunate that I got the chance to represent you, but I mean other people are in the same boat you were in. They don’t know, and they’ve never thought about it. What do you think is important in picking a law firm, an attorney? But obviously, there’s a lot of people that work on a case and you spend a lot of time with them because it’s not done within a week.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Right.
David Craig – Host:
So, what do you think is important? If people are out there and they’re listening to this and they’re considering hiring a lawyer, what type of things do you think are important for them to think about?
What Is Important When Choosing An Attorney for Your Case?
Robyn Pardekooper:
Oh, gosh. Okay. So, this one’s huge. This one’s really important. There were a couple things. First, I was in the accident. I was a passenger. So first, I had met with an attorney who was representing the driver. It was his attorney. I had met his attorney first, but I had to go with him to his office. It didn’t feel right to me because I was struggling. I was on a walker, and I was struggling to get into his office. He didn’t have an elevator and he didn’t come down to see me.
Robyn Pardekooper:
I was struggling to get on the stairs, and I’m thinking this guy should be coming to me. He knows the shape I’m in, and he’s not coming downstairs to even meet me. So, I thought this doesn’t sit right with me. I left and I said, “I need to think about this.” Then a friend recommended you and I thought, “Okay, let me call.” So, when I called you, the first thing you said, I didn’t have to ask, you said, “Let me come to you. There’s no reason you should have to leave that house or try to find somebody to drive to my office.”
Robyn Pardekooper:
That was the number one sign that made a big impact for me because the other guy wasn’t trying to help me at all, and you came to my parents’ house, and you didn’t try to make me come to the door or anything. You came to the couch. You just came to me, sat down, made everybody feel comfortable, and that was a huge impact.
Robyn Pardekooper:
I was ready to sign papers right away just because of that, because you felt like family right away. You didn’t judge anything. You didn’t judge all the kids’ stuff laying around because there’s no way I could clean up anything. I couldn’t move all the medical stuff that was in the way, and immediately I just felt like family.
Robyn Pardekooper:
So, after that, because we were involved for years because it goes on and on, you had to meet with family of mine, friends of mine, past coworkers of mine. Every single one of them said the same thing, “Oh, there’s candy in his office and he’s so nice.” I just felt really comfortable. I think that’s huge because I think if they are going to feel uncomfortable going already to an attorney’s office, I want to make my family and friends know that, “Hey, he’s a really nice guy and he’s going to make you feel at home.”
Robyn Pardekooper:
Go in there and just know that he’s going to be wearing a sweatshirt or a hoodie and it’s not going to be what you think. He’s just going to talk to you like your family. I think that is huge because people are scared of attorneys, so that’s the first thing. Make sure that it’s somebody that you want to sit down with that you could feel comfortable on a weekend like sitting next to you at a soccer game or hanging out at a bonfire. If they’re not somebody that you would want to sit next to you, you probably shouldn’t hire them.
David Craig – Host:
I think that’s great advice. I wrote a book called Semitruck Wrecks: A Guide for the Victims and Their Families, and one of the things I suggest in there is interview the lawyers. If you have a couple, narrow it down to a couple, and then go meet them because you are going to spend so much time with them and their staff. If they’re not the right fit for you, if your gut doesn’t feel right, then don’t hire that person. Interview somebody else.
David Craig – Host:
Any lawyer should be willing to sit down, be interviewed, talk to the clients for nothing and not make them feel obligated to sign up or whatever. I mean, if a lawyer is pushing too hard, then that’s probably the wrong lawyer as well. You need to feel comfortable because like you said, we were in this for years together. I’ve had other clients tell me that. I actually had one client who was really, really severely injured. He was in a wheelchair.
David Craig – Host:
His whole body was demolished and smashed up. And another law firm, a prominent lawyer said, “I’ll send a limo over to your house and pick you up and bring you to my office.” And they called me as well. I didn’t know that, and I said, “I’ll come to your house because it’s got to be painful for you to move and hard.” His house was over an hour, almost two hours, away from my office.
David Craig – Host:
He’s like, “Well, you’re willing to come here?” I said, “Absolutely. I can’t imagine if it was my own son or my wife, I would never make them go do that.” I wouldn’t treat anybody any differently. I wouldn’t treat a stranger different than my own family, and that’s why they hired me. They interviewed the other lawyer, but the other lawyer thought that it was very impressive to go send a limousine to pick them up. The people thought it was horrible. It was just a horrible idea.
David Craig – Host:
I think that tells you a lot. I mean, in this business, in a personal injury business and wrongful death, lawyers and personal injury lawyers, we have to be compassionate. We have to care about people. Not everybody does. Like anything else, there’s good and bad. You did the right thing. Your gut told you in the very beginning, “Okay. Well, maybe this isn’t the right thing for me.” I would encourage anybody listening to this that you interview the lawyers and talk to them and find out and ask them questions. Don’t be afraid.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Yeah, absolutely. There are going to be times during this process that you are going to call, and you are going to be crying on the phone to this person, and you want to know that they are, like you said, compassionate. They’re not going to say, “Hey, I don’t have time for this” or “What’s the problem with your case?” You want to know that this is a person that cares about you and that says, “You’re going to be okay and let’s talk about it.” It’s a very emotional process. There are ups and there are downs, and there are a lot more downs than ups.
Robyn Pardekooper:
You really have to know that person cares about your wellbeing and can help you get through this because your family can only do so much. They don’t really know what you are going through. They only know the physical part, but they don’t understand what going through trial is like or what going through mediation is like. They don’t understand it. So, sometimes the only person you can cry to is your attorney or the staff, whoever answers the phone. I know I cry too.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Sometimes it’s the receptionist or whatever. I’m sure that they were like, “Oh, here’s Robyn again,” but it was always fine. I know that the paralegal sometimes cried with me, and it was so comforting because they understood. They knew what I was going through. They were so kind and caring. I always felt like everybody was family and willing to help and offer suggestions. Like I said, your family is not going to know exactly what you are going through.
David Craig – Host:
I think that in this case, in your case, and like most of my cases that I handle where my clients are severely injured, that it’s tough because they have to deal with the pain and the finances and the scary, “Am I going to get better? Am I going to be able to take care of my kids? How’s this going to affect me down the road?”, and all those things. Plus, then they have to deal with a law firm, and they have to deal with the litigation.
David Craig – Host:
Then in cases like yours, which is not uncommon, it’s even worse because the person who causes the injury never apologized at the scene and never came over to even see if you were okay. I mean, you had a horrendous injury that was visible, and it was obviously noticeable. You were hurt really bad, and this person never even came over to see if they could help or what they could do.
David Craig – Host:
Unfortunately, that’s not that uncommon. Then you get in the litigation process and the lawyers that are hired oftentimes don’t make it any better. The lawyers on the other side, instead of accepting responsibility on behalf of their client, a lot of times they fight and try to make the victim the person that’s under attack. That’s not just your case, but that’s most of my cases. That’s got to make this whole process even worse.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Yeah. When I went through mediation, I was not expecting that. The other guy’s attorney was not nice. I expected attorneys to be similar to you, and that was not what I got. That was really tough. I would say that is a huge reason, not the only reason, but that might be a big reason why I decided to go to trial. I thought I’m not going to make this easy on them. I am going to ride this out and I’ve suffered. I’ve went through this whole thing and I’m going, “I’m tough. I can do this and I’m going to make them…” Because I knew that they didn’t want to go to trial because it’s time, it’s money.
Robyn Pardekooper:
I knew he didn’t want to put his client through it, but I thought I don’t care to waste their time and money because they didn’t care about me at all, and they made that very clear. So, I would say that I knew that I could do hard things. I had done hard things for the last couple of years and that was the final step of me for myself of saying, “You can do this and you’re going to do this to say take that.” I think that that was a huge final push for me, I guess.
David Craig – Host:
A lot of clients tell me that. I mean, a lot of clients tell me that if they had apologized in the very beginning, if they accept responsibility in the very beginning, if they say they’re sorry and how can they help make it right, then a lot of times they could get off paying less because my clients are human beings as well, and they care. If somebody feels sorry or feels badly about what they’ve done, I mean, I teach my kids that we’re all going to make mistakes. When I was raising my kids, I said, “You’re going to make mistakes, but when you do make them, you say you’re sorry and then you offer to try to fix it in the best that you can.” That’s all we can do as human beings.
David Craig – Host:
Instead, the defense doesn’t do that a lot of times. Sometimes there are some out there who do, but most of them don’t. So instead of saying, “I’m sorry. How do I make it right? Let me help you.” They attack.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Yeah.
David Craig – Host:
That’s just extraordinarily frustrating. I do think that it ultimately costs them more money because their clients get upset.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Well, and it’s clear that there’s no way that I could have any guilt. I was a passenger. There was nothing to even say about me because I was a passenger. There’s no way I could be guilty of anything, and they still tried to pull up everything they could about me and my past everything. So that was a huge like, what are you doing? You’re attacking the wrong person. I am just an innocent passenger. Like I said there’s no reason for me not to go to trial.
David Craig – Host:
I think one of the other things when we talked about picking an attorney is that it’s your case and my job is to give you advice and help you through the process, but it’s not to boss you around or to tell you what to do. So, with my clients, I always tell them I’m not going to force you to go to trial, but I’m also not going to force you to settle. It’s your choice. I am here to help you and do whatever you want. Unfortunately, there are some lawyers out there who try to force their clients to settle rather than go to trial.
Ask Your Lawyer How Often They Go to Trial
David Craig – Host:
So, one of the other things that I would encourage people to ask when they’re interviewing the lawyers is how often do they go to trial. If somebody is never going to trial or they’re not going to trial in a case like yours, then you may want to consider that when you’re weighing, picking a lawyer. I go to trial, my firm goes to trial, but I also settle. I mean, I will do what my clients ask me to do. My job is just to give you my advice.
David Craig – Host:
It’s like my doctor. My doctor tells me I should quit eating hot dogs and drinking beer as much, and that’s my doctor’s job. I don’t get mad at my doctor for telling me that, but I make the decision, and I keep eating hot dogs and drinking beer.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Right.
David Craig – Host:
I think that you want a lawyer who respects your opinion when you decided, “Well, I’m going to go to trial.” Then, that’s what we did. We went to trial.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Right. I tell my kids, “I make suggestions. You make decisions.” That’s exactly what it is. I mean, it’s just like raising teenagers. You try to tell them, but they’re going to do what they want to do. It’s kind of like that. I didn’t know, when I was meeting with you, I didn’t know to ask those questions, because like I said, I had never done this before, but you’re right. There are important things that you should know, and that I don’t think people are aware of.
Robyn Pardekooper:
That was one of them that I was very naive to, that I wouldn’t have known. I got lucky that a friend suggested you. I did luck out because I’m so thankful that I didn’t get an attorney that was like, “Oh no. I’ve never done trial,” or I don’t want to do it because you never steered away from it. You just said, “These are our options. What do you want to do?”
David Craig – Host:
A lot of times they’ll offer more money. They won’t settle at mediation, then they offer a lot more money right before trial. At that point some lawyers will say, “Okay. Well, now you need to take it.” With us, it was more of, “Okay. What do you want me to do?” If you want me to tell your story, then let’s go tell your story. You chose, “Let’s go tell the story.”
David Craig – Host:
I think that was extraordinarily brave of you. A lot of people are afraid to go in front of a jury, but you’re tough. You were tough when you got this injury. You were tough before you got this injury, but you always impressed me with your resilience and your strength and your independence. I would encourage people who are listening to this, to be brave, to listen, but go with your heart and do what you want to do.
Robyn Pardekooper:
I will say that most people are tough and brave. They just don’t think that they are, but they are. Before my divorce, I was a stay-at-home mom, and I was probably not the same person that you even knew because I was a timid, stay at home mom. I was forced to be a little bit more independent. Then, my accident happened, and I thought, “I got to get better. My kids are active. They’re young and I’m a mom. I got to do this. I got to fight. I got to go out there.”
Robyn Pardekooper:
So, I think everyone has it in them. So, for anybody watching this, if you think that you don’t have it or you’re not brave enough, you’re wrong. You do. Everyone has this in them that you just have to have the courage to go through with it.
Robyn Pardekooper:
If mediation seems scary, and it is, you can do it. Even doing this podcast, I was scared. I was nervous. I mean, I told you before we started, I’m nervous. The whole time leading up to this whole past week, I’ve been, “Oh, I’m nervous. I’m nervous to talk about it. I’m nervous about it,” because anytime you bring up something from the past, it’s scary, but you can do it. You can do hard things. You can get past it.
Robyn Pardekooper:
So, anybody watching this, you can do it. You’re brave and fight for what you think is the right choice. What is the best thing for you? If that is taking the settlement and not doing trial, then okay, but if you think that you should go to trial, do it, and it’s okay. It’s okay if they try to say whatever about you or whatever. Go up on trial, say your peace. It’s okay. Because 95% of whatever is said or done is going to be forgotten about.
Robyn Pardekooper:
And the people that love you will love you no matter what is said about you. You walk through those doors, and then you walk out with the same people that loved you just the same. So, it really doesn’t matter. Go in there, say your peace. You will feel better that you did it because the people that love you and care about you are still going to be there.
David Craig – Host:
I think jurors are not idiots. Jurors are ordinary people like the rest of us and they listen to this, and they listen to what’s important. If your lawyer is experienced and knows how to try cases, then they’re going to hopefully be able to turn that on the other side. Again, in your case they never accepted responsibility. They never said they were sorry. At the end of the trial, I raised that and brought that to the jury’s attention is that why we’re here is because these people refused to accept the responsibility even through the trial process.
David Craig – Host:
They still never said they were sorry, and they still attacked. The jury got it and gave us a lot more than they even offered at mediation. I believe jurors are like that. I believe jurors try to do the right thing. If you go in and tell your story like you did, it doesn’t really matter, all the other stuff that has nothing to do with you or your injury or the case. The jury is not dumb. They understand that.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Yeah. Even after my case was done, I was outside of the courthouse and I had quite a few of them that came up to me and they asked questions, which was really nice, because there’s some things that don’t get brought up. They had things to ask me. They were so curious about this or that, and I thought that was neat. I was happy to answer things, but they’re just ordinary people. I mean, they are moms, and they are dads. They are normal people that were interested in the process and really just want to help out the good guy.
Robyn Pardekooper:
So, I thought it was really neat to watch the whole thing from the beginning to see how the jury is picked and to watch your attorney. I thought, “Oh, we should keep them,” and you guys decided, “No, we’re not going to pick them.” You guys obviously know what you’re doing more than me, but it was interesting to watch. So, I mean, if you think that you might want to do it, it is a neat process to watch. So, I honestly don’t regret doing it, even though it wasn’t an easy thing.
David Craig – Host:
In the whole process, I guess one of the harder things that folks need to know about, I assume, are the depositions and the mediation. Obviously, what you’re going through physically and mentally, but from the lawsuit standpoint for you, what were the biggest challenges?
What Are the Biggest Challenges in a Lawsuit?
Robyn Pardekooper:
Just leading up to the trial was pretty emotional because I was not prepared for court dates to get pushed back over and over because I didn’t know anything about it. I think mine got pushed back three or four times. They don’t get rescheduled for months at a time typically. So, mine was pushed back enough where it was probably a good year or year and a half from the first one to the actual final one.
Robyn Pardekooper:
So, that was one thing where you think you’re going to go to trial, and then, you think again. So, you mentally start preparing and then it doesn’t happen. That, I think was hard. When it finally did come about, it’s just nerve-wracking. That was the first time I ever even saw the guy that hit me because when the accident happened, I landed far from the scene, and he never came over.
Robyn Pardekooper:
I never saw him during the whole thing. I never had laid eyes on him, so that was pretty emotional. There were some witnesses that went up there, and there were things that even though I was conscious, which is pretty amazing. I was conscious, but you don’t remember some things about it. I think there was a lady up there that said that I screamed. I remember crying pretty hard during the trial. I don’t know why that upset me, but that’s hard when you’re getting very emotional and there’s a courtroom full of people and jurors.
Robyn Pardekooper:
I guess that part is kind of hard, the actual trial part, because you are rehashing some pretty deep emotions that you’ve put aside. If you’re doing this right, you are focusing on just getting better and you’re not really thinking about the accident or whatever happened over and over.
Robyn Pardekooper:
I had pushed back a lot of memories because I was so focused on, okay, I got this surgery and I got rehab. I’ve got to do this and this. I’m raising kids, and I was doing all these things to get better. I really hadn’t thought about the accident. So, when that trial came, there was a lot of emotions that got rehashed, and it was in front of a lot of people.
Robyn Pardekooper:
So, I would say that that was huge, and having to watch my mom and my sister and all of them hear it and them crying. That was hard because I hadn’t told them some details because you don’t want to upset loved ones. They’re already watching enough to see you go through surgeries and recovery and all that. So, to talk about the details was a whole other thing that you hadn’t really discussed. So just to be prepared about your family, and seeing pictures, because pictures get blown up and details. There’s a lot of things, a lot of emotions in the trial.
David Craig – Host:
A lot of times clients tell me that they’re a little hesitant. They don’t want to bother a family and have them testify and have the lawyers deal with that. In your case, I mean, you had a wonderful support group. You’re a wonderful person, so you had a lot of friends. You had a lot of people who wanted to come talk about you and how tough you are and what you went through.
David Craig – Host:
I find that with most clients that there are people who want to come help, and it’s not inconvenient. They don’t mind it at all. They’re happy to come into the courtroom, and they’re nervous just like you are, but they want to make sure that the jury understands the full story. So, your family, your friends, and your people who knew you and knew what you went through were key witnesses, just like they are in so many cases. They were happy to be there to help support you. That’s true with everybody. They shouldn’t feel guilty about having their family help because I know you would have gone to help any of them if they needed it, and they’re always happy to help you.
Robyn Pardekooper:
It’s true. When you’re on the sidelines, it’s hard because for so long you don’t want to burden them anymore, and then you feel like you are. I don’t know. There’s a lot of emotional things that come out, but you shouldn’t feel bad because your family is there, and they want to be there, and they want to see it go through because they know that you’ve fought for so long. You shouldn’t feel bad because I know that my mom wanted to be there.
Robyn Pardekooper:
She wanted to see the man too that hit me. Not because she had anything to say to him, but she needed closure just like I did. She was just as invested as I was. She’s a mom. So, she needed closure the same way. If I would’ve just settled, I don’t think my mom would’ve had that closure. She was still driving by the accident scene. She was still dealing with some emotional stuff that I hadn’t even realized because I was so focused on me that we hadn’t even talked about what my mom was going through.
David Craig – Host:
I don’t know which family member it was or whether it was somebody else, but during my closing arguments, it was the only time I’ve ever had somebody say Amen out loud in front of the jury.
Robyn Pardekooper:
It was my mom.
David Craig – Host:
Then, hearing the judge gavel. My job was to make sure that the jury understood the harm that had been caused and what you all had been through, and it was a lot. Again, you were brave to do that and I’m hoping that other people who are listening to this can get the strength to make up their minds on their own. The lawyer should be there as a guide. The lawyer should be there to help and assist, but really, it’s the client’s decision on what to do.
David Craig – Host:
One last thing, I remember on your case the insurance company lied, and I won’t say who it is, but they lied about how much insurance there was in the very beginning. They said there was only a certain amount of money which would not have been enough to even pay your bills probably or very little. They lied. It wasn’t until we got further into filing a lawsuit and did discovery that we found out that this guy had an umbrella, an excess policy, a large excess policy.
David Craig – Host:
I worry about how many folks, again, if they go to the wrong lawyer that doesn’t know to look into these things, and they could settle for that low amount thinking they got all the money. When in fact, they said they didn’t lie. They said that when they looked in the computer, they didn’t see it, but the reality is that you just wonder how often that happens.
David Craig – Host:
I would encourage people to, again, pick a lawyer, not only who you interview, who you’re comfortable with, but somebody that has some experience and someone who has been through this before and knows what to look for because the difference in your case would’ve been catastrophic if a lawyer would’ve taken the first limits.
David Craig – Host:
I actually think the lawyer who represented the other person involved in that wreck thought that it was all there was and what they had told me. I think you would probably agree. I think finding somebody who you can relate to, somebody who’s empathetic and who has a staff behind them, that’s caring and that’s there, that answers your phone and talks to you whenever you need it, but also, somebody who is knowledgeable and who knows what they’re doing.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Yeah, absolutely. I think their attorney missed a couple of major things because he wasn’t knowledgeable about a few things that his client was doing. He was an older gentleman. Not the attorney, but the guy that hit me, and he was covering for some things. I don’t think he wanted to see his client go through trial, which is unfortunate as you age, but you’re still responsible. That’s why you have insurance. I still had medical bills to pay. I still had permanent injuries. I still have them. That’s why you carry insurance. So, he had a responsibility in representing his client to know the laws and to know what his client was responsible for. So, I don’t think he did his part in some things.
David Craig – Host:
Is there anything else that you can think of that having gone through this whole process that you would think that people out there who are just starting the process who have been injured and are scared and hurting, anything else you think they should know that we haven’t talked about?
Robyn Pardekooper:
I don’t think so. I mean, other than just, I’m not this crazy, brave person. I mean, I am, but everyone has this in them. If they tell you to do this, you are capable of doing it. You’re capable of going home and doing it because so many times people would say, “It’s such a miracle that you recovered the way you did.” Yes. I fought for it, but so can you, and so can everyone.
Robyn Pardekooper:
It took a lot of hard work. It’s not like I had some degree in exercise therapy. I don’t have any kind of healing powers or anything like that. I didn’t have money going into this where I was able to afford crazy doctors or anything like that. I had the same resources as anyone else, and probably less because I was a single mom, and I had no money.
Robyn Pardekooper:
So, you can do this, and you are brave, and you can totally go through trial. It is an emotional process, but everyone is able to do this if you want to do it.
David Craig – Host:
I know you worked really hard at getting better, and I think that that’s one of the challenges. When you’re hurt badly, some days I’m sure you felt like I don’t want to go through this, but I will say that you and the clients that I know that do get better and that get as well as good as they can get, they still have limitations and issues, but it’s not easy. You had to work hard to get as good as you got.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Right.
David Craig – Host:
And I would encourage everybody, just like you did is that don’t give up. Fight through the pain, do the best that you can to get better, and then fight. Let your lawyer do the fighting for you in the courtroom, but you worry about working hard to get better.
Robyn Pardekooper:
And if you do it the right way, you hire a really good attorney, like you, and that you’re able to listen to what they say. One of the first things you told me is, “You worry about getting better and let me do the rest.” I honestly did that. I worried about getting better, and then when I would get a bill, I had to send it away. So, when they sent numbers to me, I had no idea what those numbers meant, because I didn’t know what my medical bills were as it should be because I wasn’t adding up any kind of amounts. I was focused on getting better. I listened to your words.
Robyn Pardekooper:
So, if you’re doing this right and you have a good attorney, that is exactly what you should be doing. You should be focusing on getting better and letting your attorney handle the other parts. If you have an attorney that is doing that the other way, you’ve got the wrong attorney, because you should not be worrying about paying medical bills. You should not be worrying about anything else.
Robyn Pardekooper:
I put those medical bills in a stack and whenever I saw you, it was like, “Here you go. I don’t want to see them,” because I’m worried about getting better. That was my only focus. That is exactly how it should have gone. That’s why I was able to not have a ton of stress. Not to say it’s stress-free, but it was a whole lot less because I had a good attorney.
David Craig – Host:
Well, Robyn, thank you so much. On behalf of everybody out there listening, I appreciate your insights. You’re brave just to come on this podcast. Hopefully, it wasn’t as bad you thought it was. So, thanks very much.
Robyn Pardekooper:
Thank you.
David Craig – Host:
This is David Craig and you’ve been listening to After the Crash. If you’d like more information about me or my law firm, please go to our website, ckflaw.com. Or if you’d like to talk to me, you can call 1-800-ASK-DAVID.
David Craig – Host:
If you would like a guide on what to do after a truck wreck, then pick up my book, Semitruck Wreck: A Guide for Victims and Their Families. This is available on Amazon, or you can download it for free on our website, ckflaw.com.
