Cheating a VET

by Guest » Wed Sep 19, 2012 01:32 am

I was in a motorcycle accident 5 years ago. I just recently went to court and was awarded $10,000 dollars by an ignorant jury. Here is some background about me. I am a retired TSgt from the United States Air Force, spent 6 years active duty and 14+ years in the reserves. Some of my assignments were ground to air communications, satellite communication and Presidential Radio. I consider myself to be an honorable man and keep to myself. I enjoy working out in the yard, did Tung So Do ( martial arts), and went to work. Have to kids, a 23 year old son and an 15 year old daughter. Since the accident, I do not workout in the yard as much and gave up my martial arts. The accident was in September of 2007; I was stopped at a stop sign waiting to take a right hand turn on a 2007 Honda 250 motorcycle. The motorcycle was bought to save money on gas with the rising prices of gasoline. The individual that was behind me; thought I already had left and decided to accelerate into traffic striking me on the backside of the motorcycle. I was lunged forward and slamming me down on my right side. Went to the emergency room and the doctor prescribed me some medication for my injuries. I went to the following physicians’ to be treated: chiropractor, my family doctor, an orthopedic doctor, a physical therapist, and a neurologist. At first: my neck, upper back, lower back, right shoulder and right foot was bothering me. After about a week or two, the left side of my face goes numb. Called my family doctor and he were out, so I called my chiropractor and went in for an adjustment to see if it would help. At the time it seemed to fade away, but would come back time to time. I thought I was doing better so I stopped going to the doctors for a while; but, after the medication wore off and an I became more active the symptoms came back. The headaches that were light started getting worse, the upper back, neck and shoulder started bothering more. Me being a proud person; I did not complain a lot about my aches to much, except for the headaches. They would get worse with the cold weather or when weather moving in. The Neurologist said it was trigeminal neuralgia, also known as the suicide disease. The Neurologist wrote out a statement for court saying in his medical background that it was caused by the accident. Now, I have to live with this and probably take medication for the rest of my life. Now for the reality of the settlement, here is the scoop.

Lawyer $4,000
Chiropractor $4,175
Mediation approx. $895
Court Cost, witness statements,
And other fees $1082.75

Total $10152.75

Is the legal system fare? I think not. The courts want everyone to go to mediation, so more lawyers can make money off of you. It cost me $895.00, that I could of used to pay the expenses from the accident. Now for the real costs:

Medical $18,935.02+
Prescriptions $8,000+
Martial Arts(Left on contract) $396
Lost Wages $648

Total $27,979.02+ A difference of $17,979.02+

Now if you look at everything, who won? Everyone, but me and I was the one who was hurt in the collision. And if I could not keep everything going, I would have to claim bankruptcy. In the end, this could cause the good people of the community to pay the cost. Lets look at it the way the attorney for the person that hit me said. She was working hard to protect her client Mr. ________, but her real client is the insurance company. (SAFCO which is a part some how of Liberty Mutual)

Tell me! Where is the justice in this?

Total Comments: 1

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 01:10 pm Post Subject:

Tell me! Where is the justice in this?

There is no justice in this. Your main problem was that you hired ineffective legal counsel -- whose decision was that?

Why did you even choose to hire an attorney when you could have obtained all that you were seeking on your own?

Your experience is no different than that of thousands of people who watch TV or listen to the radio and hear advertisements from attorneys who say things like, "If you've been injured in an accident, you need [insert name of attorney] to fight for you. The insurance companies are your enemies, and they will do everything in their power not to pay you."

Well, truth be told, the attorneys are not your friends. They are only in the game to get their 30% - 40% fee.

I just recently went to court and was awarded $10,000 dollars by an ignorant jury.

and

The courts want everyone to go to mediation, so more lawyers can make money off of you. It cost me $895.00, that I could of used to pay the expenses from the accident.

There is a problem here with these two statements. If you went to mediation, why did you then go to a jury trial? That makes no sense. Or are you confusing a "mandatory pre-trial settlement conference" with mediation?

Mediation is known as "alternative dispute resolution" and it is generally a binding matter on the parties. it is definitely outside the legal system in the sense that the arbitrator does not have to follow the law in making his/her determination. Only in rare circumstances would an arbitrator's decision be appealable to the courts.

So I think you are confused. You had a settlement conference, the attorney charged you $895 to attend that, and it led to no settlement. Why you were charged that as an additional fee makes no sense. It should have been covered by the attorney's contingency fee. Unless you were offered a settlement that you chose to refuse, in which case your agreement with the attorney may specify something else.

Now, having said that, if you had actual damages of $28,000, how could your jury award not have included those actual damages? Your post continues to make no sense. Unless your damages were already paid for by the insurance company and were not actually a part of the lawsuit.

Martial Arts(Left on contract) $396
Lost Wages $648

Marital arts? You cannot be compensated for that. Why wasn't the martial arts studio willing to apply that money to future lessons?

Lost wages $648? You missed a few days of work. You apparently were not seriously injured. So how did you end up with $8000 in drug expenses?

If your case actually went before a jury, then they must have decided that your expenses were not legitimate. And that may or may not be correct. But it was the gamble that you took instead of accepting some other settlement -- which I'm reasonably sure you turned down on the "advice" of your attorney who was "sure" your case was worth a lot more. What did he care, he was going to get paid one way or the other -- by turning down the settlement offer, you obligated yourself to pay his fees win or lose.

So your complaint has less to do with insurance than it does with the attorney you hired. That person did not do a good job for you. I see examples of that all the time, and one of the first ones I ever saw was more than 30 years ago and involved my father, who was far more seriously injured than you were -- he was hospitalized for three months before he was sent home in a hospital bed with a broken leg still in traction for another two months before he had surgery.

He, too, would have done better without an attorney. But it was his choice to hire one, believing, as the attorney told him, "This is a multimillion dollar case." It that was true, why did the attorney decide at the last minute that a $50,000 settlement was adequate? Because he did not prepare for trial, and it ended up going to trial. And because he was unprepared, when a last minute "surprise witness" to the accident -- completely unknown to anyone except the defense -- appeared ready to be examined at trial, my dad's attorney caved in.

So I know, essentially first hand, what you've experienced. My dad's experience happened a couple of years before I found my way into the insurance business. I did not have the same knowledge then that I do today. And I would probably have done the same under those circumstances. Today, my advice is completely different.

Lets look at it the way the attorney for the person that hit me said. She was working hard to protect her client Mr. ________,

That's exactly the job of a defense attorney. They are not protecting the insurance company, even if they are being paid by the insurance company. The insurance company is not on trial.

You. like too many others, misunderstand the nature of the game. This has nothing to do with "Cheating a VET". Your service to our country is to be admired and commended, and I salute you for it (my own son is in his 16th year in the Marine Corps). You chose to hire an incompetent attorney who did not fight as hard for you as the opposing counsel did for her client, or you did for our country.

Be mad at the attorney, not the insurance company.

You could have gotten the same -- and most likely more -- on your own without the attorney, just by working with the insurance company to amicably resolve your claim. Most people do not understand or appreciate this. I have advised many people on how to do this, and almost all have come away with good results without having to involve an attorney.

Instead, what I think may have happened is that you were deceived by the attorney into believing that you were going to get hundreds of thousands of dollars. There was no chance of that from the facts you have revealed. People only get those kinds of damages when they are permanently disfigured or disabled. Of course, at this late date, the attorney is going to deny that conversation ever took place.

And why do you have almost $5000 in chiropractic expenses? Those are not usually considered legitimate medical expenses. Did your attorney send you to a chiropractor instead of a real physician? If he/she did, then you know you hired a shylock.

Maybe you can find another attorney who would be willing to sue the first one for malpractice. That's even harder to do.

Total Comments: 1

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