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Quick Advice on Settlement

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M

missysj

Guest
What is your state? New York

Hello. I am nervous about a settlement my mother is getting for an accident she was in on April 4,2000. She was a passenger in a car that could not avoid hitting a truck that pulled out into their lane. She sustained injurys such as spleen damage (healed), broken nose, glass in her face and head (I was picking it out for a month after), and a severely crushed shoulder and arm. She now has a metal rod in her arm and can't lift it high enough to comb the back of her hair. The year and a half of physical therapy she went through aggrevated pre-existing conditions as well and they say that is as good as it is going to get. She has had 3 operations with a bone graft as well. I had to take care of her for 3 months after the accident as she couldn't move her arm or even bathe correctly without assistance. She states she was wearing her seatbelt, however, when they were using the jaws of life to get her out of the car the police man decided that was the time to interrogate her (she was in and out of conciousness) and she said no when he asked if she was wearing a seatbelt. She was issued a ticket which was reduced to two parking tickets. The law suit (according to her high profile lawyer) is supposed to be settled tomorrow. They were going after the insurance company of the driver at fault and the manufacturer of the vehicle because the truck was leased. Of course, the driver of the vehicle at fault has lied and lied stating the driver of the car she was in didn't have her lights on, etc... which was not true... I arrived at the scene of the accident and know. Anyway I have two totally separate questions.

1. Given the little information (more details given upon request) about this case without writting a book, do you think 200,000.00 is adequate compensation? 100,000.00 from insurance company and 100,000.00 from the manufacturer.

2. She was on SSI for approx 5 years before the accident. Will she lose her SSI because of the settlement? Or because it is not considered income will she not have to report it?

Thank you for any help or opinions you could provide me. I have been taking care of her and have been attending every meeting with her since that night. I just want to look out for her. I know this isn't a lot of time to respond but if you can throw me an opinion or two it would help.

Thanks,
Missy
 



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