In October 2023, I was involved in a car accident caused by a young man who was driving drunk. He was in a Suburban, and I was in a Nissan Altima. The impact was directly on the driver’s door where I was sitting. I suffered a pneumothorax (collapsed lung), a mild hip fracture, and a tibia and fibula fracture. It took seven long months to recover, but now I am in almost perfect health. With certain movements, I can feel the titanium rod that was placed near my tibia during surgery, but other than that, I go to the gym, and last month I traveled to Europe on vacation without any physical or mental limitations. I am 26 years old and otherwise healthy.
The criminal aspect of the case was resolved some time ago. However, since then, I decided I would pursue compensation through a civil lawsuit for damages.
My girlfriend’s father is a lawyer, and I asked her if her father could recommend someone. For context, his recommendation was already involved back when I needed help with the criminal aspect (because the lawyer my parents initially hired didn’t have experience with criminal law and almost caused us problems—since my parents had already paid her in full, we didn’t want to fire her, but I would consult this second lawyer recommended by my girlfriend’s father to double-check everything she said).
Once the criminal matter was over, I asked this second lawyer (let’s call him Lawyer B) if he would be interested in taking on the civil case, and he said yes. The issue is that it’s now been a year since we agreed—only verbally and with a small payment—that he would be my lawyer. There have been messages, calls, emails, and meetings, and while he does respond and even schedules appointments, he still hasn’t started the process. He has not filed the lawsuit yet.
This coming October will mark 2 years since the accident, and October is the deadline for filing the lawsuit if we want the defendant’s insurance company to be held financially responsible. From what my girlfriend has told me, I understand that some lawyers’ perspective is that if they have until October 31 to file, they don’t mind using the very last day to do it.
However, what I hadn’t really considered before—and what now worries me—is that the entire lawsuit will revolve around the psychological and/or medical evaluation. Because my own insurance covered all my treatment, surgeries, rehab, etc., there were no out-of-pocket costs. And obviously, the mental and physical impact can improve over time. Since the psychologist will not evaluate my past condition but rather my current one, as time has gone by and I’ve processed what happened, my case has lost weight because the negative consequences have significantly diminished. Before, I couldn’t even go to the gym—now I go without issues.
I stayed with this lawyer because he came recommended and seemed professional, but now I don’t know what to do. I’m two months away from the deadline. While it’s an option to look for a different lawyer, I’m not even sure if I should still pursue the lawsuit at this point. What would I tell the psychologist if I genuinely don’t have any ongoing mental consequences and practically no physical limitations? What damages would I even be seeking compensation for?
Location: Mexico, Sonora.