I feel like I'm getting screwed with my auto accident

[chrisg1776]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Colorado

I was rear ended over a year ago. I did extensive Chiropractic and Physical Therapy. I have back and neck injuries and I also sustained a concussion with a huge knot on my head. I use to run a business doing manual labor but I can't do it anymore because it's too painful and I suffer for three days after doing a job. However I feel like I'm going to get screwed any way it goes, I was just wondering if anyone else out there has heard of a similar situation.

My medical bills are $23,000.
40% for attorney fees plus expenses.
No loss of pay because I am self employed and don't have the proper records (shame on me for not keeping the right records I guess).

The attorney sent a demand letter for $100,000. The insurance countered with an offer of $26,000, which is $3,000 for pain and suffering and would leave me about $12,000 in DEBT. Of course we didn't take the offer.

My attorney wants to sue. He sent a packet stating that costs could be $20,000 or more, PLUS 40% legal fees. So let's figure this out:

$100,000 claim
- $40,000
_____________
$60,000
-$20,000 - fees
_______________
$40,000
-$23,000 medical bills
__________________
$17,000.

OK, $17,000 is decent, no problem. But that's IF we can get $100,000. However the numbers change significantly if we get $75,000

$75,000
-$30,000
_______
$45,000
-$20,000 - Expenses
______________
$25,000
-$23,000 - Medical
_______________
$2,000


So if we only get $75,000, then I'm screwed. $2,000 for a year of being unable to work, being rendered incapable of doing my previous work and also dealing with persistent back and neck pain plus ringing in my ears plus the weekly migraine, all of which I've never experienced before. But I guess it's better than being $12,000 in debt.

Here is the other factor. We don't even know yet what the coverage is and judging by the kids car who rear ended me, there isn't much else of value. So the max liability could very well be $35,000, $50,000 or something like that. So that's another factor to consider too.

So has anyone else been in a situation like this? Can the outcome REALLY leave me with $2,000 or am I over- thinking this??

 

[Zigner]

Ask your attorney. Really.

 

[chrisg1776]

LOL. That's a whole other fiasco. My attorney was fired from the firm so now I'm working with someone else. It's impossible to get a call back from them. My attorney was urging me to take the $26,000 offer and said he will negotiate my bills down so I get something lol. The insurance said that I arrived at the hospital wearing a neck brace so my idiot attorney confronted me as if I faked my injuries. All it took was 30 seconds to realize the doctor made an error. Patient arrived at 7:20pm, nurse placed neck brace on patient at 7:25pm, doctor saw patient wearing neck brace at 7:50pm. But the idiot was too dense to see that the nurse made notes stating she was the one who put the neck brace on.

I'm much more comfortable with the current attorney but he's overloaded since they fired the other guy, so it's impossible to get a hold of him. The offer was made in May and there hasn't been any action on the case in 3 months. So time is just ticking away.

 

[Antigone*]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Colorado

I was rear ended over a year ago. I did extensive Chiropractic and Physical Therapy. I have back and neck injuries and I also sustained a concussion with a huge knot on my head. I use to run a business doing manual labor but I can't do it anymore because it's too painful and I suffer for three days after doing a job. However I feel like I'm going to get screwed any way it goes, I was just wondering if anyone else out there has heard of a similar situation.

My medical bills are $23,000.
40% for attorney fees plus expenses.
No loss of pay because I am self employed and don't have the proper records (shame on me for not keeping the right records I guess).

The attorney sent a demand letter for $100,000. The insurance countered with an offer of $26,000, which is $3,000 for pain and suffering and would leave me about $12,000 in DEBT. Of course we didn't take the offer.

My attorney wants to sue. He sent a packet stating that costs could be $20,000 or more, PLUS 40% legal fees. So let's figure this out:

$100,000 claim
- $40,000
_____________
$60,000
-$20,000 - fees
_______________
$40,000
-$23,000 medical bills
__________________
$17,000.

OK, $17,000 is decent, no problem. But that's IF we can get $100,000. However the numbers change significantly if we get $75,000

$75,000
-$30,000
_______
$45,000
-$20,000 - Expenses
______________
$25,000
-$23,000 - Medical
_______________
$2,000


So if we only get $75,000, then I'm screwed. $2,000 for a year of being unable to work, being rendered incapable of doing my previous work and also dealing with persistent back and neck pain plus ringing in my ears plus the weekly migraine, all of which I've never experienced before. But I guess it's better than being $12,000 in debt.

Here is the other factor. We don't even know yet what the coverage is and judging by the kids car who rear ended me, there isn't much else of value. So the max liability could very well be $35,000, $50,000 or something like that. So that's another factor to consider too.

So has anyone else been in a situation like this? Can the outcome REALLY leave me with $2,000 or am I over- thinking this??

Sounds about right that is IF his coverage is greater than the minimum.

 

[chrisg1776]

LOL. That's a whole other fiasco. My attorney was fired from the firm so now I'm working with someone else. It's impossible to get a call back from them. My attorney was urging me to take the $26,000 offer and said he will negotiate my bills down so I get something lol. The insurance said that I arrived at the hospital wearing a neck brace so my idiot attorney confronted me as if I faked my injuries. All it took was 30 seconds to realize the doctor made an error. Patient arrived at 7:20pm, nurse placed neck brace on patient at 7:25pm, doctor saw patient wearing neck brace at 7:50pm. But the idiot was too dense to see that the nurse made notes stating she was the one who put the neck brace on.

I'm much more comfortable with the current attorney but he's overloaded since they fired the other guy, so it's impossible to get a hold of him. The offer was made in May and there hasn't been any action on the case in 3 months. So time is just ticking away.

Thanks. I didn't realize what I was up against. In hindsight I should have held off on getting an attorney as I'm pretty law savvy and only hired one in the event I had to sue. I was just intimidated because I've handled myself in court dozens of times but never when tens of thousands of dollars were on the line.

 

[ecmst12]

Just because you file a suit doesn't mean it will go to court, if you don't go to court your fees will be much less. You can also just hold off on settling for a while and see if further negotiation becomes possible, insurance companies don't like to leave claims open forever and you still have some time before the SOL is up. It's extremely unlikely that you will get as much as $100k in court.

 

[Zigner]

SoL for this matter is 2 years. Since this happened over a year ago, I'm thinking the OP shouldn't sit on this for too long. Time flies when you're having fun...

 

[ecmst12]

I got a better settlement on my last accident just by waiting a couple of months.