by Guest » Thu May 05, 2011 01:53 pm
My son was involved in an accident, we live in Georgia. The other driver was at fault by turning on a green light right in front of my son. Impact occured under the light at intersection. My son was taken by ambulance to Trauma ctr ER as his head hit the sun visor and needed 6 stitches as well as breaking a bone in his hand. We are negotiating the vehicle settlement now, I bought him a 97 Ford F150 when he turned 16 (now 22) for fear of this happening and the vehichle is TOTALLED! We have nearly $8000 in medical bill and he's till seeing a chiropractor. He will return to work next week having missed 5 weeks due to broken bone in hand. What would be a fair settlement for personal injury?
Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 10:34 pm Post Subject:
No one here can answer that question for you. You can use a "Magic 8-Ball" and get better results. Is there any permanent loss of use? Probably not. If not, this is not a "big money" injury.
Ask for 100% medical, loss of wages, and another 50% of that combined for pain and suffering and see what happens. It is certainly not worth more than that without any permanent injury.
And don't put any stock in testimony by a chiropractor, either. They are generally not considered "medical professionals", so their opinions don't carry much weight in court compared to the testimony of an MD.
Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 02:18 am Post Subject:
Ive been given advice to get an attorney and i don't see the point...we are grateful he is OK. I just want his bills paid, loss of wages and something for his pain and suffering..this helps me determine what to ask for. Thank you for your response!
Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 05:26 am Post Subject:
Ive been given advice to get an attorney and i don't see the point
You have 20-20 vision! An attorney is the LAST RESORT, and only after the insurance company takes a hard line stance that is unmovable and their "final offer" is not it your son's best interest. Until then, you keep negotiating for what YOU believe is fair.
If they fail to come around to your way of thinking, then you can consider taking legal action -- but the legal action is always against the AT FAULT party [b]NOT[/b] their insurance company. The insurance company did not cause the damages, they simply have a responsibility to pay. And the attorney will take 30%-40% of the final award.
But, if it comes down to a trial, here's the good news: if you win the case, and the settlement is for the same amount that you tried to negotiate, or more, then you can also be awarded "pre-judgment interest" (state law sets the rate, and it's usually 10% from the date of loss) -- but your attorney has to make a demand for that in the original civil complaint filing.
Many times, an inexperienced attorney will forget that, and when they later ask the court for it at the conclusion of the trial, the court spanks them and says, "If you wanted it, you were supposed to ask for it way back when, counselor, not now. Request denied."
And something that was not stated in my previous post . . . make sure that when you are negotiating a settlement that you have ALL the bills gathered, because once they write a check and you accept it, the matter is closed. No do-overs on this under most circumstances.
Also, understand that any of your son's medical expenses that have been paid for by his own medical insurance will be recoverable by that insurance company from his settlement with the at fault party. Attorneys conveniently "forget" this fact, too, because they get their cut off the total award, and it causes people to end up with less in hand, after all is said and done, than if they had taken the insurance company's "final offer" and not gotten an attorney.
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