Joseph K. Dughman

I used the law firm of Joe Dughman in my personal injury case. It is rarely a pleasant time in one's life when an attorney is needed, and that was certainly true of my situation. I was injured when a driver, who had celebrated her 16th birthday just two weeks before the accident, hit my car while I... was standing behind it to retrieve something from the trunk. It was a freak accident, and it changed my life forever. The time that followed this incident was full of stress and ongoing medical problems. What should have been a simple broken leg has failed to heal, and the march to recovery has seen more pitfalls than progress. It would have been easy to despair if I had not had the support of Mr. Dughman. The first aspect to his representation was the convenience. My daughter took me to see him in person one time, but that was probably more for me than for him. After that, all of our communication was electronic, phone, or regular mail, which made it much easier for me to navigate. Secondly, this was not a case in which Mr. Dughman had hopes for a large financial recovery. To the contrary, I was distraught to learn I was grossly underinsured, and it is my understanding the young lady who hit me had minimum coverage as well. It was not my wish to sue her or her family, although I have questioned this decision many times. Mr. Dughman supported me and pressed on. As the first year passed and I was not healed, I began to learn about subrugation. This is a process by which my health insurance companies demanded refund payments on the benefits they had paid out. They were entitled to this because the accident was not "my fault," and yet they had paid out thousands of dollars. With two weeks in the hospital, two major surgeries, weeks of home health care and physical therapy, the bills were astronomical. If Mr. Dughman had not negotiated on my behalf with these mammoth insurance companies, I would have owed them money in the end. Somehow he got them to accept partial repayment, a feat I would have never been able to do for myself. The stress of owing that money and my body's unwillingness to heal took an emotional toll on me. I have never heard one word of apology from the young woman who hit me. Long after the Statute of Limitation on a possible lawsuit expired, I asked Mr. Dughman if I could write to her. He assured me it would make no difference in any "legal" sense, but he encouraged me to write her if it would make me feel better. In the end, I wrote to her parents, thinking they could decide it the letter was appropriate. Still, there has been no contact. Through all of my dealings with Attorney Dughman, I was basically an emotional wreck. He was constant, professional, and very, very skilled in his work. It is my hope to never, never need him again, but if I do, it is my sincere wish that he will represent me again.