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065 T-Bone Accident: Sonya’s Story

065 T-Bone Accident: Sonya’s Story

Lawyers in the House with Montlick

Attorneys in Podcast: Michelle Mumpower, Esq.

A few years ago, Sonya was invovled in a terrible accident that left her with serious injuries. She turned to Montlick Injury Attorneys asking for help. Sonya’s Montlick attorney Michelle worked tirelessly so Sonya could move on with her life. Hear from both of them, and why having a strong relationship with your lawyer is so important to the outcome of your case.

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The purpose of this show is to provide general information about the law. Our guests will not provide any individualized legal advice. If you have a personal situation and need legal advice, contact us for your free legal consultation with a Montlick attorney.

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00:04	ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Wish you had a lawyer in the family? Now you do. Here’s your host, Veronica Waters. VERONICA: Welcome to the House. Lawyers in the house with Montlick on WSB. I’m your host, Veronica Waters, welcoming you in for another fabulous episode. Thanks for joining us today.
00:28	VERONICA: So glad to have you sitting down with us and chilling out, learning some things, meeting some people. You know, I always love talking to y’all here. If you are the kind of person who loves to go it alone, this show is for you. I want to introduce you first to two very special guests in the house. One of them is a familiar face. She has been here many times before, and she’s one of my very favorite guests. I’m not going to lie.
00:57	VERONICA: Empowering individuals and giving them a voice when they need it most. Her name is Michelle Mumpower. She’s a Montlick Injury Attorney who has been with the firm since. MICHELLE: I think 2016, 17, 2016. VERONICA: OK, so several years with the firm, but Michelle was not always an attorney. Now she got her undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University. She had a major in biochemistry, minor in law and justice.
01:28	VERONICA: And then for a law school, you went to Barry University School of Law. Where is Barry University? MICHELLE: Orlando, Florida, Orlando, Florida. VERONICA: OK, I should have known that from our previous conversations. And I’m sure she was like top of her class or something. She was making strides, whatever. She decided to become an attorney after a successful career as a businesswoman and entrepreneur in biochemistry. And now Michelle applies her knowledge of biochem and genetics to the legal field. MICHELLE: Mm-hmm. VERONICA: Somehow. Yes. I don’t know how. How do you do that, Michelle?
01:58	MICHELLE: I think it really gives me the upper hand more in understanding the medical records and the treatment process and the physics dynamics of the impact of the accident versus the injuries and treatment that a client receives and then what they have to actually go through. VERONICA: Yeah. Now, when you transitioned from the business world into the legal field, that was an easy decision for you. MICHELLE: It was.
02:26	MICHELLE: The company that I was doing pharmaceutical research for; we were just a four or five-person company. And unfortunately, the funding stopped. So, I thought, you know what? I don’t really want to go to med school, but I want to help others. And my mom actually suggested, why don’t you try law school and give it a go? So, I joined a law firm, actually a family law firm in North Carolina, worked for them for a year, and then went to law school and the rest is history. VERONICA: The rest is history. How did you know, though, that personal injury was it for you? Because you can also help a lot of people in family law.
02:56	MICHELLE: You can. I always tell people, you know, students that are in law school or thinking about going to law school, try different areas and kind of see what fits. But I had an employer tell me one day, if you don’t wake up and want to go to work, you know, and get excited, not every day, but most of the time, get excited to go to work and really enjoy what you’re doing, then you’ve found what you want to do. And I really feel that I have found where I have meant to be. VERONICA: That is a light bulb moment for somebody right there.
03:25	VERONICA: Do you wake up wanting, loving, eager to go to work? Let’s think about that. And sitting next to Michelle Mumpower, because we are talking today to a very dynamic woman who did not quite know when she should have called for help in her time of need. SONYA: Yeah, VERONICA: And the show today, she’s paired up with the person who did answer that call for help when she finally made it.
03:53	VERONICA: This is Michelle’s client and now friend, Sonya Hawver. Welcome to the House, Sonya. SONYA: Thank you. Good morning. VERONICA: Tell me a little bit about you. Who is Sonya? SONYA: Oh, gosh. Mama three, Oma to five. Partially retired 63-year-old. VERONICA: What did you do for a living? From what did you retire? SONYA: Well, the office that I worked for was an OB/GYN office, Fayetteville area, Georgia, and I loved it.
04:24	SONYA: I was there for quite a few years. But when we moved to Tennessee, then you know it was like I had to tell everybody goodbye. But being a military wife, gosh, I’ve done daycare. I’ve worked for, what is it? Aesthetics. The doctor I worked for did aesthetics and the OB/GYN office as a dental assistant, which I loved. So, you have to be ready to change careers at any point when you’re married to a military person, just due to the many moves that you end up making.
04:58	VERONICA: Yeah. So, you probably don’t know or did you know when you entered every new city, I’m good at everything? Or did you just find out as you went? Wow, I’m pretty good at all of these jobs. SONYA: You just kind of figure what’s out there. Let me see what I can do. And fortunately, with the dental assisting, we were in Germany. The post that we were stationed at, they did have a Red Cross course. You did 40 hours of in-class, then you’d go to the dental clinic, and you would volunteer.
05:25	SONYA: And then when you got so many hours of volunteering, then they would give you the certificate and you were a certified dental assistant. So, it was kind of like SONYA: training on the job. And I loved it. And I would have continued pursuing it. But again, just with military moves, you can’t always find the right fit. VERONICA: Yeah. So yeah, I love it. So, a lifetime pretty much as an adult of helping people. SONYA: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Never. I never thought about it like that, but yes. VERONICA: Well, that’s why I’m here to give you a little perspective.
05:56	VERONICA: We’re on Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. Thank you so much for being in the House. Sonia Hower and Montlick Injury Attorney Michelle Mumpower. I said that if you’re the type of person who likes to go it alone no matter what this show is for you. I did an informal survey when I was getting ready to do the show today and I asked a lot of people, why don’t you ask for help? Why don’t you ask for help? Offering help is super easy. It’s asking for help.
06:26	VERONICA: For so many people, that’s the hard part. Let me share with you some of the answers I got. I don’t want to bother anyone. I can do it better than anybody else. I don’t think I need help. I’m embarrassed to need help and not know the answers. I have a sense of pride because nobody else is going to do it right. I don’t trust anybody. It’s going to take too long. I can figure it out myself. I have a hard time letting go of the fear of somebody telling me no. I’ve been independent so long, I don’t know how to depend on anybody.
06:58	VERONICA: People will let you down. They’re not going to do it right. I feel like it makes me look weak. I feel like I come across as needy. I don’t want to look like I’m incapable. I don’t know whom to ask. We’re going to touch on some of these themes, I think, today in Sonya’s story. You’re going to hear about a woman who battled through some really terrible injuries.
07:24	VERONICA: And yet even in here’s like a little spoiler, even when she was really down and really hurting, she almost didn’t pick up the phone to call for help. Let’s get into it, Sonya. So, we’ve learned a little bit about you. You were a military wife for many years, which allowed you to travel into so many different cities and learn so much about yourself. And as we mentioned, always lending a helping hand to people personally, and I’m sure, as well as professionally. But at some point, you had a moment where you needed some help.
07:56	VERONICA: Let’s get into your accident. What year was this? SONYA: 2016, 18, 18, 28, SONYA: 2018. It’s five years ago. VERONICA: OK, yeah, it’s 2023, as we sit here today. And what happened? SONYA: I had closed the office for the day and actually I pull out of the Fayetteville Hospital parking lot instead of the parking lot for our building because there is an arrow for a left turn.
08:28	SONYA: You get a green arrow. So, to me, it just makes more sense than to try and pull that into traffic, especially when you’re making a left. The light was red, and I was sitting in the turning lane, and light turned green, and I started to go. And I see this bright light. And I was like, is this person going to hit me? I didn’t even have time to really think about, you know are they going to hit me or not?
08:55	SONYA: But next thing I know, I was waking up and seeing this purple mist, which I believe came from the airbags. But it’s just trying to figure out what just happened SONYA: because I’m sitting there and I’m looking at my car door and you could tell there was something not quite right because I didn’t even think about the airbags had deployed. But I keep looking at that and I’m looking around and there’s all these people standing around. And the next thing I know, there was a gentleman, a fireman.
09:26	SONYA: And the lady that was sitting beside me at the light and had actually gone straight, she came running over to and opened the door and she’s like, “Oh my gosh, are you okay? Are you okay?” And I felt fine. I wasn’t hurting anywhere. I mean, I was a little discombobulated, but just not hurting it. So, I thought, well, okay, I’m good. And then the fireman was asking me, “Are you okay? Are you okay?” And I said, “I think I am.” The bad thing was I couldn’t get out of the car because the driver’s side, it was a full impact just on driver’s side, center of the door.
09:57	SONYA: And so, I was like, “Okay, how am I going to get out of here?” And I was waiting kind of for the jaws of life, thinking that they would be able to get me out. But as time’s going on, this is what’s going through my head. And finally, they just said, “Do you think you can get out on your own?” And I said, “Well, I can try.” You know, I mean, because he checked me. I had to turn my head and do different things. And is there any pain? Are you comfortable? But as I started to push myself over, that’s when I realized that there’s something not right on my left side. VERONICA: Wow.
10:27	SONYA: So, I had to stop, and he’s like, “You’re hurt, aren’t you?” And I said, “Yeah, I’m not sure where there was no blood or anything like this for an actual injury that you could see.” But it took two or three times for me to get to the car door. And then the gentleman had me like under the arms. Someone else was trying to help me as far as getting my legs out. They had to stop a couple of times just because of the pain. VERONICA: So, by this time, you were feeling that pain. SONYA: Oh, yeah.
10:54	SONYA: A fractured pelvis, it’s not something that you can see, but you can definitely feel it. And I couldn’t walk. They got me out of my vehicle, put me on the gurney, and got me in the ambulance. And I’m trying to you know think about, okay, there was a lady that had called my husband, but just trying to think clearly of all the things, you know okay, I needed to let George know where I was going.
11:22	SONYA: And you know they’re asking me questions about, does this hurt? Does that hurt? Can you move your head? And they kept asking me about the injury. And I was like, it was like it felt like it was right in the crease of my leg. And they were going to take me to Grady. And I had to laugh because I literally had my accident right in front of a hospital in Fayetteville Hospital. I said, can you just take me here? Let’s just go across the street. I mean, I’m looking right at the sign.
11:51	SONAY: Do we really have to go all the way to Atlanta? And we went back and forth for a minute, and he said, well, they should be able to at least see you know stable, do x-rays or whatever. So, I did go into the Fayetteville Hospital. I was there for a few hours. But due to the trauma and Fayetteville is not a trauma hospital, they did have to send someone from Grady to come and pick me up and transport me. And oh gosh, I had all kinds of tests run, just the x-rays and all of this.
12:22	SONYA: And for a little bit, I really didn’t know what had happened as far as what is hurting, why can’t I do this? And then they were like, well, you do have a fractured pelvis. I had no idea, like, okay, what does that entail? Cause I’m thinking you can’t SONYA: put a cast there and you’re basically, you can’t walk, you can’t do anything, there’s no cast, there’s nothing because it has to heal itself. So, they, you know, let me, they just told me that I can get a wheelchair and roll around, and I would be fine after that.
12:58	SONYA: But it ended up turning into a little more than that kind of long term, VERONICA: a little more than that long term. Yeah. But at that time, when they said you need a wheelchair, you’d be like, OK, no problem. I got this. SONYA: Yeah. VERONICA: Yeah. And how long did it take before Sonya knew better than that? Now we’re going to get into how Sonya met Michelle when Sonya met Michelle. That’s coming up on Lawyers in the House with Montlick.
13:26	VERNICA: The relationship that Sonya formed not just with Michelle Mumpower, but the entire family of attorneys at Montlick Injury Attorneys and how they fought for justice in Sonya’s case. Stay with us. I’m Veronica Waters. Be right back. ANNOUNCER: You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 8:00 a.m. every Sunday if you want to listen live on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: Welcome back. Come on in back to the House.
13:55	VERONICA: Lawyers in the house with Montlick on WSB. I’m Veronica Waters here, hosting Montlick Injury Attorney Michelle Mumpower and her fabulous client, Sonya Hawver. Sonya just gave us the nuts and bolts about this horrible T-bone accident where she thought she was fine for a couple of minutes until it was time for her to try to climb out of that car. And, you know, long story short, at the hospital, they say, hey, we’re going to put you in a wheelchair. You’ll heal up. And Sonya’s like, OK, I got this.
14:27	VERONICA: Didn’t occur to you at that time to call an attorney. When did you change your mind? Why didn’t you call an attorney right away? SONYA: By the time I was released from the hospital, a lot of friends and family, they’re going, “Oh, it’s a fractured pelvis.
14:44	SONYA: It’s not just a stubbed toe, and this is going to have a more long-term effect than you think.” And then as the medical diagnosis was coming in, they were telling me the same thing because you’re in a wheelchair for a certain amount of time, and then slowly you go to a walker, which, yeah, you know I know I’m a little more than a spring chicken, but you know with a walker, yeah I really didn’t feel, yeah.
15:14	VERONICA: You didn’t think you were going to feel cute with that walker. SONAY: You can go in and say it out loud. I decorated that thing. I didn’t think about it till now. But you have to progress. You start off in the wheelchair because you can’t walk, you can’t put any pressure on it. You go to a walker when you can finally start to get up and around. And then just the idea of how is this going to affect me future-wise? As they are talking about, well, you know fractured pelvis, yes, it’s going to heal, but in the long run, you’re going to need a hip replacement.
15:44	SONYA: That kind of threw me off. And everybody’s like, look, this is long-term. It’s not short-term. You need to get a lawyer because you’re going to have to think about you know things in the future. And we did have a friend who recommended Montlick and Associates. They had used that law firm when they were in an auto accident. Very good results. And we decided, okay, because when you have good insurance and I’m SONYA: thinking, okay, this is going to heal quickly, that gives you one way to look at it. But then you have to look at it by, oh, I didn’t realize it was going to be long term.
16:13	SONYA: I didn’t realize that there are effects that are not going to be in the immediate future, but in the distant future. And that’s when we called, and they assigned Michelle to my case. VERONICA: Michelle Mumpower, your introduction to Sonya Hawver’s case in a few seconds. MICHELLE: I actually got a call a few days after she was released from the hospital from George. And it was more of so kind of figuring out what had happened and what the injuries were. And that’s what we dive into directly from the intake process is, you know, most importantly, how is the client?
16:46	MICHELLE: What happened to the client? What do we need to do to make sure that our client gets the treatment that they need? VERONICA: Michelle Mumpower and her client and now friend, Sonya Hawver, talking about the challenges of Sonya’s case and the embrace that she got from the Montlick Injury Attorneys as a whole. That’s coming up next on Lawyers in the House with Montlick. ANNOUNCER: You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 8:00 a.m.
17:14	every Sunday on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: Hey, welcome back to the House. Lawyers in the House with Montlick. I’m your host, Veronica Waters here and telling you that I want to say you missed a really impactful first half of the show if you’re just now joining us. We’re in the house today with Montlick Injury Attorney Michelle Mumpower and her amazing client, Sonya Hawver. And if you missed Sonya sort of describing that deer in the headlights moment when she wondered, is this person about to hit me?
17:48	VERNICA: And what came after that? You want to hear her talk about it. So don’t worry about it. We got you. Make sure you just subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform. And when the new episode drops, you’ll see it right away. You can always find us on YouTube. Just look for at Montlick Law there or on any social media platform because you can keep up with us all throughout the week. We’ll be looking for you and we can’t wait to hear from you. Sonya Hawver told us that she finally knew that she needed to contact a lawyer, even though she was trying to go it alone.
18:19	VERONICA: Right, Michelle? MICHELLE: Yeah, I think one of the main misconceptions, and I’m going to be honest, when you had said in the first segment, the comments that people had, it hurt my heart a little bit to say that most people think, oh, I can do it on my own, or I don’t want to ask for help, or you know I don’t want to bother anybody. You know I think the biggest misconception that individuals have is everyone is on your side in a situation like this. You know, like Sonya had said, she had health insurance, so she felt that she would be good. Her treatment would be covered.
18:50	MICHELLE: You know she had additional uninsured motorist coverage on her policy. So, her insurance company would help her. She would be good. And unfortunately, as we see in people that you know will tell us at either the beginning of representation or throughout the process, that just unfortunately wasn’t the case. VERONICA: That wasn’t the case for you, Sonya. So, you were trying to do it with your insurance company by yourself. SONYA: Yes. With Tricare, it is a military coverage. And people get sUE happy. Oh, you know you’ve been in an auto accident.
19:20	SONYA: You bumped your leg, you bumped your knee, call a lawyer. You know I’m going to sue and get this ton of money. I just didn’t think in that kind of you know mental state. But talking about the future effects and knowing that at some point, even it’s been five years, but at some point, I am going to have to have the hip replacement. And then not only that, at the time we were living in a two-story home, they had to set up a bed for me downstairs. I could not go upstairs at all.
19:49	SONYA: The embarrassing as it is, I’m like bathing in my kitchen at the sink, trying to wash my hair in the sink and everything because the main bathroom upstairs. There’s so much more to it. And even the mental, the financial, there’s so much to what you go through. And having someone be there for you made a huge difference. But you know in the beginning, I’m thinking, oh, okay, I’m going to heal up.
20:18	SONYA: I’m going to be fine. My insurance is going to cover it. But again, it’s that long-term effect. You need to know what your long-term effects are. You know it does make a huge difference. VERONICA:Was your insurance company coming through for you immediately? SONYA: No. VERONICA: OK. Yeah. Big challenges, Michelle. Oh, yeah. One of the biggest things we have, you know like I said, with the health insurance is you know health insurance is not something that for a lot of people is free. We pay for it. You know I hear it from my husband every month when our health insurance comes out of the paycheck.
20:49	MICHELLE: You know it’s a high premium that you pay that you would think would help you when you actually need to use it. SONYA: And there is a misconception with military families that people think, oh, your health insurance is free. No, ma’am, it is not. You do pay for Tricare. There is cost involved. And I had never used the insurance for anything major like this before. And thank goodness, you know Michelle, she kept on them. You know but again, like you said, it’s something that people don’t think about as far as cost and that.
21:22	SONYA: And then so they don’t, oh, they’re going to up my mouth. Like with a vehicle, you get in an auto accident, your insurance can go up. And I think people look at that the same way too. They’re thinking, oh, if I have to have my insurance company you know take care of this, they’re going to turn around and raise my premium. MICHELLE: Yeah, and the biggest thing for Sonya’s health insurance was the fact that the hospital chose to file what is called a lien. And a lien is not something that you know is put on your property, as your home, you know as people misconstrue.
21:55	MICHELLE: It is something that is put on the settlement, which means the provider will be paid, and most of them will not give reductions, but expect to be paid in full from any settlement money, which unfortunately takes directly from the victim. So, the biggest hurdle in her case was actually getting her providers to release the lien they had filed and filing her health insurance. And one of the first things that we do at Montlick Injury Attorneys is as soon as you call 1-800 law need, we go through an intake process.
22:25	MICHELLE: We ask you for health insurance information. We ask you for providers you’ve treated with. And within a few days, my assistants are already sending out letters to the providers telling them to bill health insurance. And here’s the law and the code of why you must bill health insurance. And that’s very important because a lot of people also don’t know that you can’t send a bill directly to your insurance company. It has to come from the provider for it to be paid. And there’s also a time period that it has to be filed to be paid.
22:52	MICHELLE: So, if you let that time period go and it’s not timely filed as they were trying to argue in Sonya’s case, despite us sending letters, they finally chose to build health insurance, but that was one of the biggest battles with her. And unfortunately, we see that as a battle every day with our clients. VERONICA: It’s amazing that this actually could be something that somebody would think they could handle on their own. How would I even possibly know any of that? SONYA: Oh, gosh.
23:21	VERONICA: If I was, you know, plus I’m dealing with the pain and the, as you said, the emotional aftermath of somebody T-boning you out of nowhere. And now I’ve got to like to argue with the insurance company too. Yeah. Once you got this process underway, did the insurance company say we can see how badly this lady, Sonya, is hurt? Let’s help her out. MICHELLE: So, the at-fault party’s insurance company did. They immediately responded to the statutory offer letter we sent and provided their full available limits for her.
23:51	MICHELLE: Given her medical bills, the severity of her injuries, she then has or had at the time, excuse me, what is called an add-on underinsured policy. So, we had sent a demand statutory offer letter to that as well. And they had also provided the limits. It was an additional policy your son had at the time of the accident through the exact same insurance company that you had at the time that really gave us the biggest fight. VERONICA: WOW
24:20	MICHELLE: It was not understanding the value because, as Sonya said, her injury is long-term. I know you haven’t had, you know, the hip replacement, but we sent you for a second opinion. We had another doctor say, there is no question. Medically, she will have to have this. I’m not recommending she do it now, but she will have to have this. And it’s you know that misconception that people think their health insurance is going to take care of them. And one of the biggest arguments we get is, well, if she hasn’t had it now, there’s no guarantee she’s going to have it in the future.
24:53	MICHELLE: So, we’re not going to give her that value. And that was really you know the other big hurdle we had was getting her own insurance company to realize you know our insured, who’s paying premium for a policy every month is hurt, is hurt for you know permanent, is going to need this treatment, and we need to get full value. VERONICA: Was this unlike other fights that you had over the course of your personal injury career?
25:25	MICHELLE: No, I tell people, you know, because a lot of clients will say, why is it just me? Why am I having to go through this fight? Why does it seem like, you know, this is only my case? So-and-so had their case settled within a certain amount of time. And I tell my clients, “Look, you have to trust us. You have to trust the process. It is not a MICHELLE: quick and easy process. There is no case that is the same. I have you know never have a case that is from beginning to close.” The same thing.
25:53	MICHELLE: You always have certain obstacles. You always have certain paths you have to change, things you have to do within a case. So that’s why I always tell people, you know, just trust us. We’ve got you. We will take care of everything. We need to take care of you and take it from there. VERONICA: It’s extraordinary that you would have to sort of like battle.
26:15	VERONICA: I know I keep saying basically the same thing, but it’s stunning to me that somebody who is relegated to a wheelchair for an indefinite period of time is said to has a prognosis that she’s going to have to have a hip replacement for sure one day. SONYA: And that’s not something you look forward to. VERONICA: No, right. Right. You know, and it’s that you would still have your insurance company say, I don’t know. So, I do want to note, though, Amen Corner came into play when Michelle started talking about trust the process.
26:48	SONYA: Yes. VERONICA: And I heard you over there saying, oh, yes. I feel like, come on, preach to me, Sonya. Open my eyes. SONYA: There’s so much paperwork and things, some things that I would have to do. And Michelle would call, and she’d say, okay, I have you know talked with the Tricare. They’re not answering me. So, then I’m making phone calls and it’s like, why aren’t you giving my lawyer this information that she needs you know to cover my guess?
27:17	SONYA: And I think sometimes people just don’t realize that you know like Michelle had said, they want everything done quickly. It is not a fast process. There’s a lot of paperwork. And just trying to get someone to understand your future needs, it turns into this mentally kind of fatigue because you’re not only hurting, you’re not only trying to get through your day, but I couldn’t go back to work. I was begging. I’m like, can you please let me go back to work? I can go back to work in a wheelchair.
27:47	SONYA: I can, I’m good. You know I can walk patients with a walker. And they’re like, no, you can’t do that. You got to go to physical therapy. And the first time I drove home from physical therapy by myself, I didn’t even realize that by the time I got to my road, I was crying. I was like, oh my gosh, you know I made it through physical therapy. I made it home by myself. And I mean, I was like shaking when I left you know to go. George had a doctor’s appointment, so you know I had to drive myself.
28:15	SONYA: But knowing that, okay, you know I got through this, and you know I can tell Michelle anything. I mean, she had been through some things herself. And she always told me, she says, you can call me anytime, anytime. And just having somebody that understands where you’re coming from. And I mean, it doesn’t have to be, you know, your spouse in this. Look at people who they know what they’re doing. They know there’s a process to getting you taken care of. And if Michelle couldn’t you know call me about something, one of the paralegals did.
28:45	SONYA: And about every two weeks, whether they had any new information to update or not, they would call me and say, “Okay, what’s going on? You know Are you doing all right?” And if there was progress, they would say, “Okay, this has been filed, that’s been filed.” And they stand behind you and you’re not just hiring Michelle or one of the other lawyers. You’ve got that firm backing you up. And even when she SONYA: had her little girl, you know they were still you know making sure that you know I’m okay.
29:16	SONYA: How are you doing? Everything’s fine. And gosh, I can’t even put it into words. It’s a relief. You know, don’t try to do this on your own. There’s so much. And it’s that long term, actually that you have to think about more than what’s right in front of you because you don’t realize what’s going to happen, what still has to be done. But with them, they get everything settled for you and good so that you do have what you need in the future to take care of yourself. VERONICA: You are happy that you called. It is evidence.
29:45	SONYA: Oh, heavens, yes. VERONICA: It’s also interesting to me that even though this wasn’t really on that long list of answers that I got about why don’t you ask for help, that one of the things that you kind of alluded to just now was so top of mind for you. I don’t want people to think badly of me. I don’t want to come across as sue happy. I don’t want to be part of this litigious society. What will the neighbors think? SONYA: Yeah. VERONICA: Yeah. And honestly, is it OK if I just say to people, there were some folks at your job who were like, you don’t need a lawyer.
30:19	SONYA: Yeah. Yeah, you got a lawyer. And sometimes it can affect how people look at you. And no, I’m not so happy. No, it’s not that I want this man to lose everything. The person that ran the light and hit me, you know, because it’s going to affect them too. But you have to think about how you are going to cope with everything, not just at the moment, but in the future. That’s where it comes in. VERONICA: That’s where it comes in. Sonya Hover and Michelle Mumpower are on deck for the Montlick closing argument.
30:50	VERONICA: Stay with us. ANNOUNCER: You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. If you want to listen to our radio show live, you can hear it every Sunday, 8:00 a.m. on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: And welcome back to the House. Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. I’m Veronica Waters here, hosting Montlick Injury Attorney Michelle Mumpower and her dynamic client and now friend, Sonya Hawver.
31:21	VERONICA: Sonya is the client who almost didn’t call for help because she’s so used to going it alone. Oh, reminder, if you remember Michelle talking about hospital liens and the battle that she had to go through about that, we’ve got a whole episode dedicated to it. That’s episode 42 of Lawyers in the House, and it stars Montlick Injury Attorneys Lynn Walker and Richard Warner. So many gems in that show. It’s time for what you’ve been waiting for all hour long.
31:52	VERONICA: The Montlick closing argument. Michelle, take it away. MICHELLE: As I had said earlier, you know, based on the comments and the perceptions that you had done of the poll you did before the show, I always tell people, don’t hesitate to call. The last thing that you need to deal with is if your health insurance is going to take care of your medical bills, if your insurance company is going to be on your side, you know let us help. Let us take the burden from you. MICHELLE: Don’t worry. Don’t care about the perceptions of what people have because those individuals that have those perceptions usually have never been in your shoes.
32:23	MICHELLE: And the one thing is, as soon as you contact 1800 law need, we get working on all these things from the very beginning, and it’s the last thing that you have to do. There are situations where we want the client to speak to their insurance. But in Sonya’s situation, and one of the only situations I have a client speak to their own insurance, is I wanted them to truly hear you know the pain that she went through and the obstacles that she had and what she was still going through and going to have to go through to get that full value we were able to get for her case.
32:57	VEROICA: You were really disillusioned by the experience that you had with your insurance company. SONYA: I was because even the couple of times that I called for Michelle, I’m still having to explain things. And I was like, well, I’m in a wheelchair. I can’t even get into my own bed upstairs, and I am having to bathe in my kitchen. So, could you please understand that I’m not doing this to become a millionaire? I’m not doing this to get rich by any means.
33:24	SONYA: But I have to think about not just what is going on right now, but how this is going to affect me in the future. And you know having to know at some point that I’m going to have to have a hip replacement is not something that I’m looking forward to. VERONICA: How are you today, Sonya? SONYA: I’m doing all right. Get a little stiff with the cold weather and the rain, trying to stay positive and stay you know just active so that I’m not you know hurting myself because the more you stay active, the better health you are.
33:58	SONYA: Of course, you know hopefully the longer it’s going to be before I do have to go through that. But I’m doing well. Michelle’s been my rock and I’m so grateful that had her take care of me and not just her, but the firm. It’s like call a lawyer. Don’t do this on your own. VERONICA: Call the right lawyer. SONYA: Exactly. VERONICA: Just quickly, was it easy for you to get back behind the wheel? SONYA: No. That took me a bit. The first time that I had to get behind was when I drove to the physical therapy appointment.
34:31	SONYA: And I was crying by the time I got home. I didn’t even realize it. I’m bawling my eyes. cause I was like, oh my gosh, I did it. And George did have to take me to doctor’s appointments, et cetera. Even as a passenger, it changes your whole outlook of driving. And even coming here from Tennessee, it’s like, you know, that white nickel effect. It’s been five years and I’m still like, oh. VERONICA: But now we have got this rock in Michelle Mumpower and Montlick Injury Attorneys.
35:01	VERONICA: Thank you so much to Sonya Hawver and Michelle Mumpower. I’m Veronica Waters. Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help and brave enough to ask for it. This is Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. We’ll see you next time. ANNOUNCER: You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Catch us live every Sunday, 8:00 a.m. on 95.5 WSB.

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