Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:48 am Post subject: Bodily injury settlement offer
I had a car accident 2.5 years ago. My car was totalled and I got paid for the car loss by the defendant's insurance company. I have been having low back pain, hip pain and leg pain on my right side since the accident. I was diagnosed with disc protrusion. I have had physical therapy, facet injections, ESIs, accupuncture, taking anti-inflammatory medicines, etc, but nothing had worked so far. My medical bills come to $45,000, my out of pocket payment (deductible) is about $4,500. I didn't have actual wage loss since I am paid salary not hourly. My treatment is still going on.
The defendant/trucking company hired an attorney. I had a deposition two months ago and a deposition with my primary doctor was scheduled in late July. Today, my lawyer told me that the defendant attorney made an offer of $50,000 which will leave me about $15,000. My attorney called this offer a decent one. Considering the suffering that I have had and future treatment, plus $4,500 that I have paid out of pocket for the medical bills, I don't feel this is a fair offer.
Bodily injury claim is always the most tricky part in any auto insurance claim process. Its difficult to ascertain an exact amount for the pain and sufferings.
However, you can ask your physician to anticipate the cost of the future medication and to add to the cost you have incurred so far. It'll give you a fair idea about the volume of the claim, though, to me the $50,000 amount sounds decent.
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No one can tell you if you should accept the offer. Especially people who have only read a short paragraph to encapsulate the entire 2 1/2 years.
I'm not understanding the math... but I guess those numbers are possible depending on the state where the accident happened.
Should you accept this is _entirely_ up to you. If you have a good attorney, he will be giving you good advise. Of course, he could just want a quick buck and to never step foot in a court room.
Hi, please clear my confusion....the responsible party has offered you a compensation package of $50,000 and you have incurred $45,000 worth of medical expenses, hence you're left with $5,000 only ($50,000-$45,000).
How you have arrived at the $15,000 figure? _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
I thought about that also. Only thing that came to mind is if it's a PIP (no-fault) state that is non-recoverable. For example, Florida has $10k in PIP that cannot be subrogated. So the injured person's own PIP would pay $10k of $45k in meds, leaving $35k in meds left to pay. $50k offer would leave $15k. But of course this does not account for the difference in the OP's post and $10k in PIP is pretty high.
If the settlement is $50k, the attorney is going to take $16,500 off the top, leaving $33,500 for everything else. It's possible that the attorney might know that he can get the med bill reduced but the numbers still just don't add up.
Hi, you can claim upto the limit of the other persons policy, if you haven't exceeded it yet. _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:02 pm Post subject: More info
Thanks for your replies.
Here is info to clear up the confusion.
Total medical bills: $45,000
The bills paid by my medical insurance to providers: $28,000 at a discount rate. My attorney said he can get this reduced to around $12,000.
The bills from a provider not covered by my med insurance: $8,000.(will be reduced by my attorney)
Total paid from my out of pocket: $4,500
I got hit by a trailor-truck(18 wheeler). I am in Texas. I don't have a PIP.
I did the math 6 ways to Sunday and it still can't get it to add up.
If your medical insurance company has already paid $28,000 to various providers, how can your attorney get the medical insurance company to reduce this to $12,000? They can't go back to the people they paid and ask for their money back.
$50,000 settlement
-$12,000 medical bills
-$4,500 your out of pocket expenses
-$15,000 your portion of the settlement
-----------
$18,500 going to the attorney
Does this look correct?
If so... you underwent 2 1/2 years of medical treatment and for all of this you are getting $15,000. How many hours has your attorney put into this? For that he's making $18,500... much more then you?
BTW - the math is still not exact as 33% of $50,000 is $16,500 (what your attorney should make on a $50,000 settlement) but it's close.
What are the policy limits of the other party? More then $50,000?
As mentioned, no one here can tell you what a good settlement would be. What I can tell you is that you need to determine if you believe your attorney in that it's a good settlement or if he just wants to walk away with $18,500 for a few hours worth of work. If he goes to court he will need to invest _many_ (MANY) more hours into your case. So unless the amount of the settlement was greatly increased, he'd actually make less money. Of course, if it's increase by $100 you still make more money. But there is also the possibility that the settlement could be far less if it went to court.
One concern you might want to think about and I know atty said he can reduce it...But more than likely your health carrier will require repayment for what they have paid, be it 18k or 28k...it still is going back to them....
Also anticipated future treatments....What is the policy limit? If it's a truck line it's likely 1million...it may be a decent offer, but come on...NO BODY should accept the first 'offer'... _________________ Have you been helped by a poster? Do you want to show your appreciation? YOU CAN !! Just simply click on the donate button and send them some coin!
It's very important to remember that this suit in is Texas. Texas awards for pain and suffering are typically WAY lower than other jurisdictions. Even depending on where you are in Texas can make a big difference.
Re: meds: OP's health insurance Co paid out $28000 in beneifits to doctor's. They have a subrogation claim against OP for said amount. It is very common for the health insurer to agree to reduce thier subrogation claim in these case, although reducction of $28 to $12k by that lawyer would be more than normally expected. On $28k, I would normally expect a reduction to around $15 or $18k.
The other medicals not covered by insurance were most likley lawyer referred providers who treated OP under a letter of protection. The laywer can proabbly cut those numbers in 1/2.
In all, if the lawyer can actually get OP $15,000 in pocket. That may not be all that bad. With that being said, if this is thier first offer, I'd expect there's more money to be had.
Ultimately, there's so many facts and variables in each case, it's up to you and your lawyer to decide whether this is fair or not. _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
The amount that they are attempting to pay to you is what we call a harrassment payment. If the offer is an even number, they know that this could get much larger and that your attorney does not want to go to court. If you feel that your attorney is not doing a good job, get rid of him now! _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
