Anyone ever use an injury attorney?

[SabreKiller]

My stepdaughter was involved in a motor vehicle accident the Friday before Thanksgiving. The other driver failed to yield ROW turning left and she struck the trailer he was pulling at about 6 AM. Air bag went off, broke her right wrist,car is totaled and 6 missed 6 days of work. Guy got a ticket of course and told the officer when he got it he was gonna fight it. His insurance has denied the claim because he is going to plead not guilty.

My insurance, State Farm, has already issued a claim number for the medical part, but in the meantime she is borrowing her grandmother's car. She'd a single mom and just started nursing school today. She's gonna need a new to her car, but she can't afford much.

I'm out my deductible and possibly a rental car for her until State Farm collects from the other insurance which I have no idea how long that will take.

I'm a level headed guy and don't want anything other than for things to be done right for her. But, I'm starting to get a little hot under the collar. This idiot seems to think he's gonna get the ticket thrown out, but I guess he doesn't realize his crash is prima facie evidence that he failed to yield. In the meantime, I'm the one stuck with the bills and the headache of having to deal with it.

Anyone ever use one of the "accident injury lawyers" like Thomas J Henry or Davis Law Firm? I'm giving serious thought to this.

Thanks in advance!

[CentralTXHunter]

Forgive me for the length of this...

I was in a bad motor vehicle accident October 20th, 2018. Girl was texting and driving, hit me, and flipped my truck several times. Very fortunate to still be on this side of the grass. I would not involve an attorney until you get more facts and determine if you actually need one or not. Each case is different. The attorney will take 30-40% of whatever is collected. I decided to not use an attorney because of the amount of money available in the policies. I figured I could collect as much or more in my pocket without an attorney.

In my case, the driver was a college freshman with only liability insurance. 25k personal property and 30k medical coverage. I have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage for an additional 100k. College freshman with no assets, not driving a company vehicle, so there were no additional funds to go after. Her company accepted fault within 3 days. They provided my rental car. It was 4 weeks before we agreed upon a value for the loss of my vehicle and personal property (that I could prove). We didn’t pick up a bunch of the stuff destroyed during the accident. I later learned that you have to at least have a piece of the damaged property or they won’t pay you for it. (I was en route to bowhunt that afternoon. I had 3 yeti coolers destroyed, my bow, and several other expensive items). Once you accept the check for settlement of the lost vehicle, the rental car has to be returned I believe within 48 hours.

You can file on your insurance and they’ll handle the claim which it appears you’ve already done because he’s not accepting fault. You’ll be out your deductible, but once fault is accepted by his insurance company, they will subrogate the claim and get reimbursed, including your deductible which will be returned to you. You should also be able to recoup any cost on the rental car. If you have PIP (personal injury protection), you can use this for medical costs.

She will be out of pocket on medical costs until all of her necessary treatment is concluded. They will not consider settling until all claims have been filed. For me, I was in physical therapy through May. It was late August before we settled the medical claim with her insurance. We maxed out the 30k so there was no discussion of lost wages, pain and suffering, etc. I’m now on to the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage with my company. We still haven’t settled that and we are coming up on 14 months since the accident. It is a long, drawn out process. If you settle early, you leave a bunch of money on the table. A lawyer definitely alleviates the headaches. There have been a lot. I went through 4 adjusters due to turnover with the medical claim, but if there isn’t large coverage limits available, then the only ones that will come out ahead will be the hospital and the lawyer.

I’m so sorry this happened to her and y’all are having to deal with this. It’s a traumatic situation and unless you’ve got the income or savings to weather the storm, it can be a very difficult time ahead. I was fortunate to be in a good position and work for an amazing company. My heart goes out to her, you, and your family. God Bless and Good Luck!



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[SabreKiller]

Sorry to hear about your troubles! I'm glad you're on the mend! I do have PIP and uninsured/underinsured motorist and I understand about State Farm and myself getting reimbursed, but this entire mess is starting to pi$$ me off.

[CentralTXHunter]

Hate to say it but you’re going to get a lot more pi$$ed off in the future. It’s an incredibly frustrating process. I just wanted to give you a realistic idea of timeline and what to expect. The claims agents are understaffed and overworked. It takes forever. I got stern with them a few times, but generally it’s best to remember that they are people doing a job and they have guidelines to follow. You can always press and get more money, but I did a lot of research on values of my assets and what values to expect when settling a claim. If you don’t have facts, they won’t listen.


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[hoythitman]

I have worked in personal Injury for the last 9 years. I worked for an attorney who's brother is also a Green Screener. Shoot me a PM if you need any help finding someone if you go that route.

[SabreKiller]

I have worked in personal Injury for the last 9 years. I worked for an attorney who's brother is also a Green Screener. Shoot me a PM if you need any help finding someone if you go that route.

Thanks. As each day passes I get a little more aggravated.

[TxBowHntr]

I will say get a lawyer immediately. My uncle is a personal injury lawyer, and he has saved me tons of headaches when I was in a wreck. Many of the issues people have about not getting reimbursed, or not knowing the pitfalls, or insurance companies saying they won't pay until ***, etc... can be mitigated by a lawyer. Insurance companies will do everything to cover their butts. They have many shady practices to get you to accept less than they are supposed to pay. One of their best moves is making you wait. A good lawyer can make things happen for you, make them happen faster, and get you reimbursed for EVERYTHING including interest on any out of pocket expenses experienced that you shouldn't have been. And they can even get their fees covered by the insurance/offending party many times. I'd make the call. You won't be charged for talking to one, only if they take the case...

[Cajun Blake]

My stepdaughter was involved in a motor vehicle accident the Friday before Thanksgiving.

first and foremost, prayers for your SD

MVA : Nov. 22 ... 11 days ago ?

but this entire mess is starting to pi$$ me off.

might wanna say the Serenity Prayer as this could take months or years to settle, especially with litigation. I work in the field and see it daily

Hate to say it but you’re going to get a lot more pi$$ed off in the future.

yuuuup, gonna take a while to settle. The medical side with conservative treatment, wrist surgery, Phys Therapy/Occ Therapy, etc... (pending no complications) would be a minimum of 4-6 months recovery time.

my opinion, do NOT rush things. Nothing you can do to expedite the process. Consult your ins. agent, assigned claims adjustor, discuss options with a PI atty and do what's best for her/you.

I would be sure to let State Farm know that you have been an insured client for ___ number of years and you want them to be aggressive and get satisfactory results.

[canny]

We have retained a lawyer for my wreck that occurred in September. The best part is not having to deal with the insurance company. Plus there are a lot of things that the lawyers know how to go about getting that I would have never thought of. PM me if you have any questions.


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[Dirtymike]

get a lawyer.

Can you explain a bit more how the accident happened? Sounds like she is turning left, and he is going forward in his lane to where she is intersecting his path? No lane changes or anything.

Was she turning left on a green arrow, or yellow?
Did he run a red light.

[El General]

Hire an attorney pronto. Local is usual best if it gets in front of a judge, but this won't go in front of a judge. I know a ton of personal injury attorneys, but none in Kerrville. Hopefully, someone can come forward with a recommendation for someone there. Any local attorney can at least help you find the kind of attorney you need, so if you have a lawyer buddy, call him to get a referral.

[T-roy66]

Get a lawyer.

[kumathebear]

Get a lawyer and get vicious!!

One thing my middle son and his wife learned, insurance companies put out a lot of smoke initially, but many times will settle just to keep it out of court which cost them more $$.

He can fight the ticket but it does not always make that big of a difference with settlements, but INJURED drivers do! From our kids experience!!

[Hot4huntin]

Glad your stepdaughter was not hurt any worse!

Get an attorney. If the insurance company has denied the claim, you will more than likely need to file suit to recover her damages. Make sure you hire a litigation attorney. Not all personal injury attorneys litigate cases. I sent you a PM.

Best of luck to your stepdaughter in her recovery!

[brokeno]

444-4444. Just got to remember one number 4.