Pain and Suffering question

by hr8886 » Mon Mar 18, 2013 04:41 am
Posts: 9
Joined: 15 Mar 2013

Hi,

If you had around 200K in total Medical bills, missed 2 months of work, and had a big scar on your stomach from surgery, how would you calcaulate pain and suffering?

Is pain and suffering only limited to BI limits and UM limits? Can you sue the not-fault driver? What if he has no assets?

Thanks in advice :)

Total Comments: 7

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 12:36 pm Post Subject:

Is pain and suffering only limited to BI limits and UM limits? Can you sue the not-fault driver? What if he has no assets?

You can't accept the person's BI limits _and_ sue as accepting the BI limits would require that you sign a release. You could refuse to settle, file suit, take a chance on loosing and it you win, then accept the BI limits and be able to pursue the other person. But why? Especially if you have UM. UM takes the place of all that. NO attorney is going to file suit when against the at fault party when their is UM as then they would need to fight the BI carrier _and_ the UM carrier. It's two against one and there is simply no reason to fight a battle against both carriers if he/she does not need to.

how would you calcaulate pain and suffering?

BY reviewing all of the details in the case and making seeing if both parties can settle on a number.

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 12:50 pm Post Subject:

Thanks TCope!

BY reviewing all of the details in the case and making seeing if both parties can settle on a number.



If PIP and UM from my insurance gets denied, what would i need to do?

I had an EUO a few weeks ago and it leads me to believe they want to deny my claim.

One more question, if the at-fault driver has $100,000/$300,000, does that mean his insurance may pay upto $300,000 for the total accident (med bills, pain and suffering, loss of wage)?

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 09:33 pm Post Subject:

if the at-fault driver has $100,000/$300,000, does that mean his insurance may pay upto $300,000 for the total accident

Means $100,000 per person, $300,000 per accident. One person out of many injured could not receive more than $100,000, and many injured could not receive more than $300,000 combined. If there are more than three injured persons, each with more than $100,000 in direct losses, no one is likely to get $100,000 from the insurance company.

Can you sue the not-fault driver? What if he has no assets?

I assume you were a passenger in someone else's vehicle? Otherwise your first question makes no sense. As to the second question, there are several well-known proverbs to explain the answer. One of them is, "You can't get blood out of a turnip," another is, "You can't make a silk purse out of a pig's ear." Suing a person with no assets results in a hollow victory -- you win, and you get nothing. How wonderful is that?


I had an EUO a few weeks ago and it leads me to believe they want to deny my claim.

Who is "they"? Your insurance company or the at-fault party's insurance company or the "not-fault" party's insurance company?

What would cause you to think your PIP claim would be denied? It is, in effect, no-fault insurance. Your PIP pays your damages, the other party's PIP pays his. If PIP is subject to subrogation, the insurance companies work that out without any input from you.

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 01:32 am Post Subject:

Who is "they"? Your insurance company or the at-fault party's insurance company or the "not-fault" party's insurance company?



They is my insurance.

And I was the passenger of a car i rented with my wife.

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 04:23 am Post Subject:

If PIP and UM from my insurance gets denied, what would i need to do?

Did someone other than your wife cause the collision?

PIP should not be questionable under any scenario other than a deliberately self-inflicted injury. The problem with UMBI is that you have to prove that another person (known or unknown) caused your damages. That may be the only concern of the insurance company . . . that this was an accident caused by someone else, and not a solo accident. If your wife caused the accident, PIP would still pay, but UMBI/UMPD would not.

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 05:36 am Post Subject:

Yeah, Police report has the at-fault driver 100% responsible.

Me and my wife were the victims.

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 09:40 am Post Subject:

Police report has the at-fault driver 100% responsible

Insurance companies make their own determination of fault. A police report is only guidance, not an absolute.

So if the insurance companies determine that the other driver was at-fault, you collect damages from that person's policy up to its limits. Any amount beyond that would generally result from a civil suit and would be payable personally by the at-fault driver. If you have uninsured/underinsured coverage, you could collect pain and suffering damages from your policy after all offsets against any other insurance have been figured into the equation. (In some cases where injuries are extreme and/or result in permanent disability, your UM coverage would probably offer its limit of liability without the need to go to trial.)

PIP does not provide coverage for your pain and suffering ("general" damages); it only works for verifiable economic ("special" or "specific") damages such as medical expenses and lost wages. It also does not cover physical damage to your vehicle. That's a property damage claim against the other driver.

Because you were in a rental car, uninsured damage to that vehicle caused by a third party creates a collision claim against your personal auto insurance and is not covered by your UMPD, although you will not be charged with an at-fault accident. You would be responsible for the deductible amount and could be responsible for certain economic damages (loss of use) assessed by the rental car company. If you use a credit card (not a debit card with credit card logo), you probably have additional coverage through the credit card issuer which could erase any liability on your part for uninsured damages.

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