Arm vs Airbag.. guess who won...

[t01lightning]

Good info, most lawyers want to hurry and settle and just make a few bucks. I think she will be able to upgrade her vehicle based on that break.

No need to give a greedy attorney 33% for keeping records for you. They will not get you any more than you could get yourself.

Keep all records, prescription co-pay amounts, loss of wages, keep track of all mileage from driving to and from doctors appts. If you have health insurance, they will calculate your losses based on BILLED prices.. not what the negotiated insurance rate is. Keep EVERYTHING that incurs a cost to you related to the accident.

When ALL medical treatment is finished, including any and all physical therapy, take all your medical bills to your insurance, lost wages, etc. add the figures up. Then negotiate between 2.5-5x this amount for pain and suffering, in addition to the medical costs, depending on the injury.

Do not settle until all medical care is finished completely. If you settle, you are SOL on any additional medical care after the settlement.

Also, when you receive a settlement, your insurance company CAN request reimbursment for a percentage of what they paid in medical costs, which can be negotiated. BUT, this is dependant on if the insurance company notifies them of a settlement. In North carolina, the insurance company has 90 days from the date of the settlement to request reimbursement. If they wait until after the 90 day period at least in NC, they are SOL.

Another note: The insurance company is only liable for the limits on the persons policy.. ie.. if they only have 50,000 coverage for liability, then that is all the insurance company will have to pay.. any additional damages will have to be collected from the insured person through a lawsuit. Which is why it is highly recommended to have high liability limits so you don't lose house, money etc if you are at fault in an accident. You can also make a claim on your own uninsured/underinsured coverage.. but it is weird in the way it works.. you have to have a certain amount MORE coverage than what the other person has on their policy for it to work.

These are just some tips off the top of my head from my own research when I had a bad motorcycle accident in 09'. I represented myself, and got zero trouble from the adjuster. He was actually impressed by my settlement package I sent him.. over 120 pages of documents, a CD with my MRI/xray images. My injury was sever though.. was out of work over a year and had 4 surgeries on my ankle. But in my time off work, I learned ALOT about handling it myself. I have alzheimers(or I think I might) and my memory isn't what it used to be, so I may not remember ALL the details.. but this is the basics for you. If you have any questions, you can PM me, and I'll try to help you as best I can.

And to the naysayers.. this is not one of those bogus ins claims to make everyones insurance go up. This incident is the reason insurance is out there. I hope his wife recovers 100%, but from personal experience.. a severe broken bone is no fun.. mine was a trimalleolar fracture.

Edit: Figured I would put a disclaimer in here that I AM NOT an attorney, and if you feel the need for more legal advise.. contact an attorney.

 

[Poppacapp]

Good luck, and speedy recovery for your wife.

And in case you don't know, sometimes the screws/plates need to come out. They will tell you they are permanent, but not always.

+1.. I had plate/screws on my left ankle. After a year, I asked if they could be removed because of sensitivity issues when laying on my left side.. the plate could not rest on anything.. bothered me bad. So they did an x-ray to be sure the break was healed up enough and I had a voluntary surgery to remove it. Best decision I made... much better.

 

[CCS_56_EX]

I read the title and still decided to look. My mistake.

 

[INNOVATE_1]

Ouch. Glad to hear she's doing fine, could of been a lot worse..

 

[94_Vert]

What position was her hand on the steering wheel? 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock? Just curious. Sounds like shes well on her way to healing up.

 

[d3mon_fx]

Actually, it's not a bad break at all. The forearm heals very well and in reliable fashion. The break does not involve the wrist/elbow joint, so there should be no permanent disability to speak of, and no chance of developing arthritis. When the bone heals, it will be as good as new. The plates can be removed if she wishes, but I would leave them in personally. Wait at least a year to settle---this takes a year to get 100% recovered from.

Be fair with the amount you settle for. Sure, the other driver was at fault. Remember, you might be in the same situation on the other side of the fence at some point in your life.

You are right, the Dr. pretty much told us that and plus the fact that my wife don't smoke and drinks milk like crazy so she had good bones, the time for healing will be about 6 weeks, she will be able to go back to normal, she is starting rehab :rolling: on wednesday.

We are trying to keep an open ended release in case she want to take the plates out, i heard that some people dont care about them being in and others get bothered by them.

We are trying to be fair, after all karma is a bitch, however at this time we were left in a bad position, our car was going to be paid off this august, the car because of the amount of miles is totaled, and it is worth about 6k but we owed 4k... 2k doesn't get you car, plus she is not working (pre-school teacher) so we are losing wages, and she has two huge scars on her arm ....

So truly we just want the medical cost covered, lost of wages and enough money for a down payment on a decent (equal) car, as i told my attorney we dont want money for an Escalade but we don't want to end up in a Geo metro either.

 

[oooooh snap]

No need to give a greedy attorney 33% for keeping records for you. They will not get you any more than you could get yourself.

Keep all records, prescription co-pay amounts, loss of wages, keep track of all mileage from driving to and from doctors appts. If you have health insurance, they will calculate your losses based on BILLED prices.. not what the negotiated insurance rate is. Keep EVERYTHING that incurs a cost to you related to the accident.

When ALL medical treatment is finished, including any and all physical therapy, take all your medical bills to your insurance, lost wages, etc. add the figures up. Then negotiate between 2.5-5x this amount for pain and suffering, in addition to the medical costs, depending on the injury.

Do not settle until all medical care is finished completely. If you settle, you are SOL on any additional medical care after the settlement.

Also, when you receive a settlement, your insurance company CAN request reimbursment for a percentage of what they paid in medical costs, which can be negotiated. BUT, this is dependant on if the insurance company notifies them of a settlement. In North carolina, the insurance company has 90 days from the date of the settlement to request reimbursement. If they wait until after the 90 day period at least in NC, they are SOL.

Another note: The insurance company is only liable for the limits on the persons policy.. ie.. if they only have 50,000 coverage for liability, then that is all the insurance company will have to pay.. any additional damages will have to be collected from the insured person through a lawsuit. Which is why it is highly recommended to have high liability limits so you don't lose house, money etc if you are at fault in an accident. You can also make a claim on your own uninsured/underinsured coverage.. but it is weird in the way it works.. you have to have a certain amount MORE coverage than what the other person has on their policy for it to work.

These are just some tips off the top of my head from my own research when I had a bad motorcycle accident in 09'. I represented myself, and got zero trouble from the adjuster. He was actually impressed by my settlement package I sent him.. over 120 pages of documents, a CD with my MRI/xray images. My injury was sever though.. was out of work over a year and had 4 surgeries on my ankle. But in my time off work, I learned ALOT about handling it myself. I have alzheimers(or I think I might) and my memory isn't what it used to be, so I may not remember ALL the details.. but this is the basics for you. If you have any questions, you can PM me, and I'll try to help you as best I can.

And to the naysayers.. this is not one of those bogus ins claims to make everyones insurance go up. This incident is the reason insurance is out there. I hope his wife recovers 100%, but from personal experience.. a severe broken bone is no fun.. mine was a trimalleolar fracture.

Edit: Figured I would put a disclaimer in here that I AM NOT an attorney, and if you feel the need for more legal advise.. contact an attorney.

great info. thanks for posting.


OP, hope your wife recovers well. Shitty situation, but that's life.