Overview Video Transcript

With over 40 years experience, Richmond personal injury attorney Wayne O’Bryan works to get the results you want - and need - quickly.

Wayne: My focus is on personal injury because I wanted to be a specialist. I had done general practice before, so I know what a general practice is all about. I felt like specializing in 1 or 2 areas would allow me to become a better lawyer.

We handle a lot of accidents involving automobiles, trucks. Vehicle-type accidents, I’d say, is a large percentage of our business. We also handle some what we call slip and fall cases, where people slip and fall on something, whether it’s liquid on the floor or a defect in a parking lot or whatever.

We also do medical malpractice. We have lawyers in our office here who do medical malpractice. We do take those kinds of cases.

Our office is located on Staples Mill Road near Willow Lawn Shopping Center. We make home visits. We visit people in the hospital if they’re unable to come. We also do intakes over the telephone for people who are 30, 40 miles away, who could drive in, but it would be inconvenient. We offer that if they want it, then we follow up with mail.

I think my insurance background serves me well in this, as a matter of knowing what information to look for and what to gather.

David: If you’ve got any kind of injury at all, you should call an attorney. People are not in accidents very often. They don’t know what they’re doing. If you call an attorney, they can offer advice and you will get more money.

It’s not the fault of the client. It’s just that it’s a once in a lifetime thing. If you’re in an accident, you’re don’t necessarily know what you should do.

Some people will wait months before getting treatment maybe because they recorded the statement to the insurance company and said some things on that script that they can’t claim. Virginia is a contributory negligence state, so if you’re at fault at all for that accident, you’re not entitled to any compensation.

We often have the case where the insurance company says “You did this wrong, so we’re not going to pay anything.” It doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not going to get anything, but it makes it more difficult, and it means you’re going to have to go court. It becomes a matter of all those considerations.

A common complaint is that “The guy won’t call me back. I called him, and he won’t call me back” or “I can’t get through to him. He won’t tell me anything.”

Colette: I was really surprised by the things I heard from other people talking about other lawyers, how the lawyers took a long time, wasn’t keeping them informed. He kept me informed with everything. He let me know what was happening. Anything I needed, I could call him. I really appreciated the service. It was quite different.

David: We do strive real hard here to maintain good communication with our clients.

Michele: I’ve been doing this for quite some time, and I’ve never had anyone call me and complain. They only tell me wonderful things about Wayne helping them with their cases.

Wayne: I spent almost 3 years doing defense work, and I dealt with insurance adjusters and insurance companies, so I came to learn … To a large degree, it’s their attitude toward the system. If they have an attitude that everybody is on the make, everybody is faking it, everybody is just out to try to make a quick buck for nothing, they have a tendency to discount everybody and every injury.

I’ve been doing this for a long time. I know that there are people who are genuinely hurt and do need help and are deserving of being compensated.