Unfortunately, as soon as someone is injured, an insurance company’s first instinct is not to take care of them -- it’s to minimize their liability. Something is terribly wrong when an insurance company can lowball and bully an injured person into accepting a settlement that does not rightfully reflect the damage done.

A skilled personal injury attorney can fight back against an insurance company, going toe-to-toe with them and anticipating the usual tricks they deploy to strong-arm a citizen who hasn’t retained a lawyer. A personal injury attorney is your firewall between you and an insurance company that will throw its resources towards trying to give you the smallest payout possible. Agemian Law Group can flip the script, and ensure that your settlement is appropriate for what you’ve been through.

Simply put, workers have rights in this country -- and all too often, employers fail to observe and enact the laws that protect workers’ rights.

From safety violations, to sexual harassment, to wrongful termination, or discrimination: employees are mistreated on a daily basis in California, and often they don’t realize that the law gives them an avenue to fight back.

If you’ve been treated unlawfully by an employer, an attorney can help regain monetary damages to help adjust the scales of justice back in your favor. A cash settlement doesn’t necessarily erase what happened to you, but it can be a big help when you’re trying to get back on track after an employer dispute.

The civil litigation process follows a certain standard cadence and set of procedures. If your case does make it to trial, you’ll generally experience five main “phases” of the proceedings.

The steps in civil litigation are pleadings, discovery, trial, appeal, and enforcement.

During pleadings, each side makes a general summary of their complaint and outlines the relevant details. The complainant will specifically call out the legal basis for their actions, pointing to the law and demonstrating how the defendant fits into the picture. Then, the defendant will have a certain window of time to file an answer to that complaint, in which they can even counter-sue and make a complaint of their own.

During discovery, evidence is collected and dissected by both sides to find as much factual information as possible with which to prove their case. This can include testimony from third parties with direct knowledge of the matter. Because of the incredible importance of the evidence on both sides, discovery is typically the longest phase of the entire process.

During the trial, the evidence from discovery is neatly laid out in front of the deciding body, which is a jury and/or judge. Each attorney is given the opportunity to support their argument by calling witnesses or focusing on specific facts or evidence that is favorable to their side. At the conclusion of all presentations, the judge or jury will come to a decision about the winner of the trial.

During the appeal, the losing side gets a chance to ask an appellate court to review the findings of the trial court, if they believe that the outcome was not fair or correct. Appeals can take a long time to reach their conclusion in certain cases.

During the enforcement phase, the state of California will use its power to award and enforce the monetary damages appropriate for your case’s outcome.

California Law is roughly broken up into two main categories: civil and criminal. Generally speaking, civil litigation focuses on recovering monetary damages, while criminal litigation seeks to use the punitive power of the state to administer justice, including through incarceration.

When you hire a civil litigation lawyer, you’re using their expert knowledge of the law surrounding the circumstances of your case, to demand justice via financial compensation for what happened to you.

You might be surprised to learn that most civil lawsuits reach a negotiated agreement, called a settlement, before ever making it to trial. That’s right -- in the vast majority of cases, you’ll never see the inside of a courtroom while making your legal argument through your attorney. Your attorney will strictly be using their persuasion, legal expertise, and wits to negotiate a monetary settlement on your behalf.

However, if both sides are truly “dug in” and cannot reach a settlement that satisfies both parties, the matter may proceed to trial.

We get it -- you’re a smart cookie, you typically approach life with a “do it yourself” attitude, and you know your case is rock solid. Regardless, self-representation in legal cases is usually a recipe for disaster. Whether you’re dealing with the insurance company or opposing counsel, you’ll quickly find yourself being aggressively lowballed and out-maneuvered by professionals who are paid to try and steamroll their “opponent.”

Insurance companies in particular are notorious for quickly offering a cash settlement to claimants, who may not realize that their case is capable of bringing in considerably more. The injured person then sells themselves short and is left with little recourse.

Agemian Law Group will work on a contingency basis on your behalf, meaning that you get the full attention of a savvy civil litigation lawyer without paying any up-front fees. In fact, ALG is only paid as a percentage of your settlement earnings… and if you don’t win, you don’t owe us a dime.

Vinny Agemian is incredibly skilled at putting the insurance company to the test and pressuring them to pay the full amount of damages that they should be. We can confer with medical specialists to calculate your future -- even lifelong -- medical needs to determine your true expenses. We can even help prove in a court of law how your professional earnings were diminished as a result of your incident.

There’s nothing to gain by going it alone… but there’s everything to lose.