Latest / Port City Profiles / Switching Sides Against the Insurance Companies w/ Nick Mendez | Ep 2

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Switching Sides Against the Insurance Companies w/ Nick Mendez | Ep 2 · Port City Profiles

• 0:00
  Going to trials is not really pleasant for the clients.
• 0:02
  The attorney is the only ones that have fun going to trial.
• 0:05
  You're up in front of 12 random people you don't know who are basically just judging you and getting into all your business.
• 0:10
  And you got another side that's hostile and is trying to discredit you.
• 0:14
  And your life's kind of put it out on display.
• 0:16
  It's all on the public record.
• 0:17
  But the litigation process, people are intimidated by it, but we're able to get most of the stuff that we need without them having to really do a whole lot.
• 0:25
  So Wilmington's full of so many cool businesses doing great work and most of them never get to tell you how they're helping and more importantly why they're helping here in the community.
• 0:34
  So I decided I'm going to ask them.
• 0:36
  I'm your host Rich Cardona and this is Port City Profiles.
• 0:40
  I have a guest here locally who you've probably seen his face and his business partner's face on many, many billboards.
• 0:46
  Nick, can you please tell us who you are, what your business is, and who your business serves?
• 0:50
  Yeah, thank you so much for having me on the show.
• 0:52
  It's great to be here.
• 0:53
  I'm Nick Mendez.
• 0:54
  My partner and I, Devlin Horton, own a law firm in town called Horton & Mendez Injury Attorneys.
• 0:59
  Mm-hmm.
• 1:00
  And we work with folks who've been involved in car accidents, workplace injuries, any type of accident that was caused from somebody else's negligence.
• 1:08
  It's something that we build to get involved in.
• 1:09
  And we're working to make sure that insurance companies are paying our clients what they're owed after an injury.
• 1:15
  How are you acutely familiar with the problem you're trying to solve?
• 1:19
  And I mean, a lot of your brand is circulated around knowing their playbook.
• 1:24
  That's right.
• 1:24
  So let's talk about that.
• 1:25
  Yeah.
• 1:25
  So we know their playbook.
• 1:26
  So my partner and I, we used to be insurance defense attorneys.
• 1:29
  So we represented the insurance carriers when a claim was made against their policy.
• 1:34
  Mm-hmm.
• 1:34
  So if you're in a car accident, you're at fault and I'm injured, I file a claim against your insurance.
• 1:41
  And so you have State Farm.
• 1:42
  They would hire us.
• 1:43
  State Farm would hire us to defend their insured and to defend their insurance company as well.
• 1:49
  So we got to really learn how the insurance companies process the claims, how they defend the claims.
• 1:54
  And did that for years and got to see behind the curtain and get behind enemy lines, see how it works.
• 2:01
  And now we can use all that information to help our clients.
• 2:04
  what was the reason for, I guess, leaving representing insurance companies and doing your own thing?
• 2:09
  And I'm completely using terrible jargon here, but like, I feel like it's like you're going from a prosecutor to like a defender.
• 2:18
  Very similar.
• 2:18
  Yeah, it's kind of going from the DA's office to being a defense attorney.
• 2:21
  Yeah.
• 2:21
  I was doing that work.
• 2:22
  I did it for three years.
• 2:23
  My partner did it for, I guess he probably did it for close to six years.
• 2:27
  And it was a great way to learn how everything works.
• 2:30
  And you get exposure to cases and you get to work on them yourself and do depositions and do trials.
• 2:36
  And I worked with a great partner there.
• 2:38
  And I just knew like a couple of years in, like, this isn't what I want to do long term.
• 2:41
  I don't want to just save insurance companies some money, you know, and it was kind of thankless.
• 2:47
  You know, you would, you would handle a case for the insurance carrier and the insured
• 2:51
  You know, there was a lawyer that was defending them in the case and everyone is entitled to a defense in a case.
• 2:57
  But there was, you know, the insurance companies, it was thankless.
• 2:59
  Like they didn't care if we saved them some money.
• 3:01
  And then, you know, you got this poor person on the other side of the case that really cares, you know, like they're living paycheck to paycheck and you're trying to find a way to shave, you know, $10,000 off their claim.
• 3:12
  Yeah.
• 3:12
  So I just knew that wasn't what I want to do long term.
• 3:14
  It made me feel good.
• 3:15
  It wasn't something that, you know, I was passionate about.
• 3:18
  And I saw a real opportunity doing that kind of work.
• 3:20
  I got to work, you know, up against a lot of personal injury lawyers and, you know, not to disparage any other personal injury lawyers, but I knew how much money my client, the insurance company is willing to pay.
• 3:31
  And a lot of the time we ended up paying much less than what they would have paid.
• 3:35
  So I saw this opportunity to get more money for people that are injured.
• 3:39
  I saw it as this chance.
• 3:40
  We need to go over to the other side and make sure that they're paying what they really need to be paying.
• 3:44
  There's a lot of money being left on the table for these folks.
• 3:47
  So this is a genuinely individual curious question.
• 3:51
  Like when people hear lawyer, I think some people think like a doctor, like a lawyer can do this, this or that.
• 3:58
  What type of people do you not serve, so to speak?
• 4:02
  So like if I had business contract dispute, I would not be going to you for that.
• 4:06
  So how would you categorize lawyers so people have an understanding of like where you are and what other people do?
• 4:12
  Yeah, I'd say like at a really high level, the two types of lawyers are transactional attorneys and then litigation attorneys.
• 4:18
  Okay.
• 4:18
  So your transactional lawyers are maybe a lawyer you'd call when you want to start a business and you need to get the formation documents done.
• 4:24
  Anything that involves like filing paperwork with an agency and navigating the agency.
• 4:29
  So, you know, transactional type work, right?
• 4:31
  Very like document driven contract review type stuff like for drafting contracts for like a business contract.
• 4:39
  deal you're making or what have you, real estate, closings, all those types of things.
• 4:44
  And then you have your litigation side, which would be when there's, you know, there's civil or criminal litigation.
• 4:50
  So what we do, you know, pursuing claims for damages and negligence matters.
• 4:56
  And then you have the commercial litigation.
• 4:58
  So like,
• 4:59
  to businesses that are in dispute over a trademark or a contract or whatever, and they're going to court over it.
• 5:06
  There's all kinds of examples, like a family lawyer getting a divorce, that's a litigation.
• 5:09
  Okay, I'm assuming will and trust and stuff like that.
• 5:12
  That would be more on the transactional side, but there can be wills and trust litigation.
• 5:16
  you know, the dispute over, you know, the heirs, what, who, who.
• 5:19
  The bus family right now at the Lakers.
• 5:21
  Exactly.
• 5:22
  Yeah.
• 5:22
  So like, you know, a lot of like transactional type stuff will turn into litigation because there's some dispute over the contract or whatever.
• 5:29
  Okay.
• 5:30
  That's good to know.
• 5:31
  So really that's a good way to divide them out.
• 5:32
  Like you got your transactional attorneys, you got your litigators.
• 5:35
  And then from there, there's just all different kinds of, you know, specific areas where attorneys will focus their time and their efforts.
• 5:42
  Okay.
• 5:42
  Okay.
• 5:43
  For you all, after this experience kind of transitioning over, realizing maybe there was more upside for people who you could represent, you had a deeper knowledge.
• 5:51
  It seems like you were absolutely willing to kind of be invested with them, have conversations with them, see them, actually know them.
• 5:58
  What is someone's situation when they first call you, usually?
• 6:03
  The clients that we're working with, they've been seriously injured.
• 6:05
  So they're usually calling us when they're back at home and the dust has settled and they've been...
• 6:12
  in communication with an insurance company and they're getting medical bills and they don't know what to do.
• 6:18
  They're doing some research online.
• 6:20
  Yeah.
• 6:20
  They've kind of figured out like, I probably need to hire a lawyer to help me with this because this is over my head.
• 6:26
  I don't want to do something wrong.
• 6:28
  Sure.
• 6:28
  I don't want to understand what my rights are.
• 6:29
  Yep.
• 6:30
  And they'll call us and they're really just looking for information, want to understand what their rights are, what their next step should be.
• 6:37
  And they'll make a decision on whether or not they want to work with us from there.
• 6:40
  So then merits wise, I'm assuming, again, this is not my area.
• 6:44
  This is why you're here.
• 6:45
  Yeah, of course.
• 6:47
  I'm now seeking that assistance.
• 6:49
  I'm probably emotional, which means I need someone who's empathetic.
• 6:52
  And I'm sure you all have hundreds of calls a day.
• 6:54
  Actually, let's get into that part.
• 6:56
  Mm-hmm.
• 6:57
  How have you and your team trained, you know, those people receiving calls or if it's you to just like really remain, that's the word I'm looking for, just collected because they're not.
• 7:08
  Yeah.
• 7:08
  So we have a dedicated intake team at Horton Mendes and their job is to answer the phone calls when people call in.
• 7:14
  Mm-hmm.
• 7:14
  And they're really, really important parts of our team.
• 7:17
  Yeah.
• 7:17
  And they're legal professionals.
• 7:18
  They understand the law and they know how this works.
• 7:22
  They're not lawyers.
• 7:23
  They're not able to give legal advice, but they know a lot about this subject matter.
• 7:27
  Okay.
• 7:28
  So when someone calls us,
• 7:30
  they'll get on the phone one of our intake specialists.
• 7:32
  They're trained to go through all the different steps, get all the information that we need, and do that with a lot of empathy.
• 7:39
  And it's a human connection, right?
• 7:41
  So you call a lot of law firms and you're going to get a call center.
• 7:45
  And that's not what I want.
• 7:47
  It's not a call center.
• 7:48
  Most of my intake reps, they work from home because I want them in the comfort of their own home when they're having these conversations because some of these are really heavy conversations with someone who just had something really bad happen to them.
• 7:58
  Um, and then you'd be able to take an hour and like talk to that person and connect with them on a human level and really try to understand what's going on and get the information that we need so that we can, you know, evaluate that case and make sure that it's, it's one that
• 8:11
  We can win.
• 8:11
  We don't want to take a case unless we know we're going to win it.
• 8:14
  We work on a contingency fee, so we don't get paid unless we recover compensation for the clients.
• 8:18
  Oh, wow.
• 8:19
  So we don't want to take our clients on a road where we don't feel like we're going to be able to recover for them.
• 8:24
  We've, you know, dragged them along for two years and then we're not able to get them anything.
• 8:28
  The firm's not able to earn a fee for the work that it did.
• 8:31
  So we want to avoid that.
• 8:32
  Everybody's left, you know, feeling bad.
• 8:34
  Wow.
• 8:35
  So we're really, really strong at the front end of evaluating these cases, making sure that the criteria fits that we feel like will prevail on the legal merits, that there's that there's necessary injuries and damages there to warrant us being involved.
• 8:49
  Because we don't want to get involved in a case if we don't feel like we're going to add a lot of value for the client and get them more money than than what they maybe could have gotten.
• 8:56
  You know, they just did it themselves.
• 8:58
  Totally.
• 8:59
  So if I. Yeah.
• 9:02
  this happens to in my particular business.
• 9:05
  I always want to know what your goals are or what the ROI you're expecting is.
• 9:08
  And that really tells me a lot.
• 9:10
  So like, Oh, I want a hundred thousand followers on Instagram from my podcast.
• 9:15
  And I'm like, how many do you have now?
• 9:16
  It's like a thousand.
• 9:17
  So you want a hundred X in the next year?
• 9:19
  Like, do you a hundred X anything?
• 9:20
  Um,
• 9:21
  I have to manage expectations.
• 9:22
  In your case, no pun intended, is like you have to be able to manage expectations as well.
• 9:28
  These people may have serious financial damages or maybe an injury that's going to be lingering for the rest of their life.
• 9:36
  How are you managing expectations?
• 9:38
  I understand the merits need to be that you probably could add value, but how do you manage expectations?
• 9:43
  Yeah, that's a major challenge for us with folks.
• 9:45
  Yeah.
• 9:45
  So the first thing that we really do is explain the process for them.
• 9:48
  Mm hmm.
• 9:49
  So most folks, they'll do this, you know, if they're unlucky enough, once in their life, they'll have something like this happen to them where they get really hurt in an accident that wasn't their fault.
• 9:59
  So we walk them through the process.
• 10:01
  Like, this is what you can expect.
• 10:04
  We can't guarantee any outcomes.
• 10:05
  Like, we don't know what's going to really happen, right?
• 10:07
  And when someone calls us, it's...
• 10:10
  probably just occurred to them.
• 10:12
  So we don't know what's in store.
• 10:13
  Like when they call us, we don't even really know what their injuries are yet.
• 10:16
  Many times, right?
• 10:17
  And some injuries you don't discover until a couple months in, like a torn rotator cuff or something like that.
• 10:22
  Like you just don't know the next day that that's what you're suffering from.
• 10:26
  So we explain the process to them.
• 10:28
  And then we're just constantly giving them advice as we go along and learn new information.
• 10:31
  Mm-hmm.
• 10:32
  And just coaching them through the process.
• 10:35
  So we're, you know, attorneys and counselors, right?
• 10:37
  So we're giving them their options.
• 10:39
  And, you know, that's kind of the expectations, right?
• 10:41
  You set the expectations, your different options.
• 10:44
  What about lengthwise?
• 10:44
  So like, yeah, I think you mentioned like a two-year case potential.
• 10:47
  Like, is there a point where you're like rich?
• 10:49
  Like...
• 10:50
  This might take a while.
• 10:51
  Absolutely.
• 10:53
  So we have a lot of data.
• 10:54
  We're really data-driven in the firm.
• 10:56
  So we can tell them the average timeline for a case.
• 11:00
  Yes.
• 11:00
  Similar type of case.
• 11:02
  And obviously, you know, it's not guaranteed.
• 11:04
  We're not, you know, it could take much longer.
• 11:06
  It could be taking much shorter.
• 11:07
  But here's kind of an average timeline that you can expect.
• 11:10
  Yep.
• 11:10
  in a personal injury case.
• 11:12
  So we're able to give them that information.
• 11:13
  And then of course, people are always curious, so how much is my case worth?
• 11:18
  That depends on so many different things.
• 11:20
  One, we don't know how much insurance money there is.
• 11:22
  So we're not going after people personally.
• 11:24
  We're not going after their assets.
• 11:26
  Yes.
• 11:27
  Unless someone is very, very wealthy and has a lot of liquid assets and they do something terrible,
• 11:32
  with punitive damages, like they're out, you know, driving around drunk and they injured someone terribly, or they're, you know, doing some reckless activity that causes some terrible injury and they happen to have, you know, a lot of money.
• 11:44
  But that's very rare that that happens.
• 11:47
  Yeah.
• 11:48
  So we're always generally always pursuing insurance money.
• 11:51
  So it really depends, you know, how much insurance money is there?
• 11:54
  So how much is the other, the at fault person, how much insurance did they have?
• 11:58
  How much insurance do you have?
• 12:00
  Are there other policies that we can get that we can trigger?
• 12:03
  So that's the first order of business, right?
• 12:05
  Some of my worst conversations with clients are when they're really, really hurt and there's just not any insurance.
• 12:11
  And the other person doesn't have any money.
• 12:13
  They're kind of just stuck, you know?
• 12:15
  There's nothing we can do.
• 12:16
  So that's the first way to really measure that.
• 12:18
  And then once they've finished
• 12:20
  their treatment and they're back to their new baseline or they're back to normal, we're able to evaluate the case and give them a range of what we think a jury would likely give them.
• 12:30
  And that's the ultimate endpoint of any kind of case, right?
• 12:33
  What's a jury likely going to give you?
• 12:35
  And that's how we benchmark what we think the case should settle for.
• 12:39
  Do you have any clients who, if they're like reluctant to go to court once you start talking about that, like just like the nerves of it?
• 12:45
  For sure.
• 12:46
  Going to trials is not really pleasant for the clients.
• 12:49
  The attorney is the only ones that have fun going to trial.
• 12:51
  You know, they talk about like doctors, like no one likes to get surgery.
• 12:55
  Yeah, you know, but the surgeons like find it interesting, obviously, or they won't be doing it right.
• 13:00
  So it's kind of the same thing with going to trial.
• 13:03
  You're up in front of 12 random people you don't know who are basically just judging you and, you know, getting in all your business and you got another side that's hostile and is trying to discredit you and you know, your life's kind of put it out on display.
• 13:14
  It's all on the public record.
• 13:16
  Anyone can wander in there and watch.
• 13:17
  It's not the most pleasant experience.
• 13:19
  Very few cases end up going to trial nowadays.
• 13:22
  It's very rare that a case goes to trial.
• 13:24
  We try cases frequently, but we have a lot of clients, but it is rare that it happens.
• 13:28
  But the litigation process, people are intimidated by it.
• 13:32
  But again, we explain, educate them on the process and we got their back.
• 13:36
  Like we're going to handle it for them.
• 13:38
  The amount of time that they have to participate is very limited.
• 13:41
  We have really good.
• 13:42
  systems and technology and processes in place to make it convenient for them.
• 13:47
  And we're able to get most of the stuff that we need without them having to really do a whole lot.
• 13:52
  That's good.
• 13:53
  And we make sure we get the information we need up front so we can do it efficiently for them.
• 13:56
  Yeah.
• 13:57
  I've seen your billboards, I've seen commercials, and I would say whenever you were starting out, that might not have been what you imagined, but there's obviously been growth.
• 14:06
  And I'm wondering if there's a couple of cases that stand out for you or examples where it's like, look, like, here's how we operate.
• 14:13
  And I think if we do this consistently, this is where we get to be able to expand into different markets or maybe even different states in the future.
• 14:20
  But do you have any examples?
• 14:21
  Yeah, just like client success stories.
• 14:23
  Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 14:24
  Yeah, so we've had some really great clients over the years.
• 14:27
  One in particular, he was in a really bad accident with a commercial vehicle on Highway 40.
• 14:32
  He's a veteran, amazing guy, top-notch, top-quality type guy, and really badly injured.
• 14:39
  Lower extremities, saw his legs, his hips, pelvis.
• 14:42
  had to have extensive procedures done to repair himself.
• 14:48
  He was really, really active, so super active guy.
• 14:51
  And this was a major, major setback for him and was about to retire and enjoy his retirement.
• 14:56
  And his wife he's married to, his whole life, just wonderful, wonderful people.
• 15:00
  And something like this just couldn't have him to like,
• 15:03
  It was just like just the terrible, you know, perfect storm.
• 15:06
  And we were able to get him a really, really good result in his case.
• 15:09
  And we were able to get him hooked up with some really, really great medical providers.
• 15:13
  And he was just the kind of guy that was going to like really, really dedicate himself to recovery.
• 15:19
  And he did.
• 15:20
  And he's doing great.
• 15:21
  He's doing really, really well.
• 15:23
  Keep in touch with him.
• 15:24
  He comes by Wilmington and sees us often.
• 15:27
  his wife and we're just so grateful that they trusted us with their case and we got to work with them and he's back doing a lot of the things that you love to do before and we're enjoying his retirement and you know obviously it's not ideal that all this happened to him but um he's got such a great attitude about it and such a great outlook and we were able to make sure he was protected on the financial side so he didn't have to worry on that front do you mind if i ask like a range of like uh potentially what
• 15:53
  I don't even know what you call it.
• 15:54
  What is restitution was?
• 15:56
  Yeah.
• 15:56
  So we have, you know, settlements, right?
• 15:58
  So, um, it was a multiple seven figure result for him.
• 16:02
  Um, and he's just in great shape.
• 16:04
  Like he's, he's covered now is, you know, one of the things that was important to him when all this happened was I want to make sure, you know, my retirement's protected.
• 16:11
  Like I worked my whole life for this.
• 16:13
  I want to make sure that I'm protected and that my wife's protected.
• 16:16
  And just for us, you know, we can't undo what happened and we can't make it so that somebody's healthy again, or can't bring back a loved one that they lost.
• 16:26
  But our job is to make sure that financially they're protected.
• 16:29
  Yeah.
• 16:29
  When there's the opportunity to recover for them, there's insurance, there's deep pockets on a commercial defendant who did something really bad and altered their life permanently.
• 16:40
  We're going to make sure that financially they're good.
• 16:42
  They're at least not going to have to worry about the financial side of things.
• 16:45
  I imagine that when this is a really interesting trajectory of how you see people's emotions or their demeanor.
• 16:52
  Because when they come to you, like we talked about earlier, like they're in pain, they're flustered, like things are not well.
• 16:58
  But then on the backside, like you probably see them in a completely different light.
• 17:02
  You're like, I've never even seen him happy before, maybe.
• 17:05
  Is that accurate?
• 17:05
  It is sometimes.
• 17:06
  Yeah.
• 17:07
  One of our internal core values in the firm is being a bright spot in a dark time for clients.
• 17:12
  I like that.
• 17:13
  Yeah.
• 17:13
  one thing that we preach at the firm is give folks the benefit of the doubt.
• 17:17
  Whenever someone's working with us, something bad happened to them and they probably have a bunch of other stuff too in their life that they're dealing with as well.
• 17:24
  And this just like, could be like the straw that broke camel's back.
• 17:27
  Right.
• 17:28
  Like,
• 17:29
  got laid off from your job, you're going through a divorce, you got problems with your kids, and then you go get rear-ended by somebody and your back hurts.
• 17:37
  You know, it's like, seriously?
• 17:39
  And you're dealing with some insurance company that's like being difficult and they're not covering you.
• 17:43
  So giving them the benefit of the doubt, and maybe like we're not seeing the best side of folks sometimes just because they're really stressed and this is just really tough.
• 17:51
  It's like we can all relate to that, I think, as people.
• 17:53
  It's like...
• 17:54
  There's always that time, I'm sure, you know, you've maybe experienced it where, like, you're having just a rough go and maybe, like, a little snippy or, you know, you say something and you regret it later.
• 18:04
  It just happens, you know?
• 18:06
  Yeah, and I would say from what I've seen from commercials and on social and the billboards, there's almost, like, a playful nature.
• 18:14
  It's almost, like, inviting.
• 18:16
  And I have to say, I love the branding, and I feel like you really enjoy it.
• 18:21
  enjoy and I don't know you but like enjoy the marketing aspect of it because like I see some things and it's very typical it might be just like five stars and it's like this many ratings I'm like okay that doesn't really do anything for me and then I see you guys in Hawaiian shirts and I'm just like laughing and I'm like okay
• 18:37
  I feel like that must do something for you.
• 18:40
  Yeah.
• 18:40
  In terms of like attracting people who need help because you don't, you're not there where your arms crossed.
• 18:46
  Yeah, exactly.
• 18:47
  Yeah.
• 18:47
  Yeah.
• 18:48
  We have a great marketing team, Taylor and Mary back at the firm do a really, really good job.
• 18:52
  Mm hmm.
• 18:53
  for us i'd say to your point like we're attorneys and attorneys can kind of be kind of stuffy you know very traditional and maybe a little bit intimidating yeah for some folks yeah so we want to come across as approachable right like sure we're an attorney or a doctor or whatever but in the day we're all just people in our communities and we just want to help yeah help out the members of our community when they need us and the insurance companies give them a hard time you know so keeping it light-hearted a little fun also like it's easy to kind of poke fun at like personal injury lawyers like
• 19:20
  because there's just so much advertising and there's a lot of bad advertising.
• 19:24
  So we just like have some fun with it.
• 19:26
  You know, it's just fun and I enjoy it.
• 19:28
  And it's a great way for us to just get out in front of the community so they can see who we are.
• 19:33
  Yeah.
• 19:34
  Hopefully appreciate some of the humor and just enjoy it.
• 19:38
  Yeah.
• 19:38
  Speaking of the community, who are the type of people, if they're watching or listening, who should probably get in touch with you guys?
• 19:44
  Like if something maybe remains unsolved.
• 19:47
  And I think Jeff Bezos says stress comes from unsolved problems.
• 19:50
  So like who are the type of people that you would like to talk to?
• 19:53
  And I know you said, you know, winnable, so to speak, or the merits of a case.
• 19:57
  Like what are some things they might want to be like, OK, I hit that criteria like I need to call Nick?
• 20:01
  Yeah.
• 20:02
  So first off, you know, anyone who's been injured, right?
• 20:05
  So a serious injury, life altering injury, and I use that word life altering, it could be
• 20:10
  you're just really, really sore.
• 20:12
  You know, that's still life altering for a month.
• 20:14
  Like if you're just stiff as a board in your neck for a month and you're going like this everywhere and you can't turn your head around and you're having trouble reaching down to pick up your kid, that's life altering, right?
• 20:25
  Even if it's for a month, all the way up to, you know, anything involving a wrongful death or a catastrophic injury I was describing earlier with our client.
• 20:35
  So anything where you're injured and if it's in a car accident,
• 20:39
  And if the other side's clearly at fault, they were cited in the accident.
• 20:42
  That's good for liability.
• 20:43
  But even if you're unsure, like call us, like we will look at it for you.
• 20:47
  What about slip and falls?
• 20:48
  Sorry to interrupt.
• 20:48
  Absolutely.
• 20:49
  We will help with slip and falls.
• 20:50
  A lot of law firms do not take slip and falls.
• 20:53
  Why is that?
• 20:54
  We have a law called contributory negligence here.
• 20:57
  So if the person bringing the claim is even deemed 1% at fault, technically under the law, they're not supposed to recover anything.
• 21:03
  Oh, wow.
• 21:04
  So there are some ways around that, and we've gotten really good at handling those cases.
• 21:09
  We love working on premise cases for folks.
• 21:11
  We're just a little stricter about what we can take and just really upfront with folks about, like we were talking earlier, setting those expectations.
• 21:18
  Yeah.
• 21:18
  Well, you're stricter because of the law stricter.
• 21:20
  I mean, like- Exactly.
• 21:21
  We have to be.
• 21:21
  Yeah, that makes sense.
• 21:22
  And that's one big thing is we have to be objective with the clients.
• 21:25
  We're going to be brutally honest with you about your case.
• 21:28
  If we're not, we're doing you a disservice.
• 21:30
  We're trying to pump you up and tell you you got a great case, and then
• 21:33
  You know, we take you along for a year and then, you know, tell you, I'm sorry, I don't want to do that.
• 21:37
  Yeah.
• 21:37
  So sorry to get back because I derailed us for a second.
• 21:40
  So people who've experienced an injury, life altering, all these different scenarios, even slip and falls.
• 21:46
  So these work injuries too.
• 21:48
  Sorry.
• 21:49
  Anyone injured at work, we handle workman's compensation cases.
• 21:52
  Okay.
• 21:52
  That's a big part of our firm.
• 21:54
  Any ducks in a row they would need to have, like, I'm sure it does you a lot of favors, and I'm sure it's not a must, but what would be, like, this would be really helpful if you had this information ready when you called?
• 22:04
  I mean, really, like, we want to take that off their plate.
• 22:07
  Like, you will get what we need.
• 22:08
  Okay.
• 22:08
  We're going to need some things.
• 22:09
  Like, we're going to want, if you were injured in a slip and fall, we're going to need a photograph of, like, what you fell on or what you tripped over that you think was...
• 22:17
  you know, was negligent, was hazardous to be there.
• 22:20
  Right.
• 22:21
  So we're going to need a, we're going to need evidence to see that in a slip and fall case, but we really want to take it off their plates.
• 22:26
  Like, yeah, we'll get what we need.
• 22:28
  We have investigators in house that will get information that we need.
• 22:32
  So that way we can just let the client focus on their recovery and getting better and not
• 22:37
  you know, worrying about gathering medical records and police reports and insurance information and all that.
• 22:45
  Now you've expanded into multiple markets.
• 22:47
  So if people want to get in touch with you, so where are you located and how would they get in touch with you or the firm?
• 22:53
  Yeah.
• 22:54
  So we're statewide now.
• 22:55
  So Wilmington is our headquarters.
• 22:57
  We have a main office in Charlotte downtown.
• 22:58
  And then we have an office up in Huntersville area.
• 23:01
  Now West in Gastonia, we have an office in Raleigh, and then we have an office out in Apex.
• 23:05
  And then we have an office in Jacksonville and then down in Monroe.
• 23:08
  That's,
• 23:08
  really servicing like the Wilmington office.
• 23:11
  Okay.
• 23:11
  How do you prefer people get in touch, call?
• 23:14
  All sorts of different ways.
• 23:15
  So we have a chat feature on our website where you speak with an actual person.
• 23:19
  They can call us anytime, 24-7, any day of the week.
• 23:22
  We have people that will answer the phones.
• 23:24
  They can submit forms on our website.
• 23:26
  Great.
• 23:26
  Anyway, that's convenient for them.
• 23:28
  And just in case, are you guys active on social?
• 23:30
  I always feel like social is, it's almost like your resume.
• 23:34
  Yeah, it is.
• 23:35
  Yeah, that's the way to put it.
• 23:37
  Are you guys on social?
• 23:38
  We are.
• 23:38
  Yeah, we're on Instagram and Facebook.
• 23:41
  We love to just promote the firm on social media with, you know, just showing like different community events that we're doing and spotlighting employees that have done a great job.
• 23:50
  Okay.
• 23:50
  What are the handles, by the way?
• 23:52
  Horton and Mendez Law.
• 23:53
  And then we have a Horton and Mendez Avogados de Accidentes for our Spanish social media account.
• 24:00
  Okay, great.
• 24:00
  Well, thank you so much for being on Port City Profiles.
• 24:03
  Obviously, you heard enough here that you probably have the information you need to give them a call if you've been in any of those circumstances.
• 24:11
  But we'll see you next week.