Our President Fred Litwiniuk was featured on Talk to the Experts with Daryl Hooke. Together they get into some interesting subjects like Fred’s upbringing and what persuaded him to (eventually) join the family business. Fred also answered some listener questions and shared some of Litco Law’s exciting future plans. Read on, dear readers.
Good morning, welcome back to Talk to the Experts, my name is Daryl Hooke, happy to have you with us this morning. Over the past week or so, you may have heard a new name on the air. The name of the company is Litco Law.
And if you’ve heard their commercials, you know that they’re something different. The commercials are a little offbeat and really caught my attention. And if you’ve heard them, you’ve probably been thinking, you know, I’d like to find out more about Litco Law and, well, what luck you’ve come to the right place, because Fred Litwiniuk, President of Litco Law, is with us right now. Litco Law has been supporting Albertans for over forty five years and as they like to say, balancing the power.
And they’ve also been answering people’s legal questions for free. So let’s find out from Fred. Fred, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Daryl. Very happy to be here.
Now, your company has been Litco Law for the past forty five years and you’re now Litco Law. Can you tell us a little bit about that evolution?
Absolutely. My parents, Larry and Marianne, started the company 45 years ago and they started small, but they always had a big vision to help balance the power, which to us means making it a fair fight for the little guy, for the average ordinary, everyday person. And with their first personal injury case, they realized how much good they could do by helping those everyday people who have maybe little to no resources to fight these huge multimillion dollar companies and from there the company was born. We’ve worked mostly in personal injury law over the years, but as we’ve grown and expanded, so have the areas of law that we’re in. So we recently rebranded as Litco Law to better showcase who we really are now.
Must have been interesting for you as a as a kid growing up with the family of lawyers, how aware were you of what your parents did?
To say that I was pretty aware of it would be an understatement. I basically grew up in the firm. It’s older than I am, and it was the engine of everything that drove our household and our family. My parents were and are extremely caring, loving people. And everything that they did at work and at home reflected those qualities. I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to be a lawyer as I was growing up. I think my brother Todd knew from an early age that he wanted to practice law and keep my parents’ dream alive.
And I came around to it a little bit later.
So you came around a little bit later compared to Todd. Why was that? What finally persuaded you to get involved?
Well, I am a musician as well as a lawyer, and I wanted to have some experiences outside of the family business. I also wanted to see the world and experience different things. So I had a music career for some time. But as time went on, I came around to wanting to help with the family business, but also wanting to help our clients. And I just love how unique we are as a firm. We’re not traditional or stuffy in any way, and we’re a team of incredibly caring individuals- and these days a pretty big team.
So we’ve made it our vision to make sure that our team is happy so that they can make our clients happy. Todd and I both feel that’s how to make big things happen. And we’ve seen that happen time and time again.
Well, I’m not surprised to hear you come from a creative background as a musician, because I’ve heard your radio ads, as I alluded to earlier, and they’re very creative. They have a very different outlook. And I’m wondering how things have changed with the company since you and your brother have taken over the helm.
Things have changed in many ways, Darryl, and we’ve grown a ton. We’ve gone from about 20 team members to over one hundred and we have no plans of slowing down. But our core values, the core of why we do what we do hasn’t changed. Our parents gave us a wonderful model to learn from. We like to say we’re standing on the shoulders of giants and building on their legacy in time, and I try to live up to their standards every day.
We hate unfairness and we do everything in our power to get everyday people the real solutions that they need, even if that solution doesn’t include us. And that’s why we love to answer legal questions for free. And we encourage people to ask us anything because we know this stuff is intimidating and we do everything we can to make it as easy as possible.
Now, you say you work hard to balance the power, and that makes sense when you’re talking about something like personal injury or fighting big insurance companies. Does that also come into play with the other areas of law that your firm practices?
Yeah, absolutely. When it comes to any area of law, if you’re not a lawyer, whether it’s Real Estate, Employment or dealing with Wills & Estates, for example, we know that it can be really big and overwhelming.
And we’re here to balance the power by helping people navigate any of the situations where they might need the expertise of a legal team. And being able to trust that team is even more important. So we care about everyone we help, and we’d rather help you get the solution you need and be there for you in the long run rather than just throw a one size fits all solution [at the problem].
Yeah, I imagine that’s it’s got to be a very rewarding job for you, I mean, like based on what you’ve told me about how you got into it, why you got into it and helping the little guy, I mean, you must just love come to work every day.
I absolutely love coming to work every day. There’s two things that make me feel that way. Number one is our clients. I love helping the people that we help. And number two is our team. I love our team. And, you know, we worked really hard to build a great team. And that’s one of the things that makes it a joy to come to work and work beside these incredible people who share the same commitment to really caring for clients and that, you know, my parents instilled in us and that we carry on to this day.
So if people want to get a hold of you, is Litco.ca the best place to reach you?
That’s the that’s the one. And, of course, they can also call us at 1-844-Litco4U. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for whatever help you need, even if we are not your solution we will help you find it.
Let’s talk about a bit more about the type of law that Litco Law practices like personal injury law. What kind of cases does Litco Law typically take on?
Well, I’ll tell you, if there is a type of injury case, we’ve probably seen it over the years. And, you know, one of the things about growing up with a personal injury lawyer for a father is that, you know, he’d seen just about every possible way that a human being could get injured. And so that made him a little bit more protective of his kids. A lot of things, you know, he’d say don’t do that because you could get injured.
And so, you know, we still to this day, we take on a wide variety of different types of personal injury cases. And I think a common misconception maybe that people have about personal injury lawyers is that they only deal with motor vehicle accidents. But we take on a lot more than that. And not only is our team capable of helping you with all types of automotive accidents, it could be a car accident or motorcycle or boating accident, you name it.
We can also help with other types of injuries, like a serious slip and fall accidents or pedestrian accidents, a hit and run, even bike and scooter accidents.
You know, you probably encounter a lot of people who had an accident, had something like a good case and they didn’t know to call. So I guess if nothing else, the message would be for people give you a call and just say, hey, is this something?
Like, yeah, you’re absolutely right. I think it’s really difficult for, you know, if you’re not a lawyer to know if you might have a claim.
And I think that there might be some fear in the general public about calling a lawyer. But the most important thing, if I could stress for your listeners, is that if you’re injured, the best thing that you can do is make sure you see a medical professional about those injuries immediately. And that’s the most important thing, your health. So take care of the injuries first. And then after that, talk to a lawyer as soon as you can.
And you want to talk to an experienced injury lawyer, somebody who knows, you know, somebody who knows what they’re doing. And you have only two years after your accident to speak with a lawyer and file your claim. So it’s not something that you want to wait on- those two years go fast. And depending on the circumstances, there can be some other important deadlines. So, you know, if you’re debating or thinking about whether you have a case or not, don’t worry about it. Just give us a call and we’ll help you with that. And we deal with situations like yours every single day. Yeah.
There’s some common sense there. If somebody is really drastically injured in a car accident and it wasn’t their fault, that’s more obvious that they might have a case. But if somebody slips on, I don’t know, a sidewalk at a company that’s not being cleared or something more intangible happens.
And at first it seems OK, but two months later, you start to have this nagging pain. Then I guess it’s see the doctor, find out for sure what caused it and then call you to get some questions answered. It’s got to be challenging because there are so many different grades or levels of injury. And a lot of times it’s hard to figure out, you know, again, if you have a case or not. But I guess the first thing you do, see the doctor. Second thing, talk to a professional like yourself and probably a good time to call 1-844-Litco4U.
So if you’re in doubt, give them a call. It doesn’t cost anything to call and say, look, here’s my situation. If someone does decide to go through with the process, is there any sort of standard length that a case might take?
I’m always hesitant to tell somebody, you know, a standard length, because each individual case is it’s unique, it’s individual. So we’ll work to settle your claim as quickly, as efficiently as possible.
But the process definitely takes time. We always say that your injuries either need to be completely healed or they’ve reached a state where, you know, you’re not expected to improve any more before we can really know how you’re going to be, how your health is going to be in the long term. And once we can establish that, then we can make an assessment, a fair assessment of what compensation is appropriate for your injuries, if your injuries are relatively minor.
And again, that’s not really something I want you to guess about. You know, it’s more for your doctor and for your lawyer to figure out. A claim could be completed within a few months. But injuries that are more serious generally take a lot longer to heal. And that extends the period that it takes to resolve the claim and either reach a settlement or reach a final judgment in court. Most cases are resolved sort of around the two year mark.
But again, every case is different.
Yeah, yeah. I imagine you’ve seen everything from like an immediate resolution to a long term resolution. And like you said, I guess first step, if you’re not sure, make a phone call. Do your clients typically go to court?
You know, nearly all of the personal injury claims that we see do not end up in a courtroom at a trial, and it’s you know, I can’t give you an exact percentage, but, you know, if I if I had to pay an estimate, I’m talking higher than 95 percent of these claims get settled and resolved out of court.
And in some situations, you know, reaching the most favorable resolution of the claim requires taking the case to a trial in court. If that’s the case, then, you know, we have experienced trial lawyers who can take a claim to court if doing so is in our client’s best interest. And there are a lot of factors to consider in that. And I always encourage people not to worry about that or let that be a deciding factor, because even if a claim does end up at trial, you know, with an experienced injury lawyer on your side, they’ll walk you through the process and they can remove all the fear and anxiety about that process.
Again, very rare these days for an injury claim to end up in trial, but not impossible.
Early on in the show, you described a little bit about what made you guys different. Can you talk to our listeners about the whole Litco Law experience? What can people expect if they give you a call, they connect with you and then they begin to work on their case?
Yeah. When when people call us, the first thing that they’re going to find is that they get connected with somebody who is really kind and caring and empathetic from our Client Solutions Department. So the very first person to talk to you will be someone that really is there to care about you and find out exactly what issues you’re having, what your problem is, what your legal issue is, and get you connected with the right people to help you out immediately.
You can expect to have that experience with every team member that you talk to. And our whole goal is to make this as easy as possible for our clients. You know, you can go to our website Litco.ca to get in touch. There’s a chat option on there. You can email us. You can fill in a form. You can give us a call at that number that you mentioned, which was 1-844-Litco4U.
And you can also find us, Litco Law on all our social media platforms. And we answer questions on there as well. And we also share answers to commonly asked questions on our website and on those channels. So if you follow us on there, you might even find some of the information that you’re looking for, right there.
One of our listeners sent in a question. Gary wants to know, do you always need a lawyer for real estate deals?
The short answer to that is yes. The easy answer is if you’ve got a real estate deal and you’re looking for some help with it, just give us a call and we can tell you in very short order exactly what you need to do. And, you know, then you’ll have the information you need to make a good choice.
Debbie texted in, I was fired without a good reason, (in my opinion, but my work is trying to get me to sign a severance package right away. What should I do? I don’t want to lose my severance and get nothing.
I would encourage her to, you know, book a conversation with a lawyer before signing anything. And that’s one of the things that we’re here for, is to help you weigh your options for how you should proceed and we can help you do that for free. So, you know, if you have those questions, don’t worry about it. Give us a call. We’ll answer as much as we possibly can and help you in any way that we can.
Yeah, I think a lot of people have that feeling of almost helplessness, you know, when they’re in a situation they’ve been working there, you know, and for whatever reason, they’re now being terminated or let go. And it does feel suddenly, you know, one minute you’re close associates, the next minute it’s us against them. Nobody wants to speak and people feel scared right off the bat. They don’t know what to do, who to turn to.
And, you know, when we first started the show, we talked a little bit about your philosophy. Tell us again, for those listeners who have just joined us a little bit about the Litco philosophy and how you kind of become an ally, I guess, for people who don’t have anyone else to go to.
Yeah, absolutely, I mean, our philosophy, the way that we put it, is we say we’re here to balance the power.
And so if you are, you know, an average, ordinary, everyday person who’s not a lawyer and, you know, you’re going up against any situation where the other side has more power, knowledge, money, resources, legal knowledge than you do, then that’s not a fair fight. And we just don’t like to see that kind of unfairness in the world. So if you ever find yourself in any situation like that, you know, that’s why we’re here.
We want to help eliminate that disparity between you and that other party and make it a fair fight. And that’s what we’re here for. And so, you know, don’t worry about if you’ve got a claim and don’t worry about the idea that you’re going to be wasting the lawyer’s time. And please don’t worry about, you know, that you’re going to get charged just to call us and ask a few questions. That’s what we’re here for. We want to help people and we want to as much as we can, make things fair.
I think you hit on a number of things here, and, of course, you would know I mean, you’re dealing with these people all the time. And I imagine that’s something you want to reaffirm to people, is if they have any questions at all rather than wait six months, rather than let a lot of time go by when your memory gets a little foggy, make the phone call, make the phone call now and ask the question and just find out right now if there’s good reason to meet and to get started. And, you know, again, probably better to find out right off the bat. If there’s something or nothing, then you can get on with your life.
Absolutely, and, you know, it doesn’t cost you anything to do that, to make that call and talk to us, you’re going to find somebody really caring and kind on the other end of the phone. And on top of that, you know, if we end up working with you, then we’re here to make your life easier and shorten your to-do list.
I mean, I think a lot of people worry, you know, when they call a lawyer that they’re going to end up with a lot of extra stuff to do. And I know in this day and age, everybody’s busy and everybody’s got things to do. We want to make people’s lives easier. We want to simplify the legal process for people and shorten their to-do list. And if there’s something we can do to help you or make your life easier as part of this process, then that’s what we’re here for.
We really want to do that for you.
Welcome back to Talk to the Experts. My name is Darryl Hook, joined today by Fred Litwiniuk from Litco Law. Happy to have all of you aboard. And Fred, let’s get back to it. I understand you work a lot in Real Estate law, Wills & Estates, Employment law, along with Personal Injury law. Now, you’ve been a Personal Injury law firm for so long. What made you decide to expand?
Yeah, Daryl, you know, we really are responding to our client’s needs and we’ve seen an increased need in these areas and really wanted to support our clients in as many areas of their life as possible.
And, you know, we were getting a lot of requests from people, happy people, who we’d helped with their personal injury cases. And, you know, they were happy with our team and happy with the care and service that they got and with the result that they got. So it was the logical next step. And our team has now grown to the point that we can provide the same level of service, that high level of service that we provide to all of our personal injury clients, to the clients in those new areas of law.It was really just about responding to what clients were asking us to provide.
Now, your father was in charge of the company before it became Litco Law, when it was Litco Law. How did things look when he was in charge? What kind of things did he take on in terms of types of cases?
Yeah, well, he you know, he and my mother, Marianne, and they worked together and, you know, they grew the firm really by helping people. My dad really had a philosophy of not wanting to turn anybody away. He had a lot of people come to him that just had, you know, issues. And if there was a way that he could help them, he would find a way to do it.
So, you know, we are now returning to our roots in a way by getting back to providing these services and things like Real Estate law and Wills & Estates and Employment law, because, you know, he did a lot of that kind of work for many years. And so, again, he was always responding to clients’ needs. He always had the philosophy where he said, you know, if you take care of the client, everything else takes care of myself.
And I believe that he was right. And we still adhere to that philosophy today.
Now, businesses have a very distinct culture. And it sounds like you’ve inherited that culture from your parents, you and your brother. You must feel very proud about the company and knowing that you’re carrying on your dad’s work.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, that’s something that’s always been important to my brother Todd and to me, this whole idea of, you know, we’re very fortunate to be part of a family business. And one of the things that we want to do is to honor our parents’ legacy and build upon them. The amazing thing that they’ve built. And I think the best way that we can do that is by continuing with the things that they cared about and, you know, those important values, the kindness and empathy and taking care of clients and doing the right thing for people.And as long as we do that and the clients are happy, I know that they’re going to be proud.
That was probably instrumental in your whole deciding to choose to expand into these different areas of law. Just ultimately it comes down to helping people.
I mean, that’s what drives us the most is helping people, and we wanted to continue working in the areas that we needed that we could serve people the most. And, you know, when you’re a lawyer, you end up being involved in some of the most stressful times in people’s lives, sometimes some of the most exciting times in people’s lives.
And, you know, all those things are tied into these areas. If you’re buying or selling a home, for example, that can be a magical time. But it can also be an extremely stressful time for a lot of people because there is just so much to do. And the last thing you need is another thing to worry about. We want to be there to support our clients every step of the way. It’s the same thing with Employment law or Wills & Estates.
We want to make sure that that you have the support you need while you’re going through your life and you’ve got, you know, your busy life and all the things that that you’re doing. You want to support you and take care of legal work and paperwork and as much of the heavy lifting that we can so that you can feel more relaxed and take care of the things that you need to take care of. And these are monumental occasions. We want to be there to help people.
There’s a lot to consider in the area you were just discussing. But Wills & Estates that’s got to be a major one. There are so many different nuances that can take place when people are looking at their Estate and deciding how things are going to get handled. And then plus, often, by the time you’re looking at the Will, the person who’s involved is no longer with us.
You really have to make sure you’re interpreting everything accurately. We found you know, we know there are a lot of people out there, they know they need to get a Will. They know they’ve got to take care of these things and they just don’t want to think about it. They’re worried about it. They’ve got other things to do. Nobody really likes to think about death generally. But, you know, whenever we do something at Litco Law we want to make sure that we get it right.
In the context of a Will to get it right for people, we know that we’ve got to make it easy for people and create something that offers some flexibility. One of the ways that we do that is through our Timeless Will. As your circumstances change, as your life changes, as your family grows, you know, we know that life is coming at your fast and it’s changing all the time. ‘Timeless’ means you can change it any time for free and it’ll grow with you. And as your life changes, it can change too. It helps take away some of the fear people have about setting up a Will, maybe they think it’s too early or, you know, what happens when I when I buy a home or I have children or something else in my life changes.
We really wanted people not to have another thing to worry about. You pay once and you get all the changes you need forever.
That’s kind of amazing because I know I’ve paid for Wills, and I wish I would have heard of you guys because I think I’ve paid from scratch to have one updated. So that’s a great offer.
And what would you say to someone, because I imagine you’ve seen a number of horror stories. What would you say to somebody who has property, maybe has children and doesn’t have a Will?
Yeah, we have unfortunately seen those situations play out and, you know, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like it’s always the end of the world, but it’s not ideal. I can’t recommend it highly enough to anyone. And a lot of people think they don’t have much so they don’t really need a Will. I encourage everybody to at least, you know, have that conversation and think about it, because a Will is a very important document to make sure that your wishes are fulfilled and you know that the people in your family are being taken care of. And not only that, they’re just some other issues to think about. You know, what happens to you if you end up sick in a hospital?
Who makes those decisions? What if you are unable to make certain financial decisions? Who do you trust to take care of those things? So it’s not the planning for, you know, wills and estates. Planning is not all about, you know, what happens upon death. It can be incapacity. And there are other issues, you know, for people who, you know, who have any sort of assets at all. Some other things to think about.
An estate planning could involve things like tax planning. So there’s all kinds of things to think about. That’s what we’re here for, is to think about those things for you and to make sure that you avoid any of those pitfalls. Yeah, life can change in a heartbeat.
If you’re not prepared with a Will, it’s really worth looking into. And, you know, I don’t think you can beat the team at Litco Law. So give them a call or check out Litco.ca
That’s another area that must be busy for you right now is Employment law. How do you support clients when they’re being unfairly treated at work?
Yes, unfortunately due to COVID-19 and the pandemic, there have been a lot of companies who have had to say goodbye to some of their employees, and every single one of those employees is a person who, you know, potentially has a family and a life and concerns.
And this is a this is a stressful, really stressful thing for people and made more stressful because of this whole, you know, coronavirus situation that we find ourselves in. You know, if you’re worried, if something happens at work, you’re not being treated fairly. We really urge you to just come talk to us. Give us a call. We’ll answer some questions for you for free before you take any steps. There are a lot of great companies out there and there are some companies out there that don’t act in the best interests of their employees.
If you’re let go, it’s not uncommon to feel overwhelmed and the company might put something in front of you and ask you to sign it. And if you sign something without really thinking about your options and talking to somebody about it, that’s not always the best thing. If we can provide a win for someone who’s being treated unfairly in their workplace or, you know, in a situation where they’ve been let go, that’s a win for us.
Any examples you can think of, or something you’re seeing a lot of? I imagine companies are in a tough spot too and they’re trying their best to be fair, but does anything come to mind that people might identify with?
Yeah, unfortunately, we are seeing a lot of layoffs during this time, and so, you know, a company lay somebody off. If you’re somebody out there and you’ve been laid off, then the company offers you some sort of severance payment or package. I think a lot of people don’t really know whether or not what they’re being offered by their company is fair. And that amount that you’re entitled to changes based on, you know, a number of factors. One of the really important ones is, is time that you’ve been with the company. If you’ve been with a company for a long time and you get a severance package and you’re not sure that it’s fair to give us a call and we can help.
If we need to take some action on your behalf to get you what you’re entitled to, we’re here to do that for you.
Tell us, what are some of the things we can look forward to in the future when it comes to Litco Law?
Absolutely happy to do that. We are looking forward to the future. It’s been a wonderful 45 year ride. Like I said, the firm is is older than I am. So I wasn’t even there for all of it. But it’s been an amazing time, thanks to the incredible support from our clients over the years. And we’re just we’re nothing without our clients, right?
Without great clients you don’t have a business. I’m just thankful to the people of our community who have trusted us with their legal issues over the years. These are serious problems that people have come and trusted us with to help them. We love being part of our community. We really can’t wait until we can start to reconnect with people in person again. I know a lot of people are feeling that way and we do, too.
Maybe we can even throw a block party or something, so we can get some people out and have some of those fun times again. But for now, we’re just really grateful to be able to continue to serve people, to serve our clients in the best way that we know how. And for us, that’s by offering real solutions to their legal problems.
We talked a little bit about the culture in your company, the fact that you and your brother grew up in a family where your mom and dad were very heavily involved and they were very caring and compassionate. They were doing it for all the right reasons. What do you tell somebody who joins your firm when you’re trying to explain to them how they should behave when it comes to representing Litco Law?
What do they need to know? That’s a really great question, Daryl. We try and keep it really simple. We start by hiring amazing people who share our values. And we have a very, very simple set of values. We want people who own it, nobody would ever say, that’s not my job. Somebody who’s there to find solutions, people who have empathy, who are kind, who aren’t afraid to ask why something is the way it is and, you know, people who don’t blame.
So those are our core values. And of course, we talk a lot about our core purpose, which is to balance the power. We love to hire people on our team who hate to see unfairness in the world, just like my brother Todd and just like we were taught by our parents. When we start with those great people, we give them our simple values and our purpose. And, you know, from there, we just let them know that taking care of our clients is the number one thing.
If we’ve got happy clients, if we’re living those values, if we’re fulfilling that purpose, then I think we’re doing something special.
As COVID hit and things adapted, everything became very much online. How do you see things changing as we continue to move further and when it comes to the way that people work with law firms in this new age of digital convenience, I guess?
The legal profession is a wonderful profession and it plays an important part in our society. And I think most people view it as a as a profession that’s maybe been resistant to change.
And that’s changing, too. I mean, things had already started to change in the legal community when it comes to adopting, you know, some of the new digital technologies out there. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated that in a lot of ways. And I think this is true for everybody. We’ve all had to adapt to new ways of working. And we actually we love that. We love that this is happening. You know, any way that we can help people get in touch with us, any way that we can make it easier for people to talk to us, to do business with us, we like that.
We’ve been using digital means, like whether it’s video calls, you know, whether it’s through our website, or through text. Even just engaging with people on social media, that’s a huge win for our clients. Which makes it a huge win for us. There’s still a lot of room to grow, to grow in the legal field, to grow in that capacity to embrace technology and convenience and improving client experience.
We’re happy to be at the forefront of that. We love to be at the front of those changes and pushing for them. One of the things that we’ve seen that was a huge deal for us over the past number of years is the ability to reduce the incredible amount of paper that we used to use. Just by embracing digital technology, we save so much paper, which is great for the clients, it’s great for our environment and it’s great for our team.
I think everybody’s been forced to be creative when COVID hit and a lot of people are finding things they never thought of doing before or maybe thought of, but didn’t really think it would work. Now they’ve been doing them. And as we begin to get a handle on COVID, hopefully, and move into a time when we’re not so concerned about COVID, a lot of people are planning on taking the changes and the innovations they’ve discovered forward with them. How does that impact you guys? Are you doing some things now that you’re going to move forward with or have you had any big aha moments over the last little while that are going to turn out to be like a positive aspect of the whole COVID experience?
Yeah, definitely. One of the things that we love to do is find ways to make things easier for our clients. And while we really love the in-person experience, you know, the opportunity to host the client in our office and to show them some hospitality, you know, this has really amplified what I think we already knew, and that is that different clients want different things. And so that ties into the way we can start to change things from an accessibility perspective to make ourselves more accessible.
We have safety protocols for the office that we will continue. We’ll do that for as long as we need to because we know that some meetings have to take place in person. And, of course, we always want our clients and any guests to our office to feel safe. But I think that, most importantly, we’ve gotten really good at giving our clients options for how they want to communicate with us, to meet with us, to speak with us, to really meet them where they are and make it easy and convenient for them. That’s something that we definitely won’t be changing as things start to open back up. In fact, we’re going to go more towards that so clients can communicate the way that they want.
That’s a great segue into one of our listener questions. “I need to talk to a lawyer about a recent car accident, but I can’t come into the office. What should I do?” While obviously they should give you a call, 1-844-Litco4U. You can deal with them on the phone or some other method of communication digitally.
Another question from a listener. “My insurance company said I might not get anything beyond the cap. I’m not sure what that means. Is that true? Is it worth filing a claim in that case?”
That’s a really good question and a common question that we get all the time there. I think many people in Alberta are vaguely aware of some sort of cap or limit that the government has placed on the amount of money that you can get for certain types of car accident injuries. Without diving too deep into that, I would say that please don’t worry about that. If you’re worried about whether or not your injury is under this limit or under this cap, we can help you with that.
Rather than worrying about it, I’d rather that you just give us a call. You know, your insurance company might not have given you all the information that you need. There is definitely such a thing as a cap on certain very minor soft tissue injuries, which are, you know, injuries, people commonly know as something like whiplash.
But does only refer to and apply to very specific types of injuries. Talking to an experienced injury lawyer like us, we can help you figure out exactly what you might be entitled to beyond what an insurance company has told you. Don’t forget, that is part of any injury claim. The money that you get for your injuries, for actual pain and suffering is only one part of many forms of compensation that are available for things like time missed at work or for expenses that you’ve had to pay out of your own pocket. We can help you figure all that stuff out.
Please don’t worry about it. Just give us a call.
Fred, give me just the quick 30 second elevator pitch. What drew you into law?
What drew me into law was this idea that there are people who need legal help and they’re not getting treated fairly, and that really just bugs me. I don’t like it when people are treated unfairly. I want to balance the power. I want to make it a fair fight.
If you need someone to help you balance the power, give Fred and his team a call. Fred, thank you so much for being with us today. Everyone else have a great weekend. This has been Talk to the Experts.
