Two Thanksgivings ago, my wife and I were driving home when an uninsured drunk driver blew a red light and t-boned us. His car drove ours into a telephone pole, and our Eclipse Spyder was totalled. My wife suffered from the basic soreness and a couple mild airbag burns. I was knocked out for about 5-10 minutes and sprained my hand (I was shifting when the guy tagged us). Both of us had some back injuries that have faded over time. Anyway, the insurance company is saying that they want to give me $2500 and my wife $1000 for pain and suffering. I guess it means that after this, there will be no more massage therapy or chiro covered by the insurance company, and anything in the future isnt covered. Still, its a lot of money. However....my sister was in an accident about 3 years ago that was nowhere near as serious...and she received $4000. So am I getting lowballed here or should I just be happy that they are giving me anything?
One word: lawyer. Ya sure, we all make jokes ambulance chaser, blah, blah, blah but when it comes down to it, you may want one in your corner. One caveat to this, expect to pay the lawyer at least 33% of the settlement. When I had an accident in Austin, (rear ended on the freeway) my back was (and still is) screwed up. What pushed me to the attorney was that the were really lowballing me on the property damage. The attorney said that he couldn't do anything about that but could get them to cover the medical expenses. The medical expenses came out to be 2,000 dollars so the settlement ended up being 6,000 total: 2000 for the doctor (chiro) 2000 for my pain and suffering 2000 for the attorney If I would have known that 3 years later I would still be hurting from it, I would have held out for more.
I'm surprised it doesn't cover future medical costs related to such accident. In my non-legal opinion, I would never agree to a deal that outlines something like that. If this payout is in regards to something else, ie no more intangible expenses (ie, emotional grief, or something harder to measure), then my opinion is would be different. I've always felt these commericals about ambulance chasers are disgusting. In this case as the other driver was uinsured, its less relevant. Just had to get it off my chest...
Your getting hosed...Call Jim Adler, the Texas Hammer... I thought there was a multiple applied to get to a Pain and Suffering amount, say 2.5 or 4 of medical. You should also get lost wages, and medical paid, in addition to the repair or total of your car...Also, you should ask for the Diminish in Value if you still have your car (i.e. it has been repaired) to compensate you for the loss in value due to the accident... Good Luck...
have they also paid you for missed work etc to go to these doctors.. ? or is this making up for that as well.. I just wish it was that guy having to pay and not just your insurance company. I have no sympathy for people who drive drunk. I'm guessing it is your insurance company that is paying. I wouldn't feel bad about wanting more money.. YOU DO PAY UNINSURED MOTORIST fees to cover things like this.. so let them use them on you.. I'd guess t hey would offer you lower than they are willing to pay first because t hey know you will probably want more.. but im not sure of that or not
oh and take any legal advice I give not seriously at all.. I go to vandy, so you should know I have no idea what I'm talking about.. I did see some hott girls walking into the law school on campus.. maybe ill sacrifice and ask the vandy eye candy what they think about it..
That's BS, you got to get more than that! What about the car? Do they pay you to fix it? I want all those drunken assholes to be throw into jail
is the back something that is supposedly healed totally? From what I know it seems back injuries have a habit of reoccuring so I'd be wanting as much money as I could get now because you won't get it later... although I don't know anything about this back injury it may be something that doesn't come back
No kidding. Don't sign anything and don't say anything AT ALL to the insurance company about how you feel. And you really don't know how messed up you could be. I had the same thing happen to me (a fraction of a second was the difference between being able to type this and being 6 feet under) and I had all the areas where I hurt the worst MRIed... it turned out that the one area that wasn't that bad in my back was where I ended up having a ruptured disc. Take nothing for granted and get a good attorney. Max recommended someone... check them out.
What everyone else said. Maybe you could persuade Max to broaden his field and roll up his sleeves. 'Bout time he remembered what a real lawyer does...
I'll echo the popular sentiment here and HIGHLY recommend getting a lawyer. And I'd see a private physician to double-check on all your ailments, too. Just to be extra sure. You don't wanna be saddled with long-term problems that have to be covered by a small, one-time settlement. Good luck, dude!
