Hello, I am from Salem Oregon. I was rearend on 8/20/07. The

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:37 pm Post Subject:

First, I'm totally confused unless you happen to have been driving a Delorean with a flux capacitor. You repeatedly give dates in August 2008. Last time I checked my wayback machine, this date has not come about yet.

You also state "rear ended"... who rear ended who? I would think you were rear ended but then you mentioned your passengers demand and ask about your liability limits. You also mention that you have an attorney, which makes me think the other person was responsible for the accident.

While no one has any problem answering questions here (as long as the questions can be understood) I always have to wonder how someone can be paying an attorney thousands of dollars out of their pockets and don't seem to ask this person questions when they are confused.

There is no way to know what that $15,000 amount is on your policy. "Full coverage' means something different to different people and yet still other things in different situations. Basically, there is no actual coverage called "Full".

Usually liability limits (again, I don't know why we are discussing yours) are usually written as xx/xx/xx. The first number is the amount your carrier can pay to another _person_ for their injuries when you are liable. The second number is the amount they will pay for all the injuries in the accident (no matter how many people were hurt) when you are responsible and the last number is the amount your carrier will pay others for property damage that you caused.

As far as a time limit to a demand... the attorney can state this time frame in the demand. If it's not stated, then it's _usually_ 30 days. But they attorney can turn around and file suit whenever he/she wants. 99.999% of the time, they would rather wait for an offer as long as it does not take too long. Again, they usually expect to hear something within 30 days. Sometimes the adjuster might ask for another week or so.

Lastly, don't feel stressed (I know, easy for me to say). You might be looking at this day by day as you have to live the situation each day. But these settlements take time. Most of the time the attorney won't even send over a demand until your released from doctors care or it's clear that there will be no more complications (they attorney's interest is to be able to submit as much treatment as possible as the usually the more money spent on treatment, the higher the settlement). If you feel stressed about something you don't understand, feel free to post here. But also understand that your going to be paying your attorney 33% of your settlement amount so you can feel free to call him/her as well.

A lien being placed against your settlement is done all the time. It's no big deal and just allows the doctor to continue to offer treatment without getting paid up front.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:23 pm Post Subject:

Last time I checked my wayback machine

I was rearend on 8/20/07

I feel used, stressed and abused.

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:37 pm Post Subject:

Reading what Lori wrote, "unconfuses" me a little (:) )

I think the $15k is from the other person's bodily injury limits. But usually (not always) the injury limit of a policy is written as 15/30 (amounts change). The 1st amount is what the other carrier will pay per person in an accident (so they won't pay more then $15k to each person). The second number is what they will pay per accident... no matter how many people were involved. Both of these limits can affect you but if it appears to the carrier that they might have claims out there that could total more then the per accident limit, then they won't settle _any_ claim until they know all the amounts (or at least they _REALLY_ shouldn't). So if they already paid on your passengers demands then the limits of the policy should not be an issue.

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 06:14 am Post Subject: rear-ended in Salem

I'm sorry about the date it was 8/20/07 I was the one rear-ended and about 2 days after the accident I was swamped with letters from Attorneys for miles around (I believe the term is ambulance chasers.). I know nothing about attorneys so I chose the closest one to me. At our first meeting he told us he had been a RN in the ER and was still a RN, but had gone back to school to be a attorney and( I don't think he's been a attorney long.) I thought that was great, but then when the first passenger was released on 11/9/07 and it took till 2/24/08 to get the settlement and it was $3000.00 and he got 1/3 of that. People started telling me that was not very much, I didn't know. Then the 2nd passenger was released 4/24/08 and I called him 3 times in a week and he didn't return my call. And a couple weeks before that I had called him twice in a week and when he called back he said he shut his ring off for court and forgot to turn it back on. I talked to my Dr who has been my Dr for 25 years and he said your attorney is not aggressive enough call this attorney. So I did and that attorney was very nice and said he didn't want to step in yet and would call him for me and most times that will get them moving. And it did he called within 30 mins and said we would demand $15000.00, but now he says the adjuster is out of the office till next week and I don't want this to drag out like before. And this is the reason for feeling used and abused and maybe even stupid. That is the reason I'm trying to educate myself and see what is normal and whats not. Thank -you, I hope that makes things a little clearer and I hope you can help me.

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:54 am Post Subject:

And this is the reason for feeling used and abused and maybe even stupid.

That is the reason I'm trying to educate myself and see what is normal and whats not

I hope you can help me.

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 02:45 pm Post Subject:

Let me say that I have settled claims with many attorneys and I've never denied that they have their place and benefits but I'll also say that _most_ injury attorneys (and 99.9999999999 of the ones that solicit people after an accident) only see the injured person as a big bag of money. There are many attorneys who will never see the inside of a court room. This can work for the ones who still know how to get top dollar payments from insurance companies but there are _many_ attorneys who simply want to invest as little time as possible and grab some money and then move into the next settlement. Time is money to an attorney. If a settlement could be $5000 and he/she invests 20 hours, that is $250/hour they were paid. But if they settle for $3000 and only put 5 hours into it, well... that is $600/hour! But to make this work, those attorneys need a lot of people in their doors. Hence the aggressive recruitment of clients. It's a "client mill". Again, there are attorneys who can do this and _still_ settle claims for top dollar... but it's not going to be the one who was a nurse in an ER, now wants to try his hand at being an injury attorney, and has only been doing the attorney thing for a short time.

Allow me to poke a little fun here... almost all attorneys will not "steal" clients as they attorneys draw the line at feeding upon themselves. :). That is actually the quickest way I can explain that phone call. Okay, it's "professional courtesy".

A settlement is a negotiation. Let me ask you this... if you walked into a dealership to buy a car and said to yourself... I'm only going to counter offer this sales person twice and then buy the car... what price do you think you are going to pay? The insurance company is going to start making low offers (that is their job... it's not "wrong"). The adjuster also wants to close the claim and does not want the case to go to court if it looks like it can be settled. So the waiting game is on your side. If the adjuster can be left hanging out there and it can be made to look like you are only going to settle for top dollar or go to court, then this works to your advantage. If an attorney called me and told me his/he client wanted to settle asap, I'd put the checkbook away and crack open the piggy bank. That talk tells me that they client needs to pay some bills or is going on vacation and wants the the money... _any_ money, regardless. Now if the attorney tells me, no... my client might want to wait to see if additional treatment is needed or if any other complications come up, or might want to file suit as the offer is to low and then I don't hear from the attorney for weeks... this scares me a little. Do I really want to pass up offering a little more money to avoid future problems? But keep in mind, I'm just skimming over the surface... there are many other factors that come into play. I'm just showing that _showing_ your n a hurry is not a good thing (also, telling your attorney that just helps him on his way to spend as little of his time on your case so he can move on).

If the other person's limits are $15k, then of course the attorney will ask for this amount... they always do. If the limit was $100k, he would ask for that amount. This just makes the insurance company "go first" in the negotiation process. It gives a slight advantage to the attorney (some experienced adjusters, when they get $500k demands on a $10k case will make a counter offer of $1... to be as stupid as the initial demand :) ). This is all not to say that your claim is not worth $15k or more. If it is, the carrier may just offer the $15k right away.

Settling a smaller claim can take a matter of a day... it really depends on how clear the matter is (accident, injury and treatment) and how high the policy limits are as compared to the extent of the injury. I'd say most claims like this can easily be settled in a matter of a week or so. But their can be other factors involved that dictate spending a little more time in the settlement process.

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 08:41 pm Post Subject: Rear-ened in Salem

Thank-you guys so much! :) That helps me understand thing a lot better. I thing my Dr knows more about this system than my attorney. So tell me if I'm right, when the adjuster gets back into the office, and my attorney gets back to me with a counter offer, I just stand as firm as possible on the $15000.00. With the 1st passenger , when I tried to hold out he said that was as much as they would offer before going to court, and that would cost more. And now were on the 2nd passenger this is the demand of $15000.00 and he was released 4/24/08. And as far as myself goes I think I'm in a better position because of my DR. The attorney has repeatedly tried to get me to settle and my DR says NO! Not until the anniversary date and then there will be stipulations made, because I have new injuries that have not healed and there is still a lot of pain. If I had my rathers, I would have chose not to have this happen it's a lot pain and worry. :cry: Also how do I donate a nickle. I'm new to all this. :)

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 09:19 pm Post Subject:

If the other person's injury limits are $15,000/$30,000 as it would seem, the carrier should _not) be settling individual claims (nor should your attorney be settling them). These leads me to think that the limits are much higher.

If those were the limits, $30,000 per accident, then a payment of $15,000 and $3,000 would be $18,000, leaving only $12,000 left over. This would not allow you to collect $15,000.

You may want to clarify this matter.

You click on the donate link to donate.

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:55 am Post Subject:

I just can't imagine there's a limits issue if they have settled even ONE BI...on this claim :?

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 02:48 pm Post Subject:

Well... that sounds fun. Seeing how you've got plenty of answers. I'll just leave a link to funny auto insurance video that's on youtube.


(removed link---lori)