A couple weekends ago, my wife and I were out jogging and a white tahoe in our neighborhood stopped at a stop sign at an intersection we were coming up to, looked left, then turned right into her without looking. The collision was at a low speed, but he knocked my wife down and his right front tire ran over her legs and came to rest. After what seemed like forever, he backed off her legs, but the damage was done and she had a severely dislocated and broken ankle and quite a bit of road rash and lacerations on her legs. All told, we are thankful because he could have been much worse. We are back home now after a short hospital stay and then with my parents and she is recovering as well as can be expected.

Now the fun part... we don't have health insurance (let's not have that discussion here, please). Luckily, it was very clearly his fault, the police cited him and there were several witnesses so his car insurance should cover it. If anyone here has experience with something like this, I would like to know a few things. Would it be helpful to get a lawyer?

I'm confident that they will cover the initial medical bills--which already total nearly $30K, and I'm against trying to make this some sort of payday, but I would like to make sure any long term care is covered because the nature of this injury will likely lead to plenty of physical therapy and possibly early arthritis according to the doctors. She will be required to be off her feet for at least 6-12 months and won't be able to resume impact sports (running, etc.) for at least 2 years. She will also be out of work for some time as she won't be able to drive for at least a few months.

I spoke to his insurance company and she mentioned that though she could not disclose his coverage maximum, she indicated he did have over the state minimum in coverage ($30K), and that anything they would not cover we could file with our own auto insurance for underinsured motorists. Anyways, I have never done anything like this so any advice is much appreciated. Like I said, I'm not looking to make this a payday, I just want to make sure we don't pay thousands going forward for someone else's carelessness.

tl:dr Careless driver hit my wife, a pedestrian. His insurance should cover up front medical bills, should I get a lawyer for possible/probable longterm expenses? Should I be able to handle it myself without a lawyer taking 40% and possibly making it so that even the upfront expenses aren't taken care of?

[Edited on February 23, 2010 at 12:25 PM. Reason : d]

2/23/2010 12:23:20 PM

might be able to call your ins co. and have them deal directly with the other co.....Unless they happen to be the same ones.

2/23/2010 1:00:15 PM

Quote :

"Should I be able to handle it myself without a lawyer taking 40% and possibly making it so that even the upfront expenses aren't taken care of?"

A lawyer should only take a 1/3 (33.3%) unless it goes to court...and as open and shut as this one is, there is no reason it should go to court.

And with the fact that your wife has injuries that will limit her for up to two years, I would try to get as much as possible, which would only happen with an attorney. I know you're not looking for a "payday", but I see no reason for not getting as much from the insurance company as you can.

2/23/2010 1:14:10 PM

as a former paralegal for personal injury attorneys...I second jbrick83.

it's not going to be easy b/c you don't have health insurance, and the bills will pile up (however, health care providers are usually good about setting up a payment plan)...but she sounds really hurt and has a long road of recovery ahead of her with many more medical bills in the future (plus comp for lost wages, etc). I think you should at least sit down w/ an attorney and discuss your options and concerns. Initial consults are usually free.

it will take longer b/c an attorney isn't going to start discussing numbers w/ an adjuster until she's done treating or has reached MMI (maximum medical improvement)...but you should get med pay compensation straight out the gate (depending on what your policy is) which can help.

2/23/2010 1:26:57 PM

Thanks for the help. I had already scheduled a sit down with an attorney my family knows. We are going to meet tomorrow morning, but I wanted to be prepared so I don't get smooth talked into some lengthy mess by an lawyer with dollar signs in his eyes.

2/23/2010 1:59:32 PM

Quote :

"but I wanted to be prepared so I don't get smooth talked into some lengthy mess by an lawyer with dollar signs in his eyes."

That can go one of two ways:

1) He wants quick money. Which would suck for you because he'll settle for less to get the money faster.

2) He wants as much as possible, so you'll get as much as possible. Just make sure the attorney is established (which means he can bide his time and doesn't need the quick money to pay the bills). I would just say do a little research about him to determine this. Normally if he is older and more experienced, then that will satisfy this claim. It's usually the younger guys or the ones that have tons of advertisements that go for quantity rather than quality with personal injury stuff.

Good luck!

2/23/2010 2:13:29 PM

I had the same thing happen to me - cept I was on a bike....

I would also deal with a lawyer BUT I will say, expect a lengthy process to get this taken care of. My accident when I used a lawyer (not the one when I was on the bike) it took almost 3 years to settle.

Be prepared to deal with most costs out of pocket until you get this settled. $30k is a lot to deal with I'm sure...

I'm not sure, but some TLs might cover your costs until they get a settlement

PM if you want me to go further into what I had to deal with...... But I dealt directly with the insurance company

2/23/2010 2:55:18 PM

Call and talk to someone--get their opinion. I recommend The Deuterman Law Group (336) 373-1130, I used to work there, and they truly are awesome. Like ^^ said, there's a flat rate of 33% on Personal Injury claims, so you can't be charged more than that.

[Edited on February 23, 2010 at 3:27 PM. Reason : ]

2/23/2010 3:25:49 PM

Don't discuss anything medical with the insurance company, don't even press 1 for English. anything u say is going to tie the hands of whatever attorney u get later. If it were me, I'd ask the guys insurance to play a large amount UP FRONT into an escrow account administered by a doctor of your choosing. when they say; "no, what r u talking about, we don't do that, nobody does that" go get a lawyer. its tricky to tell the good lawyers from the bad ones so id go ask some doctors to give u some referrals. She deserve to get alot more in pain and suffering than the medical bills, they aren't going to just give it to you, ur going to have to sue for it and they're expert at holding on to their money. lastly, don't settle anything until long after she makes a full recovery. It's likely she is going to have complications afterwards that she will need treatment for, thats where they try to rip u off by acting like their obligation ends the day after the accident. That continuing care is expensive, like $400 a week for physical therapy. She going to have cartilage and tendon damage and everything. It's all business, even if u have to include the driver in a law suit beyond his insurance's obligation, do it don't be shy thats YOUR wife's money not theirs. If u want to be all noble u can donate the money to defensive driving foundation later.

[Edited on February 23, 2010 at 4:35 PM. Reason : made it twice as long]

2/23/2010 4:18:19 PM

this happens a lot, people not looking. broke my wrist earlier this year jumping out of the way to dodge an suv that did that.

2/23/2010 5:14:05 PM

Contact Hardison and Associates.

http://www.lawyernc.com/

2/23/2010 5:49:32 PM

Thanks again for the help everyone that posted here and PM me. I decided to hire the lawyer I spoke with this morning. He offered to discount his normal take to 25% because he is handling a large unrelated case for another family member and he is a very established and connected attorney in my area.

It appears we will likely be limited in damages to his policy limit because it probably isn't really worth it to go after him individually. The lawyer will also handle negotiating discounts with my medical providers so that when a settlement is reached, we will have enough left over to handle whatever longterm care is needed. As I am sure you all could tell, I was pretty leery about hiring a lawyer, but after this morning I feel pretty good about it--especially because of his help and expertise as far as negotiating with the medical care people.

2/24/2010 1:41:12 PM