Personal Injury Case FAQ

We put a significant amount of time and resources into every personal injury case we accept. This means we can only take the small percentage of the cases we review that meet our case selection criteria.  The cases we take on generally involve catastrophic injuries, wrongful death, egregious violations of rights, or are otherwise of significant public importance.

Frequently Asked Questions

On Average How Much Time Is Put Into Each Personal Injury Case Davis Kelin Takes On?

There is not a standard amount of time for all cases. Each case is very different. We put in whatever time is needed to maximize our clients’ recovery and ensure a positive outcome.

Why Does Each Case Demand So Much Time?

Every personal injury case is unique and is treated as such in this office. Significant cases against professionals, large corporations, and governments demand significant time and financial resources, particularly when it comes to investigation, discovery, expert witnesses, and trial preparation.

What’s the Selection Criteria for Determining Whether Davis Kelin Accepts My Personal Injury Case?

The firm’s focus is on cases involving catastrophic injuries, professional malpractice, wrongful death, serious insurance bad faith, egregious violations of rights, and cases of significant public importance.

Most of our personal injury cases involve serious injuries that impact a person’s ability to live and work and are generally permanent. They often involve traumatic brain injuries (cognitive injuries may impact your ability to process new information, remember, or speak), spine, deformities, fractures, loss of limb or use of a limb, severe burns, multiple surgeries, significant rehabilitation, and future medical care. Cases that do not fall into these categories are not the focus of the firm, but there are a number of lawyers in the State that will consider cases involving things like soft tissue injuries, injuries that involve only chiropractic care, minor injuries, or that are limited to vehicle damages.

Wrongful Death

We generally accept wrongful death cases if caused by the negligence of another person, a corporation, or government entity. Such cases arise from a variety of wrongful conduct, such as medical malpractice, nursing home abuse and neglect, trucking accidents, dangerous products, failing to properly maintain a premises or roadway or other negligence.

Professional Malpractice

Professional malpractice involves cases where a licensed professional (e.g., doctor, hospital, lawyer, accountant, hospital or other health care provider) has caused damage to a client or patient by acting below the standard that is generally accepted in the profession. Davis Kelin’s focus in this area is on the most egregious examples of professional misconduct. We do not accept cases just because there was a bad outcome or because a client or patient is unhappy with the result. We only take cases where there is a clear violation of professional standards of care that cause significant damages to lives of our clients.

Bad Faith Insurance

Involves cases where an insurance company puts its own interests (i.e. making money) ahead of the insured/policyholder’s interests (and often the injured party benefiting from the insurance through an assignment). Davis Kelin focuses on serious financial harm caused by bad faith insurance companies choosing to help themselves rather than their policyholders. Often, an insurance company will choose to not honor the promise it made to the insured in order to make a profit on claims which it is not permitted to do. Or an insurance company attempts to lower the actual value of the claim in an effort to avoid paying what is owed to the insured.

Civil Rights

Cases involve civil actions if there was discrimination or violations of civil liberties protected by the U.S. and State Constitutions.  At Davis Kelin we focus on cases that stem from police misuse of force and misconduct that occurs in prisons and jails that results in death or catastrophic injuries.

Public Importance

Davis Kelin will also consider cases of significant public importance, such as whistleblower suits or causes designed to effect change in social policies or that address corporate or government misconduct that impact the public. Examples of such cases include cases involving the New Mexico’s sunshine law, advocating on behalf of Native American allottees, and cases that seek institutional changes.

Can I Expect a Call Back Letting Me Know Whether or Not Davis Kelin Will Take My Case?

If your cases does not involve one of our areas of practice, we recommend that you contact the State Bar of New Mexico’s General Referral Program, which will arrange a 3-minute consultation for you with a lawyer.  Please contact this program if you are inquiring about a criminal matter or a domestic relations or family law matter (divorce, custody, child support).

If you case falls into one of our areas of practice but does not meet our selection criteria or if we do not feel that we can give the case the time it deserves, we will try to contact you by phone or email if you have submitted an intake questioner.

How Long Can I Expect It to Take for Davis Kelin to Review My Personal Injury Case?

We strive to get back to you as quickly as we can. Unfortunately, because of preexisting client commitments, consideration of a case can take several days, so we ask for your patience. If we know that we will not be able to take your case on, we will try to get back to you within three business days if not sooner. In some cases, we will need to obtain additional records (e.g. medical records) before we can make a decision on whether we will investigate the case further. Most often, before we agree to file a lawsuit on behalf of a client, we will have several experts review the case.

How Many Cases Are Declined Every Week?

We have a large volume of calls each week from individuals with potential claims.  We have to decline representation in well over 90% of those cases for various reasons.

Referrals

When Davis Kelin declines a case, we may attempt to set up a referral for you so that you will have direction in finding a personal injury attorney that may be able to take on your case. We cannot guarantee that our referrals will handle your case that is up to each attorney’s office.