allfiredup
Member
hat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? GEORGIA
My mom was injured in an accident while driving my car in July 2010. I borrow her car at least twice every month to take my grandmother to medical appointments. My car is too low to the ground for her to get in/out, so it's a necessity. Out of an abundance of precaution, we have added each other as drivers on both of our auto insurance policies.
Mom was stopped at a red light behind a BMW X5 SUV and she was rear-ended at 40-45mph by a 20yr old chick who was talking on her cell phone!! The impact pushed my car into the back of that BMW X5 and the trailer hitch just happened to nail the crash sensor in my front bumper causing the driver's side airbag to deploy. The seatbelt pre-tensioner also fired (that was the term Mazda used) which essentially pulls the belt tight across the chest to force the upper body firmly against the back of the seat. It holds you in place while the airbag deploys to minimize injuries.
The airbag caused some nasty looking burns of her hands and forearms and it also broke her right hand in several places and RIPPED three fingernails off in the process- I cringe thinking about it. The force of her upper body against the seatbelt caused severe bruising over large area of her chest [my step-dad took photos of those for documentation. but I just took their word for it that her boobs were horribly bruised- did NOT need to see for myself!
She also had two broken toes, fractured some bone on top of right foot, torn meniscus in her right knee, broken ankle and two fractured risks, among other minor injuries. Since the accident, she has been under the car of an orthopedic surgeon on an ongoing basis He performed the surgeries to repair her knee AND to repair an set her ankle. Then she went thru the entre 12-week physical therapy that he required.
At this point, my parents are out of pocket about $28k. The at-fault driver’s insurer wont’ discuss an offer unless my mom signs a release for her medical history and records. I explained to her they do that so they can dig thru your past and find anything they can use to reduce their payout. In March 2011, I convinced my folks to schedule a consult with an attorney to figure out how to proceed. He was confident that they had a case with a very good chance of winning at least full reimbursement for medical expenses and his fees.
The following month, my mom began having pain in her upper shoulders and neck. It radiated down her right arm and her hand was often numb. The ortho doc did an MRI and discovered that she had two discs in her cervical spine that were herniated and close to rupturing. She tried pain management injections in her spinier and several other non-surgical ideas but it kept getting worse. She finally had surgery on 12/12/2011 to remove the bard discs and install synthetic discs to replace them. She is required to stay out of work until at least the last week of February.
The medical bills and hospital stay now has the total expenses at $96,817. We never imagined that it would cost this much, but the latest concern I have is how much coverage did the at-fault driver have? Just to cover the to-date expenses, she would need to have 100/300 bodily injury limits. But what if costs ultimaly end up over the 100k mark, which seems to be almost a certainty….
So Underinsured Motorist coverage could come into play if her coverage is insufficient. But here is where it gets a little sticky….
The at-fault driver was insured with State Farm.
My parents had been with State Farm for 42 years with no auto claims in over 10 years and no homeowner claims in over four decades!
My car, which mom was driving, was insured with State Auto at the time.
It never occurred to me that I should have reported it to State Auto because I knew the at-fault driver had insurance and never dreamed hat UM/UIM would come into play.
Technically, my parents didn’t call claims and report the accident on their policy because they knew the other girl had coverage. But the claims adjuster assigned to mom’s case was made aware in the first conversation that they were long-term State Farm customers expected that this claim would be paid quickly and without any trouble. (The guys in the office would bust a gut over that!)
So…if we ultimately exhaust her full liability limit, is there any chance of getting it paid from the UM/UIM coverage on the State Farm policy mom had at the time of the wreck? I know they have a specific period of time that they require any loss be report, blh, blah.
But State Farm KNEW that mom and Larry had coverage with them and the guy acknowledged it a few days after the wreck. That could be a whole ‘nother lawsuit……
Has anyone else dealt with State HARM;….er, SNAKE Farm.;….you know what I mean….
My mom was injured in an accident while driving my car in July 2010. I borrow her car at least twice every month to take my grandmother to medical appointments. My car is too low to the ground for her to get in/out, so it's a necessity. Out of an abundance of precaution, we have added each other as drivers on both of our auto insurance policies.
Mom was stopped at a red light behind a BMW X5 SUV and she was rear-ended at 40-45mph by a 20yr old chick who was talking on her cell phone!! The impact pushed my car into the back of that BMW X5 and the trailer hitch just happened to nail the crash sensor in my front bumper causing the driver's side airbag to deploy. The seatbelt pre-tensioner also fired (that was the term Mazda used) which essentially pulls the belt tight across the chest to force the upper body firmly against the back of the seat. It holds you in place while the airbag deploys to minimize injuries.
The airbag caused some nasty looking burns of her hands and forearms and it also broke her right hand in several places and RIPPED three fingernails off in the process- I cringe thinking about it. The force of her upper body against the seatbelt caused severe bruising over large area of her chest [my step-dad took photos of those for documentation. but I just took their word for it that her boobs were horribly bruised- did NOT need to see for myself!
She also had two broken toes, fractured some bone on top of right foot, torn meniscus in her right knee, broken ankle and two fractured risks, among other minor injuries. Since the accident, she has been under the car of an orthopedic surgeon on an ongoing basis He performed the surgeries to repair her knee AND to repair an set her ankle. Then she went thru the entre 12-week physical therapy that he required.
At this point, my parents are out of pocket about $28k. The at-fault driver’s insurer wont’ discuss an offer unless my mom signs a release for her medical history and records. I explained to her they do that so they can dig thru your past and find anything they can use to reduce their payout. In March 2011, I convinced my folks to schedule a consult with an attorney to figure out how to proceed. He was confident that they had a case with a very good chance of winning at least full reimbursement for medical expenses and his fees.
The following month, my mom began having pain in her upper shoulders and neck. It radiated down her right arm and her hand was often numb. The ortho doc did an MRI and discovered that she had two discs in her cervical spine that were herniated and close to rupturing. She tried pain management injections in her spinier and several other non-surgical ideas but it kept getting worse. She finally had surgery on 12/12/2011 to remove the bard discs and install synthetic discs to replace them. She is required to stay out of work until at least the last week of February.
The medical bills and hospital stay now has the total expenses at $96,817. We never imagined that it would cost this much, but the latest concern I have is how much coverage did the at-fault driver have? Just to cover the to-date expenses, she would need to have 100/300 bodily injury limits. But what if costs ultimaly end up over the 100k mark, which seems to be almost a certainty….
So Underinsured Motorist coverage could come into play if her coverage is insufficient. But here is where it gets a little sticky….
The at-fault driver was insured with State Farm.
My parents had been with State Farm for 42 years with no auto claims in over 10 years and no homeowner claims in over four decades!
My car, which mom was driving, was insured with State Auto at the time.
It never occurred to me that I should have reported it to State Auto because I knew the at-fault driver had insurance and never dreamed hat UM/UIM would come into play.
Technically, my parents didn’t call claims and report the accident on their policy because they knew the other girl had coverage. But the claims adjuster assigned to mom’s case was made aware in the first conversation that they were long-term State Farm customers expected that this claim would be paid quickly and without any trouble. (The guys in the office would bust a gut over that!)
So…if we ultimately exhaust her full liability limit, is there any chance of getting it paid from the UM/UIM coverage on the State Farm policy mom had at the time of the wreck? I know they have a specific period of time that they require any loss be report, blh, blah.
But State Farm KNEW that mom and Larry had coverage with them and the guy acknowledged it a few days after the wreck. That could be a whole ‘nother lawsuit……
Has anyone else dealt with State HARM;….er, SNAKE Farm.;….you know what I mean….
