Episode 1300: Inside the Personal Injury Claim Process with Kevin Kaufman

After an accident, the first call from an insurance adjuster may seem helpful, but it can shape the outcome of a claim before an injured person understands their options. In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene interviews Kevin Kaufman, Founding Partner and Attorney at Kaufman & McPherson Personal Injury Lawyers, who discusses how his transition from corporate law to a client-centered personal injury practice shaped his approach to advocacy, communication, and client reassurance. Kevin also explains how early legal guidance, trial preparation, and realistic expectations can affect the value and resolution of an injury claim. Key Takeaways: → Injured people should be cautious about early insurance offers. → Insurance companies seek to resolve claims at the lowest possible cost. → Trial preparation can strengthen settlement leverage. → Clients need clear explanations free of legal jargon. → Community understanding can strengthen client advocacy. Kevin S. Kaufman graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1977, where he received a National Merit Scholarship, a full scholarship from Consolidated Natural Gas Company, and a West Virginia Achievement Scholarship. Mr. Kaufman completed his education at West Virginia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, an MBA, and a law degree. Upon graduating from law school, Mr. Kaufman accepted a position with Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation. Shortly thereafter, he was selected to work in the law department of the newly formed production branch, Columbia Natural Resources. In 1987, Mr. Kaufman left the Columbia system to form the Charleston law firm Pierson & Kaufman. He remained a partner in that firm and in its successor, Pierson, Kaufman & Stowers, until 1992. In 1992, Mr. Kaufman returned home to North Central West Virginia and established The Law Offices of Kevin S. Kaufman, which ultimately became Kaufman & McPherson, PLLC. Connect With Kevin: Website: https://wvattorneys.com/ X: https://x.com/KaufmanMcPhers1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KaufmanMcPhersonPLLC LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kaufman-mcpherson-pllc/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kaufmanmcphersonpllc

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Welcome to the Sharkpreneur Podcast with Kevin Harrington and Seth Green. Kevin Harrington is the inventor of the infomercial, one of the original sharks from the hit TV show Shark Tank, and has generated over $5 billion in TV and digital direct response sales. Seth Green is the world's first trusted authority on cutting-edge direct response marketing, a bestselling author, and the only three-time marketer of the year nominee. On the podcast, Kevin and Seth interview sharkpreneurs who share straight talk on what it takes to explode your business.

• 0:36Speaker 01

  Forty-nine faces looked to him in triumph. Over the last 12 months, they had each taken turns and promoted his business for a week at a time, driving over $987,342 in revenue. What if you had a network of 50 centers of influence who promoted your business every week for a year? Grab your copy of the number one Amazon bestselling book, The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Business with a Podcast at 33% off the Amazon price by going to ultimatenpodcastbook.com. Again, that website for 33% off the Amazon price is ultimatenpodcastbook.com. Welcome to the podcast. This is your host Seth Green. Today, I've got the good fortune to be interviewing Kevin Kaufman from Kaufman & McPherson.

• 1:19Speaker 01

  He is an attorney in West Virginia, helping West Virginians across the state in cases involving auto, truck, motorcycle, workplace, product liability, and other serious injury claims. Kevin, thank you so much for joining us.

• 1:30Speaker 02

  Well, thank you, Seth. I'm happy to do this. I'm looking forward to our conversation.

• 1:34Speaker 01

  As am I. So, let's go back in time a little, just a little bit. What inspired you to go to law school in the first place?

• 1:42Speaker 02

  You know, I can't really answer that question because I can't remember not thinking that I was going to be a lawyer. As early as I can remember in my childhood, I just... Intended to become a lawyer someday.

• 1:57Speaker 01

  That's incredible. Was it in your blood? Was anyone else in the family an attorney?

• 2:01Speaker 02

  No, no, I'm the first attorney on either side of the family that I'm aware of.

• 2:08Speaker 01

  Okay, well, congratulations. So you always wanted to be a lawyer. Did you originally start out in personal injury?

• 2:15Speaker 02

  No, no, I've had a circuitous path to end up where I am now. Actually, my first job out of law school was with Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation in about a thirty lawyer law department, and I was in the section that dealt with regulatory matters, things like going over to DC to attend hearings for pipeline abandonments and that sort of thing. So I was with them for a short period of time, and then they split off from Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation. They split off a production arm called Columbia Natural Resources.

• 2:57Speaker 02

  It was a smaller operation. The general counsel had enough budget for one additional lawyer, so he pulled me out of the law department, and I was up in the executive suite. It was presidents, vice presidents, the general counsel, and me in my twenties. So at that point, it looked like I was going down the corporate path. But the gas company at the time did not have any policy against doing outside legal work. In fact, they kind of encouraged it because I think their thinking probably was that it helped you to broaden your horizons. So within a couple of years of graduating from law school,

• 3:42Speaker 02

  evenings, weekends, I was helping out a buddy of mine that had started his own practice. And I found that work way more interesting than what I was doing at the big corporate law office or corporate office. So with a few hundred dollars in savings and about two and a half years of legal experience, I made the jump. So.

• 4:08Speaker 01

  Well, congratulations. That took a lot of courage to do. What was it about that work that you were doing that you found so fascinating?

• 4:18Speaker 02

  Well, you know, there were a couple of things about that. And I still wasn't doing personal injury work very much. I did a little bit, but but what I found interesting was that I was working with individuals or small businesses where they they had some kind of an issue they needed resolved and I was seeing real results for real people that needed to help and it just seemed so much more emotionally rewarding than what I was doing. Now, it wasn't as financially rewarding. It took a while for that to come, but but I just felt like I was helping real people, small businesses, people whose

• 4:58Speaker 02

  whose lives were positively impacted by the things I was able to do for them. And I just never got that feeling of satisfaction from the the the big, the the corporate world.

• 5:09Speaker 01

  That makes a lot of sense. And how did the transition to personal injury come about?

• 5:16Speaker 02

  Well, at one point, our firm down in Charleston added an attorney for the purpose of building a personal injury practice. And he built that practice. Then he left and took it out on his own. And it became mine. And I was doing that alongside the other things that I was doing, which was mostly contract, corporate, commercial work. I represented them all. That was a big part of my practice, that kind of thing. But I found myself doing more and more of the personal injury work. And when I ultimately decided about seven years out of law school to move back home where my parents were, I

• 5:58Speaker 02

  I made the decision that I would build a personal injury practice. So even then it took a little while longer because when I was starting up here in my hometown, had very much a general practice. I was on the criminal appointment list. I was doing D, did a lot of D's because my mother had a successful real estate brokerage. So I was doing a lot of deeds, lease work, you know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, did some divorces. Was very happy when I was able to quit doing that work. And gradually as the practice

• 6:39Speaker 02

  build and I was able to, I got out of those other lines and we ultimately became the firm we are now, which is strictly personal injury work.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  And how did the partnership of Kaufman McPherson come about?

• 6:53Speaker 02

  Well, that's very interesting. My law partner is also my stepson.

• 6:59Speaker 01

  That helps.

• 7:01Speaker 02

  So we have a family affair going here for a long while. My wife, who is of course my partner's mother, was our medical records assistant. And at one point, I even had a secretary in here who was my childhood babysitter. So it truly has been a family operation over the years.

• 7:24Speaker 01

  That is awesome. I love the connections. What are some things you've learned from helping people in crisis that like law school could never teach?

• 7:32Speaker 02

  Oh, you know, I think a big part of this job is that you have to understand your clients. You have to understand the position they find themselves in. You know, as an attorney who may have done a particular task that occurs in an injury case over and over, it may be routine to you, but I think it's really important to realize that it's not it's anything but routine to our clients. It may be on the range somewhere from uncomfortable to terrifying. And

• 8:10Speaker 02

  And a part of the job they don't teach you in law school is that to serve your clients, one of the best things you can do for them is to reassure them, explain enough about what's going on till they they realize that you've got it. You you you got their back, you're taking care of it, they don't need to worry. I, one of the things I tell my clients early in a case is, look, you don't need to worry about this anymore. That is my job. You you can just, I'll need you to cooperate with me if I need you to do something. But unless and until I tell you that I need you to do something with your case, I'm taking care of it for you and you don't need to worry about it.

• 8:53Speaker 02

  Just sit back, let me handle it for you. I I I love doing it and it's not the stressor to me than it is to you. So we're both better off because I'm going to be able to resolve this for you. And, uh, you know, they they don't, they don't give you psychology lessons in law school. They don't teach you that sort of thing. But, uh, to me, it's it's part of the job is making your client feel comfortable with what's going on. Uh, that to me is the biggest thing they don't teach you in law school.

• 9:24Speaker 01

  That makes a lot of sense. I mean, you're getting calls from people on what could arguably what be one of the worst days of their lives. Um, what are, and you deal with it every single day and hopefully they only, God forbid, have to deal with it once in their entire life. What are some of the most common mistakes people make when injured, you know, before even getting to talk to you?

• 9:45Speaker 02

  Oh, you know, the biggest mistake I see people making, and this is natural,

• 9:51Speaker 02

  because they don't understand the process, they don't know what's going on. The first thing that happens is an insurance adjuster calls up and says, don't worry, we'll take care of everything. And the biggest mistake I see is people going too far down the path of trying to resolve this on their own without getting help. And I understand the reason because, and depending how ethical or unethical the insurance adjuster is, they can really reinforce this. But the perception is out there, I think, that There's an amount that they're just automatically going to get and why should they give a percentage of that to a lawyer? I don't think a lot of people understand right off the bat that we're going to add way more value than it's going to cost them in a fee.

• 10:35Speaker 02

  So that's the biggest mistake I see is people getting either settling their claims for far less than they're worth or getting so far down the path that the insurance company's position is almost set in stone and it makes it more difficult for us to get the value of the claim in the eyes of the adjuster back up to where we'd be been able to to start at if if we'd been involved early. So waiting too long or not getting an attorney involved at all is by far the most common mistake that I see.

• 11:08Speaker 01

  Why do insurance companies like move that quickly after an accident? And and what should injured people understand about that?

• 11:17Speaker 02

  Well, you know what the insurance industry is trying to do isn't really, there's nothing mysterious about it. If you unpack it a little bit, the the insurance industry makes money by charging premiums, but they also make money by investing the money that they have their hands on. And when they pay claims, they reduce their profitability. I mean, it's just that simple. So if you look at the motivations of the insurance company, they've got two obligations. They have the obligation to the people that they protect, to their insurers, to get a release when they need to get one.

• 12:01Speaker 02

  But the other obligation they have is the obligation to whoever owns the insurance company, just like any other business, operate profitably. So how do you mix those two things together? Well, you get releases, you might as well think of it like a product. They're buying a release. Well, they're profitable if they buy that release as cheaply as possible. And if they get to an injured person and get them to sign a release before they've

• 12:31Speaker 02

  Been advised by an attorney about the true value of their claim. They're maximizing the profitability of the company at the expense of the person who's been injured. And once you realize that, it's not like some terrible dark conspiracy. It's just their business model. Their business model is pay the injured person as little as possible.

• 12:55Speaker 02

  And my goal, my job is to foil their plans, to foil their nefarious scheme, if you will.

• 13:06Speaker 01

  That's good. I love the way you put it. Um, how do you help clients decide whether that offer is fair? Or if it's the insurance company just trying to get away as cheap as they can?

• 13:15Speaker 02

  Well, you know, unfortunately, there's no real formula you can use to do that. It takes a, a, a combination of experience and keeping, keeping your ear to the ground, so to speak. Finding out what others are doing, what kind of verdicts are out there? What kind of settlements are out there? What is driving the settlements? How much difference there is among other people, not just our firm, but other people? How, how much are the values changing between settlements and litigation? You have to be able to project out what a jury is likely to do.

• 13:58Speaker 02

  But you also have to be able to project out what additional expenses there are in litigation to determine which way is going to maximize the value. So, you know, the short answer is by being as well informed as you can and by having as much experience as you can accumulate. You know, I think that's one of the reasons these days that you see that

• 14:20Speaker 02

  there are very few general practice attorneys, if you will, who are able to be successful in the personal injury space. You just, um, the way things are these days, working on criminal cases or preparing deeds or doing title searches does nothing to enhance your experience level at handling personal injury matters.

• 14:44Speaker 01

  That makes a lot of sense. Why, uh, I think I've read that you've, why does prepping a case for trial often improve the chances of a better settlement?

• 14:53Speaker 02

  Well, you know, it may seem like a sort of a contradictory thing, but when the insurance company is valuing a claim, and again, remember, valuing a claim means figuring out the cheapest way out of it. One of the things they're looking at is what is the downside to us? Meaning, what is the upside to the plaintiff of filing a lawsuit? If things go the plaintiff's way, what would happen to us? What could possibly happen to us? And when the adjuster is evaluating that, one of the things that they're looking at is,

• 15:36Speaker 02

  well, how likely is it that this particular plaintiff will go to court? Does this law firm know how to try a case? Am I being presented with material that shows me that they know how to get ready for trial? And that, to me, is the big one. If the adjuster sees that not only do you have the evidence, but you are rounding the evidence into shape to hammer them with it in a courtroom someday, then they view their settlement cost as having gone up. So the way that you make it more likely that you will settle without having to go to court

• 16:20Speaker 02

  is by being as prepared as possible to go to court. If the adjuster perceives that the client is not ready, willing, able to go to court, they also perceive that they can settle the claim for a lower value than might otherwise be. So you get every case ready for trial, and it's a happy surprise if it settles before then.

• 16:44Speaker 01

  You have to walk a fine line between being like a tough advocate on behalf of your clients and managing their expectations. How do you walk that line?

• 16:58Speaker 02

  You know, you have to be honest and upfront with your clients about what you're doing. It's like, like, look, I'm trying to persuade the adjuster at every opportunity of the value of the case. And when I make these arguments to them, you have to understand that I am making an argument. Unfortunately, they will not take my word as the gospel. So don't believe that everything that I say about how badly you've been injured is going to be accepted at face value by the adjusters. So everybody involved in this knows that I am not an impartial

• 17:41Speaker 02

  judge of the facts. I am advocating for you. So I'm pushing your position pretty hard, but don't think that I'm going to be able to drag them all the way to where I'm trying to go. That's not how it works. They are advocating for their insured. And every time I push, they're trying to pull back. And you have to understand that this is how the process works. So, for example, when I, if I think your claim is going to settle for or should settle for $50,000, I'm not going to open by asking them for $50,000 because I have no room to move. So when I ask you for authority to make a certain demand, you

• 18:24Speaker 02

  may rest assured that that amount I'm asking for authority is more than I think your case is worth, because I have to have some wiggle room in there. And you know, if you explain that process upfront to your clients, it, it takes away some of the issues later. You know, you don't have somebody coming back and say, you said my case was worth $100,000. No, I tried to convince the adjuster that your claim was worth $100,000, but it's not, you know it, and we talked about it. So, you know, you just be open, honest and upfront with your clients. Tell them what to expect, why to expect it. And then, you know, you don't run into these issues later. But you're right, you have to walk a fine line with

• 19:06Speaker 02

  them. They have, they have to understand what you're doing, or else there are going to be problems later.

• 19:13Speaker 01

  How do you keep them, how do you keep your clients informed without, like, overwhelming them with legal jargon?

• 19:20Speaker 02

  Well, you know what? That's kind of a hard question to answer because the client's expectations and desires differ so much. Some of them want to be contacted, told, explained every time something happens, and that's fine. Others say, you know what? You're a lawyer. I'm not. You know this stuff. I don't. Don't bother me with it. Do the best you can with it. Call me when I have, when you need me to make a decision that you don't feel comfortable making without me. Most people fall somewhere in that spectrum. But to me, the important thing is that you need to have enough of a rapport with your

• 20:00Speaker 02

  clients till you know how involved they want to be, and then you make sure you keep them that involved.

• 20:07Speaker 01

  What has practicing across West Virginia taught you about community?

• 20:13Speaker 02

  Oh, you know what? We, we are, we are a different kind of place here because it, it's, it's almost like someone that lives hundreds of miles from here, they are still a part of my community. It's a small state. I don't know if you're a baseball fan, but perfect example of this was, West Virginia was just in the College Baseball World Series. And if you saw any of the clips of the stadium there, people from all across West Virginia were together singing "Take Me Home Country Roads" in Omaha, Nebraska. And, you know, some of them were from Maidwan, and some of them were from Charleston, and

• 20:57Speaker 02

  some of them were from Oregon, and hundreds of miles apart, but they're all just one big community. And, you know, it, when you're, when you're doing personal injury law, you know, ultimately...

• 21:12Speaker 02

  Some of these cases are going to come down to you talking to members of the community who happen to be jurors that day about what your client has experienced. And if you, if you realize how important community is and that sense of community to West Virginians, I think it helps you do the job better.

• 21:32Speaker 01

  Your passion is obvious. What do you like best about what you're doing?

• 21:35Speaker 02

  The thing I like best about what I'm doing is that the people I'm helping really need the help that we're giving them. And that makes it very personally rewarding whenever you wrap up a case. You know, when you, you get a card from a client saying, wow, I was in misery and you made my life better. What could be better than that, you know?

• 22:01Speaker 01

  Amen. Well, we know your time is incredibly valuable. We greatly appreciate you spending some of it with us. For our folks who are watching and listening and might be in Virginia and have the need of an attorney, where is the best place for them to go to learn more?

• 22:14Speaker 02

  Well, if they're in Virginia, they would.

• 22:16Speaker 01

  I mean, West Virginia, sorry.

• 22:19Speaker 02

  If they're in Virginia, they should call somebody in Richmond. No, you know, anybody in West Virginia that finds themselves with an injury and needs some legal help, we help people all across the state of West Virginia. We're easy to find. You can call us. You can check out our website, which is wvattorneys.com. Look us up on Facebook or TikTok. About any way you need to reach us, you'll be able to find us and we'd be happy to talk with you. Anytime someone has a question about an injury case, we'd be happy to talk with you. There's no charge for that. Just call us up or inquire on our website. Get in touch with us. We'd be happy to talk with you about your situation. You

• 23:02Speaker 02

  know, there are, there are times when we can help you. There are times when you might be better off helping yourself. We'll tell you that if that's the case. You know, contact us. We'll be happy to go over your situation with you and tell you what we think's the best thing for you to do.

• 23:17Speaker 01

  Well, we greatly appreciate that. Again, this has been Seth Green here with Kevin Kaufman of wvattorneys.com. Kevin, thanks again for joining us.

• 23:25Speaker 02

  Thank you, Seth. I appreciate the opportunity.

• 23:28Speaker 01

  Thanks, everybody for watching or listening. We'll talk to you or see you next time.

• 23:33Speaker 03

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