Personal Injury Attorney and Harley Davidson rider Paul Hernandez discusses what it means to be known in the Virginia motorcycle community. This is an excellent episode – if you are considering a niche, listen to every minute of this podcast at least once.

We have talked about the benefits of niching down a few times before. We primarily discuss niching as a strategy to attract more clients in saturated markets. It also makes sense when you are a member of a community that is regularly at risk for catastrophic injury. This is especially true in the motorcycle riding community.

Visit Attorney Paul Hernandez here: https://www.kalfusnachman.com/attorneys/paul-r-hernandez/.

See all episodes or subscribe to the Personal Injury Marketing Minute here: https://optimizemyfirm.com/podcasts/.

https://youtu.be/lsrcoWmAhOY

Transcript:

Welcome to the personal injury marketing minute, where we quickly cover the hot topics in the legal marketing world.

I’m your host, Lindsey Busfield. We have talked about the benefits of niching down a few times before. We primarily discuss niching as a strategy to attract more clients in saturated markets.

It also makes sense when you’re a member of a community that is regularly at risk for catastrophic injury. This is especially true in the motorcycle riding community.

Now, every personal injury lawyer would love to have more motorcycle accident cases, but they seem impossible to regularly get through the door.

However, Paul Hernandez: of Calphus and Nackman has figured out how to become the motorcycle accident lawyer throughout Virginia. He joins us today to share his insight.

It’s on what works and what doesn’t. Thank you so much for joining us today, Paul.

 

Paul Hernandez:

Thank you. Appreciate you inviting me.

 

Lindsey:

Well, tell us a little bit about yourself and about your practice.

 

Paul Hernandez:

Yeah, so I’ve been practicing 30 years. It’s hard to believe that time flies so fast. We have a team of 16 lawyers here, and our staff’s about 90 people.

We started handling personal injury cases. We do personal injury. We do longshore and workers’ compensation, and we do social security disability.

But we have a special area, a special division at our firm, and that is our Law Tigers division. We’re a Law Tigers group.

We’re part of that group. But I have a specific group of people who handle all of our motorcycle crashes, and it’s a select team of people.

So if it’s an investigator, if it’s a paralegal, if it’s a lawyer, if it’s a negotiator, it doesn’t matter.

Everybody rides. Everybody’s in the community. Everybody supports the community. So, you know, what is our firm? We do handle cases.

I’m licensed in North Carolina and Virginia, and we have people licensed in Maryland and D.C. and things of that nature.

But, you know, our big part is Virginia. And by handling motorcycle cases, you know, we’ve really become experts and specialists in that field.

And everybody can’t do that. But I know we’re going to talk about that in a little while. But that’s a little bit about who Calpus Enactment is.

The firm has been around for over 45 years. So it’s a great ride, to be honest with you. I’ll be honest with you.

I love coming to work every single day.

 

Lindsey:

And that’s the best job to have, you know, regardless of what industry you work in, regardless of what sector, legal sector you work in.

If you are loving what you do, then you are going to be serving your clients in absolutely the best capacity.

And this is clearly a passion for you because you’re a part of the motorcycle community.

 

Paul Hernandez:

So the big question, the most important question. Of course, what kind of bike do you ride? And how long have you been riding?

Right. So it’s funny. said, what type of bike do you ride? What type of bike do you like to ride?

Right? So I have been riding. Oh, I know I hate to say this word, but I’ve been riding for over 40 years.

Started off on, you know, actually, I guess if you really want to go back, it started off on minibikes.

And minibike, I don’t see them anymore, to be honest with It’s just basically a lawnmower mower on a little metal, small thing, a little tire.

 

Lindsey:

Sounds really safe.

 

Paul Hernandez:

Yeah. Well, it started there. It’s funny. We would, in the wintertime, we would, of course, drag people behind it while you’re on a boogie board, you know, in the snow and whatever, just doing kids stuff, you know.

again, the type of stuff we did when we were kids, I’m surprised I’m still here. But, so, started at minibikes, went to dirt bikes, where we would, you know, the whole neighborhood would have dirt bikes.

bikes, they’re bikes, And we’d be racing around on the streets, in the yards, in the fields and stuff. And then once I became old enough to get a driver’s license, immediately got my motorcycle endorsement and started riding road bikes and sport bikes.

So currently, I’m riding a Harley-Davidson Road Glide CVO, which I love. It’s a huge bike. It’s a big bike.

I’m not the biggest guy. I’m not the tallest guy. But I love that bike. I’ve had other Harley-Davidson’s, you know, sport glides, 883s, 1200s.

Now, the smaller bikes are funner, I’ll tell you. They’re easier to maneuver. But the big bikes, you feel a lot of, and I hope we can get into this, about why we ride.

But you feel this sense of freedom. And it’s just a big bike. And you just feel, I’ll be honest with you, you feel empowered.

So that’s what I’m riding now. I love it. I’m. I’ve always liked those bikes, but I always thought they were too big.

And I’m like, no, no. Once you’ve done it and rode them, it just feels great. Now, I’ll be honest with you.

I like to ride sport bikes every once in a while. Those are those ones you see going very quickly down the interstate because they’re just so hyper.

They’re so nimble, as nimble as you could be. But in any event, I’m a road, you know, I’m getting older.

So I’m a road type guy, road bike guy. So that’s what we’re doing right now.

 

Lindsey:

Well, that’s fantastic. And clearly this is something that’s passionate for, that you’re very passionate about, that you have been doing for a very long time.

You know the ins and outs, you know your bikes, you know the reasons of the why that, you know, motorcyclists like to be out there riding and you’re part of that community.

So it would seem like it would be an obvious fit that an injured rider would choose to work with another member of their community.

But with so many other lawyers out there who are out They’re writing. Why do motorcycle riders choose to work with you?

 

Paul Hernandez:

Yeah, so I appreciate you bringing that up because that’s very important. Why do certain people hire certain firms? Now, riders hire us because they know us.

They know law tigers, number one. They know us because I’ll be honest with you, we’re big advertisers. We’ve been doing it ever since it began.

So we’re ubiquitous. They know us. But when it comes to a motorcycle rider, and it depends on the type of bike you ride, but certainly the road bike community, they know law tigers.

Why, though? Why do they know us? Because we are in the community. We are at every dealership. We’re at every repair facility.

We’re friends with different motorcycle clubs, and we support the community. What does that mean? What do mean by support the community?

Number one, we’re there helping and teaching and sponsoring. Training for new motorcycle riders and for experienced motorcycle riders. So we’re in the shops, okay?

We co-brand with everybody I just told you about, the dealers and the repair facilities and the motorcycle clubs, to support the community.

When we have races, when we have, you know, shows, motorcycle shows, whatever we’re doing, we’re there sponsoring things and helping people.

But why? Number one, because we love it, okay? It is different. So, you know, I ask people, it’s funny because I’ll ask somebody, hey, do you ever heard of Long Tigers?

And they’ll go, no idea. And I go, do you ride a motorcycle? And they go, no. I go, done, right?

It’s okay. No big deal. You don’t need to know. But you ask a rider and they go, oh, yeah, I’m familiar because they’re always out there.

They’re always out there. You know, we go and do shop talks quite frequently. And again, I’ll be honest with you, it takes a lot of our time, right?

We’ll have lawyers go to these different facilities, these different dealerships and clubs to talk about things that affect us, whether it’s laws that help us, laws that hurt us, our ability to change the laws.

And most importantly, and I will tell you this, this is 100% true, safety, safety. I am a safety freak.

Yes, drive, I guess I ride a cool bike, but I’ll be honest with you, it’s a beautiful pearl white.

Why? I want to be seen. And I’m wearing reflective day glow gear in the day and reflective gear at night because at the end of the day, I want to be seen.

Yeah, everybody wants to be cool on their bike, but I’d rather be cool and seen than cool and not seen and have something happen.

So back to the issue of why, number one, they know us and they know we support the community. Now, that’s a very interesting type of marketing.

It’s literally considered affinity marketing. Okay, maybe somebody you know. Okay, Markets that they support cancer research. Why? Because maybe they or their spouse were afflicted with cancer, so they understand.

so what happens? Other people who respect that firm, you know, supports that cause, then they like them, right? You like riding motorcycles.

I like riding motorcycles. I like you, okay? And that whole connection of type of marketing or advertising, that is the best way to do it, right?

Because if you do it, I do it, we like each other. So that’s the kicker. Now, then there’s a second half to that.

And the second half to that is riders do like to hire people who ride. And it also is in that same vein of affinity, but it’s also in the, you have walked in my shoes.

You have walked in my shoes. And you understand the reasons why we do specific. So, you know, and there’s, I’ll give you one more reason why they call us.

Because you did a great job, and they’re referring their friends and family. You know, that’s, we all know referral cases that come to you on referral, whether it’s from other lawyers or prior clients, they’re the best cases, right?

They don’t care about advertising or marketing or anything of that nature. They say, you know what, you need to go to Calphys and Ackman because they did XYZ and did, you know, PDQ.

So those are the three things. They know us because we’re out there everywhere and supporting the community. They’re hiring us because we’re one of them.

And the third reason is because you did a great job for them. They’re referring you to their friends and family.

And, you know, these people, by the way, are, they’re referring cases, not just motorcycle cases. They’re referring motor vehicle cases.

They’re referring slip and fall cases, dog bite or whatever. So, you know. Once you get in and you do a great job for somebody, know, that’s, and again, that’s the best way to, you know, show that you did a great job is that they’re referring you people.

 

Lindsey:

Well, I think all of this builds into kind of the next question that I have for you, which is the cases themselves, because everybody in this community has that compassion and they have the reasons that they do the things that they do.

And nobody’s going to understand that like somebody who is walking in their shoes, who’s riding on the same roads in the same ways.

And with that understanding, how would you categorize motorcycle accidents as being different from other types of personal injury cases?

 

Paul Hernandez:

Yeah, so there’s no question they’re different in regards to injuries. The injuries are much more significant. I mean, riding a bike, yes, you have a helmet on in those states that require a helmet.

But you don’t have airbags. You don’t have that nice cushion. You don’t have seatbelts. You’re not surrounded by steel.

So when an incident occurs, many times you’re thrown from the bike, and it’s you against every object that’s out there, whether it be the motor vehicle that turned left in front of you, whether it be the road that you’re now sliding down and getting road rash.

So the injuries are much more significant. And let me tell you one other thing, which you always see in these motorcycle cases.

Usually the emergency room bill is extremely high. Why? Because emergency rooms, look, they’re physicians. It’s common sense. Emergency room doctors look at it and say, okay, motorcycle crash, or even pedestrian crash.

They understand there’s not that support and that cushy things around the individual to protect them from serious injury. So there’s always suspect.

They’re always suspect of serious internal injuries. So they are going to. Light your client up. You’re getting CT scans.

You’re getting MRIs. You’re getting ultrasounds. You’re getting everything in the entire world from top to bottom. So you have a lot of high medical bills in motorcycle cases.

So number one, they’re different because the injuries are going to be high. Number two, they’re different because most, this is so crazy when you think about it, most riders take their injuries as secondary.

They are more concerned about their bike than they are their injuries. And it’s crazy because the bike is a material thing.

We can get you another bike. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That was a custom bike. That was a bike that I’ve spent the last five years customizing the way I wanted it, and now it’s banged up.

And what’s terrible about that part of it is even in the smallest of accidents with a motorcycle. Many, many, many, many times the bike is going to be considered totaled because a simple bend or small fracture of anything in the frame of the bike, it’s not safe at that point in time.

And it costs way too much money to remove all the parts, put it on a new frame. They’re like, no, you’re getting another bike, right?

And you start from scratch. Is it good? Yeah, is it good? Is it not good? Yeah. All right. So, you know, so number one, injuries are different.

Number two, the bizarre part is they care about their bike more. And then, you know, they’re different because you have to understand why people who ride motorcycles do what they do in a situation where there’s an emergency, in a situation where there’s a crash.

People would like to think, okay, they’re smaller. Okay, so they stop faster than cars. That’s not true. That’s not true.

Bikes do not stop faster than cars. Okay, well, you’re small. So you’re more nimble than a car. Not really, because I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a motorcycle.

We don’t have steering wheels. We have handlebars. And to turn on a bike, you lean. You lean and turn your handlebars, and we’re not as limbo.

We can’t just spin our handlebars around and go back the other direction. It doesn’t work that way. So then we have to think, okay, then the difference is, you may think, why didn’t that motorcycle just stop?

Okay, well, because one, you couldn’t. Two, we’re trained differently. Motorcycle training is totally different than automobile lessons or learning how to drive an automobile, because we have been taught, okay, at a certain speed, don’t stop.

Avoid. Okay, avoid. Try to go around that hazard as opposed to trying to stop, because you will not be able to stop.

Another way is, listen, you know, we learn, and you’ve got to understand why, but we learn to lay a bike down.

Why don’t you lay the bike down? Why? Because we’ll have a nice bumper on the front. And when we hit something, we are now being flown.

We’re getting catapulted, you know, down the roadway. So we learn to put something of mass in between us and the offending object.

So when that vehicle is turning left in front of you or pulling out of a parking lot because they didn’t see us, which is the biggest joke, we are taught to lay the bike down and put that in between us and the offending object in an effort to put something between us so we don’t get hurt as bad.

But so, you know, we many times, many times we we try to avoid the harm, OK, as opposed to running into it.

So in any event, so they’re definitely different in those regards. And so when you really think about it, if you haven’t ridden again, we’re going to talk about this because you don’t have to ride to get these types of cases.

But on the mental side of things. You understand why the person riding the bike did what they did because you ride as well.

And you’ve been down that road where somebody has come into your lane, okay, and they didn’t see you. You’ve been there when the landscapers are blowing grass, okay, cut grass and pine straw into the roadway.

Now, most people wouldn’t think anything of that, but for a motorcyclist, that is essentially putting ice on the road because it’s an extremely slippery substance, and we only have two wheels.

We have two wheels. You know, one other thing I want to say because this is so true, I just saw this happen in a crash that happened in front of me a couple weeks ago.

This car got hit, and it spun around on its axis, right? It just spun. We don’t spin. We don’t spin.

If we’re spinning, we are in trouble, right? We’re the ones spinning down the roadway. So those are some of the main reasons why they’re different.

 

Lindsey:

And those are some substantial differences. And, I mean, clearly, So motorcycles operate very differently than cars do. And there’s a different mentality of the rider when it comes to what their priority is in getting repaired.

Clearly, they want to get their bike repaired. And if this is a large part of their lives, which for many riders it is, their focus is getting back on the bike and getting back onto the road again.

And I would imagine that there are probably some challenges in getting your clients to attend all of their doctor’s office visits or doing the right procedural things and taking time off of riding as that might impact their case.

 

Paul Hernandez:

How do you keep riders doing the right thing in terms of going to their doctor’s appointments and staying safe and making good decisions while you’re still navigating the complexities of their case?

Well, you know, you said something at the beginning of that question in regards to that. And I want people to understand something about motorcycle riders.

Motorcycle riders don’t really use a motorcycle. Motorcycle, for transportation. We take a car, we take a bus, whatever we’re doing, we’re using it to get to work, to get to the store, to go to a class, whatever.

We’re using that as transportation. Most motorcycle riding is not for transportation. You’re going, what are you talking about? No, no.

Most motorcycle riding is for fun. So we literally, the community says, we ride to burn gas. That’s it. That’s it.

Now, are there some people who are using it for transportation? Yes. When the weather gets nice, yes. I mean, we’re in a big military community.

Our main office is in North Virginia, and we have the largest Navy base in the entire world. And we do have a lot of military riders who use that bike for transportation.

And I get that part. But most of us are not doing it. And that’s another thing to understand why we do what we do.

We’re just out here having a good time, whether it’s a ride for a charity, whether it’s a, oh, honey.

You need something from the store? I’ll get it, right? And I want to ride my motorcycle up to the store just to pick something up for her.

Again, we ride to burn gas. But your question was, and it’s very important, you were talking about most of our riders who are victims of these crashes, of course, they care about their bike first, but they also don’t look at their injuries as being that important.

And why? Because I’ll be honest with you, most of our riders, most of our injured riders are male, okay?

Well, want to say we’re not the brightest guys in the world, okay? I mean, look, I mean, all men are kind of the same.

And what do I mean by that? Many guys will just say, hey, you know what? I’m going to tough it out.

I’m going to rub some dirt on it, and I’m going back to work. It’s not until they find out that a month later, this didn’t stop hurting.

You know, maybe I need to get this looked at. And it’s, It is something – and if you’re handling personal injury cases, you do understand that you need to set that case up from the beginning because any gaps in treatment is the kryptonite to a case, especially if it happens at the beginning of the case.

So if you have your rough-and-tumble guy who says, you know, I just went back to work. I said, well, didn’t you have these – yeah, I still went to work.

I mean I had to work. I mean I got to put food on the table, right? And did you get any treatment?

No. And you have to have that sit down with him and explain. Let me explain something to you. Yes, you were hurt.

Yes, we’re taking care of your bike. And the number one – and I tell this to every single one of them, look, don’t even look at the end.

Look at I want you to get the best medical treatment to be healed because you may only have one opportunity for justice, okay?

And you certainly only have one time you’re walking on this earth in regards to who you are today. So we want to make sure you get the appropriate medical care and the best medical care.

You are entitled to the best medical Now, you don’t have to go to a clinic. You should be able to go to whatever hospital you need to go to get whatever your treatment.

So we literally have a sit down. You know, now it’s all through Zoom or through telephone because it’s very hard to get everybody in their office.

But with your paralegal, with your attorney, with your negotiator, investigator, we sit there. One, of course, we talk, you know, mess for a little while.

talk motorcycles because we love talking motorcycles. But then we explain the importance of making sure you get the appropriate medical care.

Number one, because we want you to get better. We want you to be able to provide for you and your family and things of that nature for the rest of your life.

And number two, listen, as a personal injury attorney, my job is to get you the maximum compensation for your injuries.

And it’s all foreign to them. They don’t understand how it works. They don’t understand why. But part of that and the number one thing is, is do you have the appropriate medical care?

Had all of your injuries been identified? Did you did you get a surgery? OK, let’s assume you got the surgery.

Did you get an estimate for the next surgery you’re going to have? What do mean the next surgery? Well, you’ve had spinal surgery, and you’re going to have adjacent segment syndrome in 10 years from now.

Or you had an injury to your knee, and they did a surgery on your knee. Well, you’re going to have arthritis where you’re going to need a partial knee or a knee replacement.

Did you get that other, you know, that care or that estimate of care, that life care plan for that individual?

And again, you talk this stuff to the guy who’s riding a bike, you know, riding a motorcycle, and they’re like, well, what are you talking about?

And what do I say? Okay, you do what you do, okay? You get better, and then I’m going to do your case, okay?

But you definitely need to make sure to spend time because they don’t understand. They just think you just rub dirt on it, and those are the cards that you were dealt, and that’s what you do.

 

Lindsey:

Well, that’s such a challenging misconception to try to communicate through. And really, you’re coming from two very different perspectives, even though you understand where they’re coming.

You need to get them on the same page as you are. And when you have those types of misconceptions, it clearly leaves your case open to some jeopardy there.

But those aren’t the only misconceptions that you have to deal with. What misconceptions or stereotypes from the other side are out there regarding writers that you have to combat?

 

Paul Hernandez:

Well, so the first one, I appreciate you bringing it up because there are no questions. I’m just going to call it motorcycle bias.

And it starts with people who don’t ride. Whether the officer who investigated your case, if he or she is not a rider, they’re not going to ride that.

They’re going to think you did something wrong. They’re going to mark it up. And many people think the mere fact that you’re on a motorcycle is that you must be negligent in some way, fashion, or form.

That’s a death trap. That’s this. And the answer is, I don’t think so. That’s not how it works. Number one, let me ask you a question.

I’m going to get back to it, but let me ask you a question. Do you ride a bike?

 

Lindsey:

Do I personally ride a bike?

 

Paul Hernandez:

A bicycle, a bicycle, a bicycle.

 

Lindsey:

I have, I do, I have a bicycle. I ride it occasionally, but I have ridden on motorcycles.

 

Paul Hernandez:

Yeah, but a bicycle, it’s fun to ride, right?

 

Lindsey:

Yes.

 

Paul Hernandez:

It isn’t life to enjoy. So think about it for a second. Take riding a bicycle and how fun it is and exciting.

You get a little bit of exercise, get the wind in your hair, get, you know, you get outside, you’re breathing fresh air.

Now you want to take it to the next level and that’s riding a motorcycle, okay? You’ve got power under your butt, at your wrist, at your hand.

You have the wind coming in. We call it wind therapy. I’m going for some wind therapy. What do you mean?

I’m going for a ride. Where are you going? Doesn’t matter. I’m going for a ride. But the point is, life is to be enjoyed.

If you’re allowed to go for a walk, great. We love going for a while. If you’re allowed to go for a bicycle ride, great.

I love that feeling. Maybe you have a scooter. Maybe you have an electric bike, whatever. Now take it to the next level that we do, and we’re on motorcycles and enjoy it.

We have every right to enjoy the same roadways that we paid for, just like you paid for, right? And so, yes, is it dangerous?

There’s no question it’s dangerous. Why? Because there are a lot of people driving cars and trucks who are not paying attention, okay, not giving full time and attention to the road.

And when a wreck does occur, yes, this is a mere fact that a car is going to win almost every single time against a motorcycle.

So people have this preconceived notion or misconception that the mere fact that you’re on a motorcycle, you must be negligent or at fault.

There are certain states that don’t have helmets, okay? Now, listen, I’m a lawyer. I don’t like laws. I don’t like the fact that it makes you wear a helmet.

Do I wear a every day? Yeah. Do I wear a large helmet with a full face protection? The answer is I do.

But if you choose not to do that and everybody else is doing what they’re supposed to be doing, everybody’s fine.

Nobody gets hurt. It’s not until somebody is not paying attention or giving full time and attention that the motorcyclist gets hurt.

So number one, the first misconception is there’s always bias against the cyclists thinking that they may be at fault.

Number two, they always think that we are speeding. Always think that we’re speeding. Especially a sport bike. Now, why are motorcycles loud?

Why are those things loud? Because they can be seen. That sounds kind of odd. You said loud. That’s hearing.

But they can be seen because I know there’s something there, right? And then you look and you see. Why are those sports?

A sport bike, meaning those sometimes called rice rockets, whatever you want to call it, the sound of those things, they sound like they’re going faster than they are.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some risk takers out there that go super fast. That is the smallest percentage of the people that ride bikes.

But they think that we are always going too fast. Because whenever there’s a wreck with a motorcycle and a car, the number one thing that is stated by the car driver is, I didn’t see them.

They must have been speeding. You got to understand how crazy that is. I didn’t see you. So you must have been speeding.

Well, you can’t testify to my speed. Why? Because you didn’t see me, right? You had no opportunity to observe and indicate that.

The real fact is we were there. How do we know that? Motorcycle was there and there to be seen because the crash happened, right?

We were already there. So number one, that negligence part that they think just because we’re on there, they always think that we’re speeding.

And those who ride road bikes, okay, you know what? A lot of them have beards, mustache, leather, okay, maybe heavier set.

And they think they’re rough and tumble guys and they may be intimidating, which is the biggest joke I’ve ever seen in my life.

Being in the community, those are the nicest people you have ever met in your entire life. Much nicer than the guy down the street driving the BMW who’s, you know, giving you the finger as you drive by because you’re not on a BMW or in a BMW.

The point is this, these guys who look all rough and tumble and drive and whatever, you know what? It’s their image.

They’re just doing an image, just like somebody else who has, you know, who doesn’t have those things. It’s their image.

But these people are, and you know what? You know what else? These people who are rough and tumble and intimidating, they have families.

They have children. They have jobs, just like you. Just like the vast majority of this, they have families and jobs.

And here’s the most important part. I told you a couple minutes ago, we ride to burn gas. If we have an excuse to ride, we’re going to take it.

Do you know what most of these people do? I guarantee you most of these people are more charitable than 90% of the people in the United States.

Why? Because these people do charity rides all the time. They are out there trying to drum up money for causes.

Kids with cancer, kids with leukemia, kids with whatever their condition is. Every single weekend, there are multiple charity rides.

And what do we do? We get on these rides and we support those events and we drum up money.

For those type of things. So, you know, it’s kind of bizarre to see, to watch people be intimidated by these people who are the, they’re like teddy bears.

They’re like kitty cats. You know, they’re the nicest people in the world. Are there some tough guys out there that are me?

I get it. Come on. There’s something in every bit. But the vast majority, as I’m listening right here, the motorcycles are going by right now.

I know you can’t hear it, but at my office, there’s like six or seven Harleys driving by right now.

But the point is, that’s a huge misconception. And they might be intimidating at first, but as you look at them, they also might be handing you a teddy bear because they’re on a teddy bear ride.

 

Lindsey:

And I love hearing those stories. And those are so true. I grew up in Denver and my mom owned a donut shop and we would bring donuts out to the Harley Davidson toy run every year and just have a booth giving away donuts to these writers who would show up.

By the hundreds in this outdoor mall called Aspen Grove, and they would all bring toys and teddy bears and tie them to the fronts of their bikes and then get in a big long line and drive down to the local children’s hospital.

And just the absolute nicest guys and a great community to be involved in. I always loved being a part of that event.

And obviously, this is a great group. They, you know, you have great people, big hearts. And, you know, the cases when you get them from a business perspective are also great to, you know, help serve the members of this community.

But how can lawyers attract consistent motorcycle accident cases if they aren’t a rider and aren’t a part of that community?

 

Paul Hernandez:

So I appreciate you bringing that up because there are lots. I get that. I get that hesitation all the time.

So let me, you, you started this podcast talking about niche, right? And niche. niche. And Now, there is no better niche marketing handling cases than motorcycle.

Look, some people say, oh, no, I handle catastrophic tractor-trailer accidents and commercial motor vehicle accidents. That’s not a niche.

That’s not a niche at all. Why? Because those victims of commercial motor vehicle crashes have nothing to do with each other.

Okay, they’re total strangers. The difference here is every single motorcycle injury, they do belong to a group. What’s that group?

It is riding motorcycles, period. It’s a club. It’s a group. Let me go on a slight tangent because one of my first vehicles in my life was a Jeep CJ7.

I know. I just dated myself again. But Jeep CJ7, if you’ve ever owned a Jeep, and there’s people listening to this podcast right now that says, I’m the Jeep when you

You own a Jeep and you drive down the street. Other people driving Jeeps, Jeepers, whatever you want to call them, other people driving Jeeps wave at you.

You don’t know them from Adam, and they’re waving at you. Why? Because you’re in that niche of ownership of a Jeep.

And we’re all friends. We’re all friends, right? I like you because you, I don’t know you from anybody, but I like you because you ride a Jeep, or excuse me, you drive a Jeep.

And similar in the motorcycle community, right? It’s that whole, it’s the best niche you could ever belong to, okay?

Now, you asked, how can people who don’t ride attract motorcycle cases? Now, I told you, I get people who go, yeah, I don’t even want to get involved in them.

Yeah, they’re great cases. I don’t want to get involved in them because I don’t want to act like a poser, right?

I don’t ride. And I, to be honest with you, I don’t understand their plight, know, their reasoning. People would want to put dollars in front of that, but when it gets down to it, and if you’re honest with yourself, and surprises me, there are so many people that are like, yeah, I’m not part of that community, so I’m not going to do it.

Well, I got to be honest with you. Even if you’re not a rider, you can help the community because riders at the end of the day, is that a binary thing that it says, if you’re not a rider, I’m not taking you.

I’m not going to go to you. No, but if you support the community in any way, shape, or form, they’re going to support you back.

It’s that affinity marketing. Again, I’m a big fan of Law Tigers. I love it to death. I’ve got it for Virginia, North Carolina, Washington, D.C.

I love it. I talk to other people at conferences. I go to a billion conferences a year, and I ask about what they do.

Oh, I get motorcycle cases, and I go, are you a rider? And they go, no. I go, how do you get them?

And they go, because I support the community. And we talk about it. How do you do that? You do what else I do.

What do we do? We’re going down to the local dealerships, whether it be a Harley dealership, Honda dealership, an Indian dealership, whatever it is.

And you do shop talk. Hey, I want to do a shop talk. Next time you have a group, I’m going to come in and talk about motorcycle insurance.

I’m going to go in and talk about what to do in a motorcycle accident. And if you go there and support those things and sponsor things, whether they’re races, whether they’re rides, the motorcycle community hears you, okay?

And they see you. And so if you’re a rider, is it better? Of course it is. mean, come on.

There’s no question. But you don’t have to be a rider. You can still earn the respect of the community if you respect the community, okay?

Take the time. But if you think you are going to get motorcycle cases by… Having a TV ad, we handle motorcycle cases.

It ain’t going to work. We’re going to put some social media on. We handle motorcycle cases. I’m sorry to tell you.

It’s not going to work. Okay, you get one case. You and I talked about this before because I talk to people and I say, how many motorcycle cases do have?

These are big TV advertisers. How many motorcycle cases do you have? Oh, I got lots of them. I’ll bet you $100 you ain’t got more than five.

I’ll bet you $100 right now. And they go back to their office and they come back and they go, uh, yeah, we don’t have five.

They think they do, but they don’t. But once you have been in the community and doing it, you find out you now have hundreds, hundreds of motorcycle cases.

Why? Because you are the go-to person for that. Can you get more motorcycle cases and you’re not a rider?

The answer is yes, but you got to do the time. You got to put in the effort. And again, if you’re not going to ride, that’s okay.

Show up to the. You know, we’re all hanging out. We were only riding the bike to the event, right?

I mean, we’re all, you know, chit-chatting. You can still support the community. So the number one way, support the community.

And don’t let not being a rider stop you from getting involved.

 

Lindsey:

Right. And you can be an ally. You can be an advocate. You can still show up and say, hey, I care about your rights.

I know that there are things that are working against you in the community. And I want to make sure that you’re having the best representation possible, that the roadways are as safe for you as possible, and that you can go out every day and do what you love to do because it is within your rights to do it.

And you can show up and be that advocate. And if you’re not on a bike still doing that, there is still a lot of value in there.

So those are a lot of the things that you can do right to build these communities. But are there any pitfalls to avoid when you’re trying to earn more motorcycle accident cases?

 

Paul Hernandez:

Well, you know, so the one thing we didn’t talk about, one of the complexities that we have in motorcycle cases.

Look, the injuries were there. So let me refresh people who handle personal injury cases. The three-legged stool that we need, we need liability, okay, the defendant at fault, and either you not at fault, or we’re in Virginia, which means if you are any bit at fault for an accident, that’s contributory negligence, it’s a complete bar.

But you need liability, you need damages, or you’re going to get damages, okay, in a motorcycle case. And then you need coverage, right, or an asset or deep pocket.

So one of the things that you also have to be is someone extremely knowledgeable in insurance law, okay? What do I mean by that?

You’ve got to know what type of policies do stack, if they stack in your state, how to get, because in our state, in many states, motorcycle policies are different than automobile policies.

Why? Because motor vehicle policies will tell you it’s a four-wheel vehicle. Motorcycle policies are three-wheel vehicles or two-wheel vehicles, okay?

And they’re different, okay? And they might apply differently. So then the other thing you want to do in regards to motorcycle crashes is, of course, I’m going to tell everybody this, and you’ve heard it from a million people, go to the scene to determine if there were other things involved that may have caused or contributed to the cause to the motorcycle, to the accident.

Because these cases usually are, they’re catastrophic cases. They’re worth millions of dollars, and you may have a minimum limit policy.

Okay, well, at the scene, maybe they had some construction going on. At the scene, maybe there was something where some signage should have been there or signage was removed.

Maybe somebody blew, you know, there’s debris on the road from somebody dropping debris on a vehicle. You don’t know these things until you go in.

And you have to do those extra things in regards to, again, they’re catastrophic cases, but you got to find that coverage.

The last thing, and I’m going to tell you something. I started doing this 25 years ago, and that is actually making the defendant, if there’s not enough coverage, write a check.

What? What do you mean write a check? They don’t have any money? Yeah. Write a check. Either I’m going to sue you, and I’m going to get a judgment against you, or I’m going to sue you, and you’re going to file for bankruptcy, or you’re going to write me a check.

I’m going to tell you what that does. It’s surprising how fast they find out that, oh my gosh, there’s more coverage for some reason.

I didn’t tell you about that umbrella policy we had. Oh, really? Yeah, it’s not until that defendant who caused that wreck has to actually come out of their own pocket that they miraculously find other coverage.

So those are one of the big pitfalls. You got to understand the insurance. But, you know, the… And there’s also one other thing we do.

We also make them all, the defendants, by the way, sign an affidavit that indicates that they were not driving for Uber or Lyft or DoorDash or Amazon, Amazon Flex, delivering pizza, whatever it is.

And you’ve to understand why. Those people who are doing it, they’re not driving their vehicle. They’re driving their own vehicle.

So if you get an accident report, you have no clue what they’re actually doing. Unless they were wearing a red hat that said DoorDash when it happened.

So those are some big ones there. But the other thing with a pitfall is don’t try to just resolve the case and get your money quick and do it for minimum limits and go on to the next case.

We don’t do that. We don’t do that. We make sure we’re going to file suit against that individual because, again, it’s 50% of the time you find out there’s additional coverage.

Or some other way to pay for it so, you know? Again, you have to do great work for your clients.

And look, you should be doing this for all your clients, right? Because you want that five-star Google review. You want to have these people referring their friends and family.

But remember, you do something right for the motorcycle community, they’re going to sing your praises. You do something wrong, and I hate to tell you guys, bad news travels much faster than good news.

So if you’re not doing everything you can possibly do, and listen, if every firm has this problem, communicate with your client.

Communicate with your client. Motorcycle victims, again, mostly they’re men. They’re not big talkers, and they don’t tell you everything.

Last thing I really want to say, because it’s especially true in Virginia, and actually other states as well. Now, remember to ask your clients about other motor vehicles that they have, right?

Because if you’re in a… In a stackable state, whether it’s a motorcycle, whether it’s a car, whether it’s an RV, I mean, literally, I gotta tell you this one quickly, because this is, I love this story.

I had a lady come walking in for a car accident case. I’m about to do a settlement conference with her.

Her case was worth lots and lots and lots of money. Unfortunately, there was only minimum limits, and we did everything we could.

All we could get is minimum limits. I walk out to do the settlement conference with her, and she comes in with a Harley Davidson sweatshirt on.

says, Harley Davidson, that bound both arms. Now, this is an auto case. And I said, ma’am, I said, are you a rider?

And she goes, my husband is. And I said, oh, okay. I said, and does your husband have a, did he have a motorcycle on the day of the accident?

She said, oh, yeah, 20 years he’s had a motorcycle. I said, great. Did he have insurance on it? Yes, he did.

I said, well, do you remember when I asked you, were there any other policies in the household, blah, blah, blah, blah?

And she goes, oh, yeah. I remember. Remember, Mr. Hernandez, but the motorcycle wasn’t involved in the wreck. And I went, hmm, okay.

So long and short, while she sat there, before we signed the release, we found out I could attach another policy, and we just doubled her recovery.

Okay, because you could stack that in Virginia in that regard. So my point is, you got to spend time with your clients.

You got to spend time with your clients, and especially motorcycle guys, because look, we’re guys, right? Most of them are guys, and we’re not as smart as you ladies out there.

 

Lindsey:

Well, and absolutely, you’ve got to work the case, and you’ve got to do right by your clients. As you said, the bad news is going to travel a lot faster than the good news does, and it is infinitely harder, if not impossible, to recover from doing bad work by your clients.

So, well, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate all the insights that you have from the heart of this industry.

So thank you so much. Thank much for coming and being a guest today.

 

Paul Hernandez:

Appreciate it, Lindsey.