auto accident/settlement

[[email protected]]

I was in an auto accident. I was rear-ended. I got a concussion and when the symptoms did not resolve themselves in a week I contacted a lawyer. I went to a physician who referred me to a neurologist. The neurologist scheduled me for an MRI. He also referred me to a chiropractor for neck pain which later turned into back pain.
I followed all the rules. I did not lie about my injuries.
The total damage on my car was $2600.00. The other guy barely got a scratch.
My lawyer says the insurance company will only settle for $500.00 because I did not meet threshold. The insurance company also said I did not need the MRI and they are not convinved that the back pain was caused by the accident.
I live in Denver, Colorado.
Do I have any recourse?
Signed,
Have no money for court.

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as dorming an attorney client relationship.

Yeah, it is called insurance bad faith. Read about at the freeadvice.com homepage.

You showed good faith and should sue them. Contact your insurance company and see if they will defend it for you, because otherwise you would have to seek the compensation from them.

Otherwise, try attorneypages.com.

In the meantime, keep a log of your daily pain suffered, any talks with doctors, etc. It will help in raising your amount of compensation you can get because you have more proof.

 

[cdcard]

Dear [email protected]:
Sorry to hear about your accident; hope your getting better. You have a couple of options open to you.
First, when you say the "insurance company will only settle for $500", I assume you're talking about the other guy's insurance company, not yours. If the other insurance company won't offer more than $500, then you'll have to make the decision whether to accept the offer, make a counteroffer, or sue. If your present attorney is advising you to take the settlement and you have misgivings, consider getting a second opinion from another personal injury attorney. You can get a referrel from your local county bar association. And make sure to bring in ALL your paperwork pertaining to the accident so this second attorney has the same facts before him/her as your present attorney. Also, if your present attorney is advising you to accept the settlement offer, ask him/her why, so you can tell the second attorney. If YOUR insurance company is the one refusing to pay, that's another matter. Many states will allow an insured to sue their own insurance company for bad faith. A few states allow third party bad faith actions, but not many. If you're not sure if Colorado allows either of these actions, ask your present and/or second attorney; they should know this. And, if you're going to get a second opinion, I recommend doing this quickly. Every state has a time limit in which a potential plaintiff can bring a lawsuit, so if you're going to have to sue, you should find out before that time frame runs out. I noticed you signed yourself "have no money for court". Many PI attorneys take bodily injury claims on a contingency fee basis (ie, their payment comes out of the settlement check, not your pocketbook). So don't let lack of funds stop you.
Best of luck to you,
cdcard