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 Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:43 am Post subject: Son injured in accident |
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My son was a front seat passenger in a singal car accident. He is a very nice looking young man, he was thrown almost completely out of the windshield. His face is scared very badly his eyelid is severe it will not close all the way and has a V in it. He is going to have plastic surgery. I have never had to get a lawyer for anything before in my life, the highway patrol said we needed to find one. my son was hurt the most out of the 3 young men, the driver had an airbag the passenger in the backseat had my son's seat as a shield. the attorney says that the max policy the driver has is 50 thousand, my insurance is paying 10 thousand of medical bills. i want to make sure my son's face is repaired and that he is ok, the attorney is ready to seattle with the 50 thousand before my son has even had his first appointment at the plastic surgen. any good advice i am grateful though I don't have a clue about any of this leagal stuff. I am confused that it happened so quickly. 2 months ago. i am not sure if in the long run the cost of all the medical bills will be paid and the health of my son. he was knocked out for God only knows how long. took at least an hour to get him to the hospital because the driver was scared he was going to jail and the people that picked up the 3 boys had to take the driver and the other passenger home before they could get my son to the hospital. my son was bleeding very badly, his eyelid laid open his forehead cut badly and the whole side of his face awful. thank you all in advance
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conserned
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:11 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | the attorney is ready to seattle with the 50 thousand before my son has even had his first appointment at the plastic surgen. |
Because this is the absolute max. you can get from this person's policy....unless the responsible party is very very very wealthy this is the most you can hope to collect. UNLESS if you have UIM BI (Under insured motorist) coverage on your own policy you can present a claim there...but the most you can get from the at fault party is their policy LIMIT which in this case appears to be 50k
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Lori
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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First, go kick the highway patrol officer in the nads for sticking them where they don't belong. I should not mention this as what was done is done but on a claim like this, the carrier would have offered up their policy limits without any problems. Your attorney really did not have to do anything but put together a short letter and send it to the carrier. For that, he gets 33% of $50k (leaves about $33k of that $50k). What the attorney _should_ do for that $16k is follow up with your medical providers and get them to lower your bills.
If the other people in the car were injured and were able to file an injury claim, they should get an extremely small portion of the payment. That is, each person should be paid a pro-rated amount based on the their loss (cost of treatment).
If your son is covered under health insurance, all of the medical bills should be submitted to them 1st. |
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tcope
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:09 pm Post subject: thank you |
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I have the cheapest insurance. and had know clue that my insurance would pay anything because he wasn't in my car, the lawyer did that for my son. the driver of the car was on probation and we knew that, what none of us didn't know was that he was on house arrest. was why he was going to leave my son laying in the car, the other passenger that was in the back seat made the driver help get my son out of the car and help carry him until he woke up and they got service on the cell phone to call another one of there friends to come take them to the drivers home, where the drivers father could call for a doctor to make a house call. the other friends that picked them up said no he (my son) is going to the hospitol and we are calling his momma. the next day the backseat passenger went to the doctor for bruising. the driver never went. the highway patrol never presued the case he let it go as an abannded wrecked car, i blessed him out and asked him how could he not file anything so i can get help with the doctor bills because i don't have that kind of money he let it go. for 2 weeks of me trying to get this patrolman back on the phone and calling his seargent and cheif is how i got a crash report to get the insurances on the ball. now having that said the drivers daddy has a pull here in our county don't know what or how but he does. the driver has a lawyer for an uncle, which will be sworn in as 3rd judical judge january 09. the car was in the daddys name the boy drove it all the time and the daddy was saying the boy took it without his premission. the same boy in another car driving without a licence and drunk i wonder if he kills his passengers next time will the law try and cover it up
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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and i want to thank you both very much for your advice. i wish i had found this place a lot sooner. are there anything or any advice for me to the lawyer, i had taken a lot of pics of my soon when i got him home they said the wreck happened between 12 and 1 am he got to the hospital a few after 2am. but i took a lot of pics during all this after he got his stiches out and healing the lawyer has those, i have to pay out of pocket for the first visit to the plastic surgey appt. they say i will get that back from my insurance. the surgery its self will come out of pocket they say i will get some of that back from my insurance.
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | a doctor to make a house call. |
wow what country are you in? Haven't heard of house calls here since the early sixties!
So the car is in daddy's name huh? Is the driver a minor? Does daddy have a lot of assets? If not then if it were me I'd tell my attorney lets just get this 50k in our pockets...and will you attempt to negotiate down the medical bills for me, and how about we negotiate down your fee as well because clearly this is a slam dunk that will not require too much of your time.
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"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way." Martin Luther King Jr. |
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Lori
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:20 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | how about we negotiate down your fee as well because clearly this is a slam dunk that will not require too much of your time. |
Amen! |
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tcope
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:39 am Post subject: |
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| THIS IS WHY MY PARENTS WOULD NOT LET ME BE IN A CAR FULL OF TEENAGERS, THANKS MOM AND DAD (30 YEARS LATE) AND THIS IS ALSO WHY SEATBELTS ARE SO IMPORTANT. I AM DISCOURAGE WHEN I READ A WEBSITE THAT HAS SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE AND CORRECT INFO THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS SAID THESE POINTS. |
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Bidwist
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:45 am Post subject: |
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| I'm discouraged when every state I know of requires a seatbelt to be worn but at least a few states don't allow liability to be placed against a person not wearing their seatbelt. |
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tcope
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:20 am Post subject: |
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| I totally agree with Lori and think you should settle for the 50k right now. Make the claim as soon as possible. Get your attorney to do the legal stuff before you lose out on time to make the claim. Get as much details about the car your son was riding and the driver's insurance and ask your attorney to use this information to your benefit. Wish your son a quick recovery. |
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sil
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:14 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | THIS IS WHY MY PARENTS WOULD NOT LET ME BE IN A CAR FULL OF TEENAGERS, THANKS MOM AND DAD (30 YEARS LATE) |
If they are still around be sure and pick up the phone and tell them that  | Quote: | | AND THIS IS ALSO WHY SEATBELTS ARE SO IMPORTANT. I AM DISCOURAGE WHEN I READ A WEBSITE THAT HAS SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE AND CORRECT INFO THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS SAID THESE POINTS. |
Honestly Bidwist thought that was like pointing out the obvious...One of the rules at my house when I had teenagers was first six months driving NO ONE but mom or dad were passengers...if ANYONE in their vehicle did not have on a seatbelt they lost the car for a month...happened one time, daughter had a friend in her car that ''just wouldn't listen to me mom!" well after she lost her car for a month, she learned to tell her passengers 'put on the belt or get out of the car'...pretty simple...and since all teenagers are a selfish lot, appealing to their selfish nature (losing MY car because of someone elses actions?  )...only took the once...after they were out of my house, and bill fold I have no control...but do know they are both (to my knowledge) very very seatbelt concious...
Another thing that wasn't in the post, did the young man know that the driver was drunk and was he drinking as well? I have seen some claims where the liability percentage had some shifted to the injured party for KNOWINGLY getting into a vehicle with a drunk driver....
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Lori
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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first thank ya'll very much. i live in the us. the father of the driver is well off he has 50 rental houses in our county alone. the boys are 20 and they were at a party and no my son said he didn't know how much the driver drank and he thought he hadn't drank but a little because he was driving fine until they hit the dirt road on the way home a short cut road. the seatbelt rule in my house is always been good but i guess when you are a 20 year old and off with your friends you tend to do as they do. i really don't care how much money this man has i just want to make sure my son's face gets fixed and he is ok in the long run health wise. and it happened in july and i thought now was to soon to settle for 50 thousand considering january he has to go back to the eye doctor. he has always had perfect eye site now he has a scar on the back of the eye and eye site in the right eye isn't as good as it was. oh and i went to the drivers fathers house to check on his son and ask if they needed anything call me. it upset me that the drivers daddy couldn't even call to check on my son knowing he got the worst end of it. i am from a small town if you have plenty of money here you tell the law around here what to do. since the wreck we have found out that the driver was on house arrest for about a year and we didn't know that because he would drive his daddys trucks everywhere all the time.. the cheif of the patrolman said he will be charged with wreckless driving, dui, leaving a scean of accident with serious injury, failure to report the accident. i told him i did not want the boy in trouble for this i just need help paying the dr, bills. he said that is not how the law works mam. and i really don't want the boy in trouble i guess that is the momma in me. everyone says i should be very angry, i am but it is not like the boy planned on running into the oak tree slinnging my son nearly out of the windshield, i am angry that my son didn't call and say momma i need a ride or the boys didn't just wait around a while, and that my son thought that he had to be without the very thing that may have saved his face (seatbelt) and the drivers dad didn't call or come by to check on my son. all this is what makes me angry
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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Keep in mind that any other injured party, less the driver, will also get a small portion of the $50k policy limits. It's proportional to the person's claim and it sounds like everyone else pales in comparison to your sons so this is probably not a big issue.
If the father has that many assets I'd speak to your attorney about settling with the father directly and/or filing suit. Keep in mind that some attorneys are looking for an easy pay off (accepting just the insurance companies money) but there are some that would go the extra distance if they thought they could be paid on a judgement. With all the fathers assets, I would think this might be worth looking into. Also, the fathers limits seem to be very low. If he has rental properties he might also have an umbrella policy. Your attorney needs to ask about this. |
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tcope
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| Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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ok thank you all again, now a question about my insurance that was supposed to pay 10 thousand in dr. bills, i have to pay out of pocket for the plastic surgery will my insurance reimburse that to the 10 thousand or 80% , if so how do i do it without the attorney adding up the cost we owe him, again thank you in advance
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| Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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When you say "my insurance", what type of insurance is that? Auto, health, etc?
I'm assuming that is auto, medical payments of some type, as health usually has much higher limits. Your medical providers should submit their charges directly to your auto carrier. What is paid depends on your states statues for medical payment coverage. That is, they are all different. For example, Florida has $10k PIP and pays medical expenses at 80%. They pay all bills as they come in at 80% until they have paid out $10k. |
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tcope
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