BigDavyG

It should make his claims people sit up and take notice anyway.
You said he was with allstate, is that right ??

LeedsGirl

Here's my two cents: Do not speak with the other parties insurance claims person, you should let your own insurance company deal with it, that's why you pay them. After my own car crash a friend advised me to not speak with the other claims adjuster for reasons which came to light later on. Do not let them record you which is standard practice. I let my insurance company do all the leg work even though the accident was not my fault. Get a copy of the police report as soon as possible and take photos of the car. The other OP was correct in stating an attorney usually takes a third of whatever you receive, however, most attorneys will decide when they meet you whether you have a decent enough case or not, if you do have a good case then usually a third is all they will take and no other payment is given.

User Name

Depends. Having been engaged as main counsel on a contingency litigation matter in Texas in the past, and as a general matter, the amounts of money to be paid to the attorney or his/her firm will depend on what the co-signed written agreement states. For example, if court fees are specifically included, then the attorney will also get court fees. So it is important for the plaintiff to get it all in writing and to carefully read the paper before signing on the dotted line. As a general rule, where a specific expense is not mentioned in the written agreement such omissions will count against the side who drafted the written agreement.

LeedsGirl

Couldn't agree more, get it in writing!

Lynne

Personal injury is my "speciality". lolol

First off, everyone needs to get whatever medical treatment they need, get your health insurance to pay for the cost. Don't give the hospital any auto insurance information unless they specifically ask for it because they will try and get the money out of the auto insurance rather than your health insurance. At the end of the day its to your benefit for your health insurance to pay because they get a big discount and if you recover anything for personal injury from the other driver the amount you have to pay back to the health insurance company will be relatively small compared with what the auto insurance will pay the hospital etc etc. Even if at this point they are just "sore" it is worth getting it checked out sooner rather than later. It may be just a case of cervical strain but it is better to be safe than sorry.

Keep a good journal of medical treatment and any pain and suffering, things you can't do because of your suffering, that kind of stuff. The big question is don't delay getting medical treatment. The longer you delay it the less you will recover from the other insurance company. They will say that you can't be hurt if you waited six months to do to the doctor. Also make sure that any doctor you see whether it be your primary physician or a chiro or other specialist that they note in their records that they were involved in a car wreck and the date it happened. So many people forget to mention that and when the insurance company read the records they say there is nothing to say it was not pre-existing or the result of some other injury.

You will need to make sure you coordinate your benefits and put all the insurance companies on notice of a potential claim. You should even inform your own insurance (if you have UM coverage) that there could potentially be a claim. Example, if your medical bills are really high and the other driver only has a 20/40 policy the max you can get is $20,000.00. Also check and see if you have medpay coverage. In most cases people have $1,000.00, $2,000.00 or $5,000.00 per person. You will have to prove medical bills incurred of whatever your medpay coverage is. But remember, if you recover from the other driver your insurance company may have a subrogation claim for their medpay. What you can do is send copies of your medical bills to your insurance company for them to pay out of the medpay coverage (if you don't have health insurance).

Don't settle any personal injury claim until everyone has completed their medical treatment. Once you sign a release you are screwed. If a few months down the road it turns out that someone needs surgery as a result of the injury then you can't go back and put in another claim.

You may also want to find out if your state allows stacking. In Alabama you can stack up to three insurance policies for one claim. If you have three cars with three policies then your coverage is tripled which is useful if you have UM coverage and the person that hit you has no insurance.

You should get the "book" value for your vehicle. If you have put spinners on it, have a $10,000.00 sound system and all the other fasionable add ons, don't expect to be compensated for them because they have not increased the value of the car.

Being involved with personal injury cases 99% of my work day I see no end of bad cases where people have not been fully compensated for their personal injury, pain, suffering and loss of income basically becausethey really don't know what to do. The laws vary from state to state and there are some weird ones as well so it is worth checking what the laws are where you love.

My personal opinion is that if the occupants of the vehicle were injured to contact an attorney. My firm do these cases on a contingency fee basis which is normally one third. In Alamaba there is a two year statute of limitations and in Tennessee it is one year, so if you do want to claim you have two years/one year respecively to file a lawsuit or settle the case.

Filing a lawsuit is time consuming and can be very costly. To prove injuries they will have to take the depositions or one or more doctors and this can amount to $1,000 or more per doctor. Not bad for an hour's work. It can also take two or more years to come to Court and settle.

The main thing right now is not to be hassled by the insurance companies. Their objective is to settle the case as soon as possible and for as little as possible. Law firms in our area do not take a percentage of the property damage if they become involved unless it ends up going to Court.

I think I have covered everything. lolol But if you have a question, feel free to ask.

Good luck and I am glad that no one was seriously injured.

Lynne

There is a law directory called Martindale Hubball. Law firms are rated by other law firms on their ability in specialized areas. I will look tomorrow and see what firms have an AV rating and let you know.

User Name

Yeah, good point. Can look for attorneys based on geographical location and specialization.

Dbj1000, consider clicking on this link for Personal Injury lawyers in Plano, TX:

http://www.martindale.com/Personal-I...2/lawyers.html

scrubbedexpat099

Excellent stuff. Trouble is so many of the details are state specific. So you have to say usually, maybe etc.

Medpay is a benefit under your own policy, some states mandate a minimum. Useful for paying deductibles and co-insurance. Normally can not be called into contribution by Health Insurers.

CO used to be a no fault State, when they moved to the more conventional liability system a few years back the Hospitals were all bitching because now they were having to recover from much more canny Health Insurers rather than Auto Insurers. The Ambulance services are still complaining because often they are left with a bill that they can not recover. I never did understand why the Auto Insurers did not subcontract the Hospital bills settlement to a Health Insurer.

I sort of assumed that court settlements were a lot higher to take into account the lawyers cut, but this does not seem to be the case? Perhaps marginally more, but not 50% more?

I guess you can take a view on non costs reimbursement like Pain and Suffering but must really suck if you have a medical bill and only collect 66 cents on the dollar.

Perhaps the NHS is not so bad.

Lynne

Very true, each state is different, some are no fault, some have the guest statute, and stacking. There are some aspects which I don't agree with like being able to claim UM off anyone in your household provided you have lived there for six months. Makes a mockery out of insurance.


A lot of hospitals won't put a claim in for a car wreck if the person has Medicaid or Medicare because they pay even less than regular health insurance carriers. I can't remember which one it is of the two, but they have now stopped paying medflight bills other than the ground mileage and the medflight companies will not write off the balance under contract and that can amount to several thousand dollars.

One thing I have noticed recently. I listen to Horizon radio in the UK and there are now several law firms advertizing personal injury services so I guess that is now on the increase. In the 15 or so years I worked in law offices in the UK I never came across a personal injury case. Must be a trend.

scrubbedexpat099

Firstly apologies for getting off topic a bit, a couple of things I recently have been told and have yet to check, for Colorado, may apply elsewhere.

Injury - if you are say a passenger and your family member is the negligent driver then there is no liability coverage.

Personal Accident Death Benefit - you have to show that you were in no way responsible, killed whilst breaking the speed limit for example and no payment.

I do not understand the bit about UM coverage, if this is relevant you have to assume that everybody in the household will drive unless you have a signed waiver. But then you also have the Injury issue mentioned above. May be a State thing.

Medflight = Air Ambulance?. I know the going charge here is $20,000 for a pick up, $800 for a normal Ambulance.