by Guest » Thu Jan 08, 2009 04:11 pm
I was involved in accident back in july where car ran red light and hit me as i was passing through my GREEN light. I was injured and set in ambluance till my son arrived then he took me to hosiptal. Had sore chest and side from impact and air bag and seat belt. SO my doctor 3 days later with pain more serve gave me pain pills and stay out of work for week. Went back to work and by the end of that week was in very bad pain from back muscle spasms. Went back to doctor he did xrays gave me more pain pills and muscle relaxers. Have seen him 3 more time and he sent me to physical therapy which i went to 7 times. ( hard to do when you have no car and have to beg for rides!) My car was totaled ($6,456). Was out of work for a total of 6 days ($593). Total of medical bills and physical therapy was $2340.
Was finally released 5 months later so insurance adjuster offered me medical ($1990)lost wages ($472) and pain and suffering of $2014. I told that was not acceptable because to begin with she didnt have my med. bills correct and my lost wages were not correct . I told I would get back to her with the correct information she needed. I sent her a demand letter attaching all the correct information and asked for $18,000 ( I know this is high but just a starting place) for pain and suffering .
Any suggestions on a meet in the middle amount!! Im thinking around $9,000? Thanks for any advise with this.
Was finally released 5 months later so insurance adjuster offered me medical ($1990)lost wages ($472) and pain and suffering of $2014. I told that was not acceptable because to begin with she didnt have my med. bills correct and my lost wages were not correct . I told I would get back to her with the correct information she needed. I sent her a demand letter attaching all the correct information and asked for $18,000 ( I know this is high but just a starting place) for pain and suffering .
Any suggestions on a meet in the middle amount!! Im thinking around $9,000? Thanks for any advise with this.
Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 04:30 pm Post Subject:
Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 04:31 pm Post Subject:
Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 04:32 pm Post Subject:
Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 06:02 pm Post Subject: do i have a claim?
My 5 yr old & I were hit by a car, he got bruises I got neck & back pain. In FL will I get pain & suffering? My pip is exhausted
Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 04:28 pm Post Subject: Car Accident
I was rear ended about a week ago in a company car. Neck and shoulder pain was diagnosed by the workmans comp doctor. Im 59 years old and had neck surgery 10 years ago, where the surgeon fused my C-5 and 6. I was pain free until a week ago. What can I expect as far as any claims of a pre-existing injury by the other drivers insurance adjuster?
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:08 pm Post Subject:
What can I expect as far as any claims of a pre-existing injury by the other drivers insurance adjuster?
This is a Workers' Compensation claim. You have nothing to be concerned with. It is a new injury and although there may be complications due to a [distant] previous injury, WC is not affected by that. If the other party's insurance company (or its representative) contacts you, simply refer them to your employer's WC carrier or administrator. Let them handle all the inquiries, and stay out of this unless you are told otherwise.
You have the right to go after the at fault party for your injuries, but your WC insurance provider also has the right of subrogation to be paid back 100% of the expenses it has paid on your behalf. Don't overlook this fact if you choose to obtain the services of a personal injury attorney -- they don't always pay attention to that fact, negotiate a settlement without those dollars accounted for, and their clients end up getting a very small fraction of the total settlement as a result, not the 60%-65% they thought they were going to get.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 03:12 pm Post Subject: My Pain and Suffering
I was involved in an accident where a driver did not yield the right of way and ran into me as I was proceeding through a yellow light. Both bones in my right leg were broken. I just graduated high school May 2012 and was working on a farm while waiting for a job as a welder. I was making $380-$400 weekly on the farm. My hospital bill totaled $28,000 because i had surgery and had rods put in my leg. My insurance co covers $15,000 of it per my policy and $13,000 is left for my health insurance and then I pay what they don't cover. It will take 4 to 6 months for my leg to heal according to the orthopedic surgeon. Three and a half weeks later, my welding job called for an interview and I had to tell them that my leg was broken and could not go. What should my pain and suffering and lost wages be?
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 05:54 pm Post Subject:
No one here can answer the question about how much your "pain and suffering" is worth.
As far as your lost wages . . . well, no one can be certain that you would have been hired as a welder (since you are just out of high school, I assume this was going to be an apprenticeship), so you cannot claim those "prospective" wages. If you cannot work on the farm and earn "$380-$400" weekly, those are your lost wages x the number of weeks you are off work. 6 months = 26 weeks x $400 = $10,400 (some people say multiply that plus your medical expenses times two or three as an amount for your pain and suffering). But you won't know that for sure until you are released to go back to work -- could be sooner or could be later.
Or, God forbid, it could be never . . . which would certainly be worth much more than $10,000.
You just may need a personal injury attorney on this one. Depending on the state in which you live, you will have at least one year (two or more in most) from the date of the accident to sue the at-fault party for your damages, so there is no rush to settle your claim today.
It does not cost anything to seek an attorney consultation for a case like yours. You could go to three or four different ones to see who you like the best, who would do the best job for you, or the one who lies to you the most and tells you you're going to get millions of dollars and will never have to work again.
Just remember that you really don't need an attorney until you and the insurance company involved cannot agree on a settlement. When you hire an attorney, you will be agreeing to let them take 30%-40% (or more) off the top. And you will also be agreeing to reimburse your insurance companies (auto, health) for their claim expenses on your behalf that were the responsibility of someone else. So they can have 100% of what they paid for your injuries. By the time those two or three things are taken care of, you could end up with $1 in your pocket . . . and who was it that suffered the injuries?
So, with a little assistance from others with some experience perhaps, you ask the insurance company involved for the most you want to make things "go away quietly." If they are unwilling to give you that much and won't compromise with a number that you feel is adequate, you can then sue the at-fault party, and take your chances in court. And possibly give up what you could have had from the insurance company all along.
If your hospital and doctor/surgeon bills are $28,000, your lost wages $10,000, the total you might be willing to accept, including pain and suffering could be $50,000. You will owe the $15,000 your insurance company has paid back to them. You will owe the $13,000 unpaid balance to the hospital and/or doctors. You would net $22,000.
To get that much with the assistance of an attorney, your settlement would have to be at least $72,000 (with a 30% fee). If the attorney did no better than to get you the same $50,000 you could have had on your own, the attorney will get $15,000 or more off the top, everyone else will get paid, and you will end up with $7,000 or less (unless you get the hospitals and doctors to take smaller amounts).
Guess who wins?
Not you.
You may be young and relatively inexperienced, but that doesn't mean you cannot stand up for yourself (once you leg is healed!). Stick to your guns if you are going to try to settle this without an attorney. You'll probably do just fine on your own.
Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 09:41 am Post Subject:
So what if you work for yourself and can't show taxes to "prove" how much you make. Does the insurance company then get to not pay for lost wages?
Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 02:29 pm Post Subject:
If you are self employed and not filing tax returns, are you evading income tax, too? Your comment is that of a fool.
Does the insurance company then get to not pay for lost wages?
Yes, that pretty much sums it up.
In order to be paid for lost wages, it is up to YOU to prove your loss. The insurance company does not pay whatever you ask for without "proof of loss". No tax returns, no W2s, no paystubs, no records of deposits to a checking or savings account = NO PROOF OF LOSS = no payment .
If you lose time from your "work" due to an injury (caused by you or someone else) what other proof of your "lost income" do you have? YOU are responsible for PROVING your loss, you cannot merely say, "My boss is a real cheapskate . . . he doesn't even pay me when I work . . . oh, by the way, my boss is me."
If you had a record of income, then you might be able to say, "See, in the last six months before I was injured, I earned $100,000," and that would support a contention that in the next six months, if you had not been injured, you might have earned another $100,000. But you cannot simply say, "I might have earned $100,000" if you have no way to show a past record of having earned it to begin with.
It's just as true in Texas as it is in the rest of the real world.
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