by Guest » Tue Oct 22, 2013 02:31 am
I was in a car accident as a passenger. My husband was driving. We had our two week old baby (1st baby) and our two dogs in the car. We were rear-ended. I was on hefty pain killers due to post partum recovery. After stopping the pain killers, the back/neck pain started. I was seen by my PCP, underwent physical therapy, and chiropractic treatment. I started having numbness and tingling in my hands/arms. After undergoing painful testing for carpal tunnel (which was ruled out), an MRI which showed two bulging discs in my neck, it was determined that due to the inflammation in my neck, my arms and hands were going numb. I had to ask for accommodations at work. I have to take anxiety pills whenever the baby is in the car because I freak out when in traffic. So far my medical bills are $6000, damage to the car was $3500, and time off work to go to medical appointments has been $2000. Given the circumstances with the baby, post partum, medical bills, etc., what should I ask for in settlement (pain and suffering)?
Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 06:27 am Post Subject:
Given the circumstances with the baby, post partum, medical bills, etc., what should I ask for in settlement (pain and suffering)?
Your circumstances "with the baby, post partum" are immaterial. You are entitled to 100% of your medical bills not covered by insurance. Any bills covered by your insurance are payable to your insurance company, because your insurance is not intended to -- and will not pay for -- injuries such as yours caused by third parties. You are also entitled to 100% of lost wages. Both of these are known as "special" (or "specific") damages because they are quantifiable based on bills or other evidence of loss.What you are asking about as "pain and suffering" is known as "general damages". No one here can tell you what that is worth . . . especially if your course of medical or other treatment is not yet complete.
However, the typical "ballpark" is often 2x-3x your medical expenses, which would be $12,000-$18,000. So at this point, you're looking at about a $24,000 claim (in addition to the property damage loss to your vehicle). You might want to try finding out what the policy limit of liability is because in some states, like California, the individual limit could be as low as $15,000, in which case the insurance company won't pay you more than that. To recover (or to attempt) to recover more will require filing a civil suit for your full damage claim.
Assuming you win that case, the insurance company will still pay only the policy limit, and your attorney will collect his fee off the top, your medical insurance would be next in line, meaning there would be little or nothing from the insurance company money, and you would have to collect the balance of the judgment directly from the at-fault party. And that would probably mean collecting $0.
So before you go to an attorney, do what you can to find out what the at-fault party's policy limit of liability is. If it's more than $25,000, you can settle for the policy limit and avoid giving 1/3 or more of your settlement to an attorney who won't do much more than what you can do on your own.
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