by pcr349 » Sun Dec 28, 2008 01:32 am
I was rear ended back in April of this year, had back pain, went thru therapy......long story short herinated disc with pinced nerve. Had back surgery and am doing ok. The other party was at fault, received ticket. I understand her insurance under liability is 100/300. I will max out the 100,000 in doctor bills. Can anyone tell me what I should expect as a settlement offer?
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 01:38 am Post Subject:
I'd say you can expect a $100,000 offer fairly quick.
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 05:13 am Post Subject:
I think an attorney would be the only one who could answer this question correctly. The owner's insurance may max out at 100k, but this doesn't mean the driver isn't responsible for any damages over this amount. The big problem will be getting money out of a driver who doesn't own anything or have any money. You will have a difficult time in getting any money out of this driver. Here is how an attorney can help, any driver may tell you they don't have any money or anything, an attorney can actually find out the truth.
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 05:33 am Post Subject:
The owner's insurance may max out at 100k, but this doesn't mean the driver isn't responsible for any damages over this amount.
In a sense, this is incorrect. The only way the insurance company would pay anything for the injury is either with a signed release or a court judgment (lets leave the judgement out of the picture for now). A release means the OP cannot pursue the driver (this is why the drivers insurance would make any payment... to protect their insured). So the OP cannot collect from the drivers insurance and then also pursue the driver. That is, unless the OP filed suit against the driver and won an excess verdict in excess of the $100k.If the OP hired an attorney, they attorney is 99.99999% likely to only want to pursue the $100k from the insurance company and that is it. But that also means that the OP would need to pay the attorney $33,000 for accepting what the insurance company is probably going to offer anyway. $33,000.... $33,000.... for doing what? With medical bills in excess of $100k, $33k is a big chunk of change for nothing.
The OP may want to retain an attorney if he/she has UIMBI on his/her policy.
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 12:54 pm Post Subject:
OP, do you have Under Insured Motorist (bi)? If so you need to get a claim filed with your carrier asap...most likely this is going to be your only recourse for anything above the 100k...unless the person that hit you is a 'gazillionaire' that's gonna be it...again check your policy for UIM...
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 04:11 pm Post Subject:
I do have underinsured motorist. My med pay on my policy paid the first $10,000 on bills, (therapy, tests, etc....) I have been off work for 2 months and could be another month before I go back. Where does the future medical bills and pain and suffereing come from? Any help would be greatly aprreciated.
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 05:48 pm Post Subject:
Here is my recommendation... find a _good_ attorney (this will be difficult to do) that will take the case and allow you to keep the offer from the other parties carrier if it's the policy max. There is _no_ reason to pay the attorney $33,000 for simply accepting what was/would have been offered anyway. That is just stupid. The attorney can take 33% of what your carrier offers under your UIMBI. So the attorney will get paid for doing some work and it will still be good money.
The reason why I recommend an attorney is.... do you know what your claim is worth? If your carrier offers you $50,000 on top of the $100,000 tender from the other carrier, is that appropriate? Or if $70,000 more in line? Of course, if you think you know about what your claim is worth, you could wait to see what your carriers offer is and if you don't like it, hire an attorney then. But there is something else to consider... your not allowed to accept the $100k offer from the other carrier without your carrier giving you permission to settle. Your state probably has certain laws about this. I'll give an example... in UT once your carrier was told you were offered the BI policy limits from the other carrier and were presenting a UIMBI claim, your carrier would have 5 days to either pay you the BI limits in order to pursue the other driver directly or they have to waive their right of recovery against the other driver so that you can accept the $100k from the other carrier. Now, everything is stacked in your favor so it's next to impossible for you to loose anything but each state has it's own twists so its probably better that you discuss this with an attorney for these reasons as well.
You should be able to find an attorney that is willing to pass on the $100k policy limits offer as if they did not, you could find 1000 other attorneys who would take the case just for 33% of the UIMBI claim. After all, they are not going to be doing any work for that $100k BI offer anyway.
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:26 am Post Subject:
I never knew that your carrier had to give you permission to settle against the other insurance company. Why would you need there Okay? So who has to pay first the other insurance company or your own? I see you mentioned that the other insurance company has to waive their right to recover. Does this mean the medical they paid towards your recovery?
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 12:47 am Post Subject:
I never knew that your carrier had to give you permission to settle against the other insurance company. Why would you need there Okay?
I write a longer response but it got too complicated so I'll leave out the details.The insured person has a right of recovery against the at-fault party. If the injured person's carrier pays the injured person in place of what the at-fault party owes then they should be able to collect that money back from the at-fault party.
An example... I owe you $50k but I don't have $50k. So someone comes along and pays the $50k for me. This does not excuse me from owing $50k... it just now means I owe that party that paid the $50k for me. Well, that party is the UIMBI carrier covering what I owe.
If the injured person accepts a payment from the at-fault party, the injured person will need to sign a release. This means they won't pursue the at-fault party for any more money. If the injured person takes, let's say $30k of that $50k owed and then files a $20k UIMBI claim, the UIMBI carrier then has no right to ask for that $20k from the at-fault carrier as their insured signed a release (the UIMBI carrier assumes their insured's right of recovery... if the insured signed a release... there is no right of recovery any longer).
But what also happens is that the BI carrier will _tender_ the limits of the policy. This is an offer, conditional on signing a release. The injured person then tells their own UIMBI carrier of the tender and the insurance company runs an assets check on the at-fault party. Almost always, the at-fault party has no assets worth pursuing so the UIMBI carrier tells their insured that it's okay to waive the right of recovery and sign the release.
In the case of UT law, if the UIMBI carrier does not want to allow their insured to sign the release for the BI money, then the UIMBI carrier needs to pay the BI limits to the injured person instead. They then keep the right of recovery and can pursue the at-fault person. Of course, as mentioned above, this is almost never done as 1) it means the UIMBI carrier would have to front the BI limits (ouch) and 2) the at-fault party almost never has clear assets to obtain.
Clear as mud?
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 01:06 pm Post Subject:
Great advise Todd, (duh) the only thing I'd like to add is first what are you UIMBI limits? If they are low, I think I'd maybe try and settle it myself...for instance if you have 25k or so limits, not sure you wouldn't be able to handle that yourself...
Be sure if you do get an attorney that you make triple sure that it is writteni into your contract he/she is NOT to get any compensation from the 100k...very very very important.
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 01:50 pm Post Subject:
Thanks T-scope for the explanation. I am pretty new to this and sometimes I read something that seems to do with my own case and think WHAT? I appreciate you taking the time to explain.
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