• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Injuries after the fact

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

Wtltnin672

Junior Member
Injuries 4 months after the fact

What is the name of your state? VA

My wife was in an accident May 1st.07. She came to a complete stop behind another driver, and then rolled (with her foot still on the brake) into the car in front of her, scratching some paint off the bumper with her license plate. They then called and discussed the accident with our insurance company for about an hour, and went their seperate ways. She was notified of the claim, and the other driver was paid around $500 to repair the scratches (there was NO damage to my wife's car). To help , my wife's car is a Toyota Sequoia, and the other driver was in a 300M.

A few weeks after the accident, my wife was called in for photos of her truck. The insurance company had an outlandish claim about damages, and needed to verify the bent corner of the license plate.

Now, 4 months later we recieved a summons for a civil case naming my wife as defendant for the amount of $15,000 :eek:plus court cost for injuries from the accident :confused:(that DID NOT even deploy the air bags).

Should we retain a lawyer? Can we counter-sue for harrassment? Will the insurance company just fix this for us? How worried should we be about this $15,000 pain in the rear?

David
 
Last edited:


justalayman

Senior Member
without going in to a lot of details, I can tell you that a very minor accident can result in a great injury. Just ask my wife about her artificial shoulder and an accident that sounds similar to yours.


anyway, contact your insurance compnay and let them ldeal with this. That is what you pay them for.

As far as suing them for harassment, possible but highly doubtful. You would have to prove that their suit was totally without merit.
 

alnorth

Member
I assume your liability coverage is higher than 15 grand.

Dont worry, and inform your insurance company of the lawsuit. You do not have a case for harassment unless it is clearly obvious to everyone that they have no injury, and you dont know that.

This is why you have liability insurance, your insurance company will take over and defend you if necessary, or just offer a settlement. Based on what you posted, you dont need to hire a lawyer.
 

Wtltnin672

Junior Member
The driver walked around the 'literally' scratched car for almost an hour. And settled after 2 weeks.

How much more false litigation can people do without having any recourse for doing so?

Frustrated in VA,

D

PS-- yes we have $100,000 in liability and injury. And we even upped our coverage after this incident, because it went as far as it did.
 
Last edited:

justalayman

Senior Member
ok Wtltnin672, here is the longer version.

My wife ws totally stopped at a stop sign. The car behind her was also totally stopped. He stated(at least his statemnt on the stand) that he believed my wife was having car trouble so (in his warped mind) figured giving her a little push would be helpful. I sure he never made it to 5mph.

His bumper went underneath my wifes bumper. There was NO damage. What I believe happened was that as he pushed her (that little bit) she was pushed back into the seat. When they stopped, the seatbelt locked and she fell forward somewhat. I believe the seatbelt was in just the right position to cause some soft tissue damage.

It was not dx'd for several months (several painful months) and we actually had to go to a University hospital for anybody to actually find anything. (BTW, I did see the injury in the pics the doc showed me right after the surgery)

Well, about 10 surgeries later, she now has an artificial shoulder. She did have some initial whiplash and no other obvious injuries. Well, somehow her shoulder was injured and she ended up with frozen shoulder syndrome. Multiple surgeries could not get it to be free until the last one but he joint had gone arthritic and was so painful that she avoided using it.

So, doc said only fix was artificial joint and that is what she has.

So, even though initially there may not appear to be any injury, it is hard to determine for sure.
 

Wtltnin672

Junior Member
@justalayman

I'm sorry to hear of your wife, but as I said, the issue I posted the thread about is extreme abuse of the system and what can be done about it. I only sited my example to help explain the question.

But thanks for any POSITIVE input that was given,

D
 
Last edited:

ecmst12

Senior Member
The point is, the person's injuries may IN FACT be real, you don't KNOW that they're not. And it's not your problem. If the person is faking, the lawyer your insurance company provides for you will make it go away. If the injuries are real, your insurance company will make a fair settlement. Either way, you don't have to worry about it unless it goes to trial and your wife needs to testify.

I've been in several car accidents and my neck is in very bad shape. I could DEFINITELY be hurt badly enough to require treatment even in an accident as minor as the one you described. It's actually happened, I was rear ended twice (3 months apart) a couple of years ago and needed months of chiro treatments afterwards; there was almost no damage to my car. My car is made of metal, I am a tiny-framed, 5'1" woman.
 

alnorth

Member
@justalayman

Not to be rude, but I didn't really post a new thread and sign on here for you to vent your issues to me. But as with anything FREE, expect to get what you pay for. I'm sorry to hear of your wife, but as I said, the issue I posted the thread about is extreme abuse of the system and what can be done about it. I only sited my example to help explain the question.

But thanks for any POSITIVE input that was given,

D
Soft tissue injuries often dont show up until days after the fact. Even serious injuries may not be felt immediately with adrenaline. I've seen a simple little 10MPH fender bender where the victim felt fine and didnt go to the hospital, but ultimately had about $25,000 of damage to her arm. You probably dont have a medical degree and cant say if those injuries are real or not.

However, lets assume just for a quick moment everything you said is correct and the accident did not result in injuries. The plaintiff is going to have injuries from SOMETHING, maybe a hiking accident or a slip and fall at home, because they will have to turn over medical records that prove their damages. If in the professional opinion of his doctor the injury could be consistent with that accident, it appears to have occured in the right time frame, and no one comes forward saying that he admitted to using this accident to pay for some other injury, just who do you think a court is going to believe?

The point is, *when* (not if, or this will be thrown out quickly) the other side shows proof of an injury, you wont have any idea whether it was caused by that accident or not. It's not your problem because they are only asking for a small amount of money that will be covered by your insurance. The insurance companies will not just write the check without performing a thorough investigation, let them do what you paid them for.
 

Wtltnin672

Junior Member
It's just so frustrating that so many people sue just to get a piece of the pie. And yes, our liability coverage is above and beyond the asked for amount. But in the short run, how many insurance companies will keep you as a client after this? I work in a field that has a higher than normal sue rate, for items that never should even go to court and waste the legal systems time. Ultimately it ALL comes out of my pocket (and yours) when your insurance rates go up. And why is it , that there are no checks and balances on this system? The injuries could have occured the next day or the next week for that matter, in the accident, or even, not at all. Pain is a relative thing, the last accident I was in, I took 2 aspirin and called back in the morning (so to speak). I guess I just think there should be some limits set as to when, how or who you can sue. I'm not negating 'true' victims, and I'm not an MD but, sometimes common sense has to prevail. I'd be willing to bet, MORE injuries are fake in accidents to get money, than are real.....

D
 

alnorth

Member
The injury is not going to be fake, the medical records will show that they are injured. (If it is fake, that will be found out quickly) The insurance company wont write the check if they cant prove the injury.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
It's just so frustrating that so many people sue just to get a piece of the pie. And yes, our liability coverage is above and beyond the asked for amount. But in the short run, how many insurance companies will keep you as a client after this? I work in a field that has a higher than normal sue rate, for items that never should even go to court and waste the legal systems time. Ultimately it ALL comes out of my pocket (and yours) when your insurance rates go up. And why is it , that there are no checks and balances on this system? The injuries could have occured the next day or the next week for that matter, in the accident, or even, not at all. Pain is a relative thing, the last accident I was in, I took 2 aspirin and called back in the morning (so to speak). I guess I just think there should be some limits set as to when, how or who you can sue. I'm not negating 'true' victims, and I'm not an MD but, sometimes common sense has to prevail. I'd be willing to bet, MORE injuries are fake in accidents to get money, than are real.....

D
Yes, you are correct that there is a great deal of abuse of the legal system. The reason I posted as I did is that you are writing off the injury but you have offered no real proof that the injuries are false. It does not take much to cause a great injury, sometimes.

As others have posted, leave this up to your insurance company. If the claim is real, they will take care of it. Insurance companies often settle a claim even if there is no real claim. It often costs less to pay out than litigate. With a claim of $15k, I wouldn;t be surprised to see a payout if there is the least bit of validity to the claim. That amount is so small that any action taken by the insurer to defend would meet, or exceed, than number very quickly.
 

las365

Senior Member
as I said, the issue I posted the thread about is extreme abuse of the system and what can be done about it. I only sited (sic) my example to help explain the question.
No you didn't. You described the accident and the suit and asked:
Should we retain a lawyer? Can we counter-sue for harrassment? Will the insurance company just fix this for us? How worried should we be about this $15,000 pain in the rear?
Later you kept posting your opinon that not only are the injuries allegedly suffered by the person whose car your wife hit - and you seem to conveniently forget that your wife caused this accident - are phony, and then go on to make generalizations that most injuries claimed by people who are in auto accidents are phony, and throw in that for some reason the fact that you are in some high-risk profession proves that claims of injuries from auto accidents are fraudulent.

I'd be willing to bet, MORE injuries are fake in accidents to get money, than are real.....
You would be wrong.

Look, the odds are that your insurance carrier has been dealing with this injury claim since shortly after the accident. (edited to add: In fact, in rereading your first post, you say that within a few weeks the carrier wanted photos of the damage because of an injury claim. So your claim that suddenly, four months after the accident, injuries were alleged, is just wrong and misleading.) Your wife got sued because the carrier didn't settle the claim. Maybe they are right about the value of the claim, maybe they are not. They'll provide your wife with a defense.

Lawsuit abuse is not what has caused increases in insurance premiums. That is a falsehood perpetrated by insurance companies that don't want to pay claims. They have the money and the influence to saturate the public with false allegations of multi-million dollar verdicts for frivolous claims and buy legislation that claims to correct an "out of control" civil justice system, but in reality only limits the insurance carriers' liability for real damage that has been inflicted on people. The ultimate goal of all of this is to do away with the civil justice system completely. And yes, I know that sounds like some crazed conspiracy theory, but it is not.

One only needs to look at the conduct of insurance companies after Katrina in denying claims for hurricane damage from policyholders who had hurricane coverage to see the truth about the audacity and disregard for the law that insurance carriers have.

The lawsuit your wife is facing, absent any facts about what the plaintiff's damages are, hardly illustrates an extreme abuse of the system. You are just pissed because your wife is facing more repercussions from her own negligence than you think she should. Get over it.
 
Last edited:

alnorth

Member
Not to get too sidetracked here, but although I agree with you on this specific case, you make a lot of unsupported claims.

Lawsuit abuse is not what has caused increases in insurance premiums. That is a falsehood perpetrated by insurance companies that don't want to pay claims.
Abuse does occur, and it does contribute to the premium you pay. Is it as exaggerated as the OP would think? No, but your position (its either nonexistent or irrelevant) is also incorrect.

They have the money and the influence to saturate the public with false allegations of multi-million dollar verdicts for frivolous claims and buy legislation that claims to correct an "out of control" civil justice system, but in reality only limits the insurance carriers' liability for real damage that has been inflicted on people.
Lets not confuse medical malpractice insurance with more traditional P&C car insurance. There are no claims that out-of-control multi-million dollar verdicts are hurting car insurance premiums. A multi-million dollar verdict would blow past almost anyone's policy limit, and the abuses are usually low-key incidents that are cheaper to settle than aggressively defend. If you get a huge judgement on a car wreck, you probably deserved it.

The ultimate goal of all of this is to do away with the civil justice system completely. And yes, I know that sounds like some crazed conspiracy theory, but it is not.
Yes, it is a crazed conspiracy theory and is not even remotely plausible.

One only needs to look at the conduct of insurance companies after Katrina in denying claims for hurricane damage from policyholders who had hurricane coverage to see the truth about the audacity and disregard for the law that insurance carriers have.
If their behavior was illegal, the insurance companies would have lost far more lawsuits than they have. With a few exceptions here and there, the courts have upheld that the insurance companies have properly adjusted and paid what they owed. Its not their fault that thousands of people living in a fishbowl below sea level or right on the coast thought that flood insurance wasnt a good idea, and they have no right to demand compensation for their own foolishness.
 
Last edited:

las365

Senior Member
alnorth, like you I don't want to stray too far off topic, and I'm happy to agree to disagree on the 'big picture' stuff I posted, which I will indeed acknowledge is my opinion. I think it's fact. But that's my opinion. And I didn't intend to imply that there are no fraudulent or exaggerated auto accident claims, I just don't think they are the proximate cause of rising premiums.

My cynicism toward insurance companies comes from years of working on first-party bad faith insurance lawsuits. Some of the confidential internal insurance company documents I've seen might change your mind! But they were produced under a protective order, so I can't tell you about them. Also I'm in Texas, where we have a general climate and appellate courts that are decidedly hostile to plaintiffs. I'm a little sensitive about it.

Topic? uh... we agree about this poster's case! Good times.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top