How do I settle an auto accident without a lawyer? How much should I expect?
One year ago I was in an auto accident. My friend was driving apparently to slow for the driver behind us and was we started to pull into a parking lot they decided to speed up and try to pass us by using the sidewalk. We were hit at my door and I was turned looking at my friend in the back seat. The police cited her and her ins has accepted 100% fault. I went to the ER for head (I hit the door window) and neck pain and fallowed up with my doc. Since then I have had 3 months PT (he said he could not fix me) and still see the chiro. I had 2 MRI, CAT and several x-rays. I was placed on medications including: Valium, Percocet and Oxycodone initially but after a week asked for something weaker and went to hydrocodone which still left me sleepy so I went to IBfrofin 800, meloxican and Skelaxin. Seen a back specialist too. All agree with my doctor that my SI joint is messed up and my chiro put my back at 20% permanently damaged and will need to see him once a month forever My bills are about 9,000. I don’t want a lawyer to take money from my pain so I don’t want to have one. Now that it has been a year and my doctors say I am as good as I am going to get I was to settle. What should I do? Is there a form I can give my doctors to fill out?
Also I was 12 weeks pregnant and ended up having him at 22 weeks in which he died right after birth. With everything that happen the month after and all the medications could this have been a cause? My doctor that delivered him says he can’t tell me the reason I went into early labor. I was on seasonal and didn’t know I was pregnant till 16 weeks .
Sorry I was not clear, I just mentioned I was turned talking to my friend in the back because my spine was twisted when I was hit and injured. The Lady that hit us was faulted 100%, my friends in the car had nothing to do with my injures and even if they did I would never sue my friends.
Tagged with: auto accident • back seat • chiro • doctors • google • ins • lawyer • meloxican • money • neck pain • oxycodone • parking lot • percocet • script type • sidewalk • skelaxin • spine • text javascript • valium • x rays
Filed under: Car Accidents And Injuries
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You have a serious claim, and some pretty serious damages. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a lawyer, but still you really should hire a lawyer. A decent lawyer should be able to get you more than you will be able to negotiate on your own, even taking into account the contingent fee, which for a case like this shouldn’t be more than 35%.
The lawyer will investigate the reason for your baby’s death and if it was caused by the accident, line up experts to prove that the accident was the cause. Lawyers also have access to databases that can tell them what damages were awarded in other cases like yours (including jury awards and settlements where the information is available). You theoretically could access that same information, but it costs $$ and frankly you need some training to know what you’re looking for and where to find it.
If you are determined to go it alone, do some work to get your doctor’s opinion on the extent and severity of your injuries, the amount of physical limitation you will experience going forward, possible future medical expenses, and possible causes of your baby’s premature birth and death. Write detailed demand letters to the insurance company and attach copies of your evidence (medical bills and records relating to the items mentioned above). And ask for a lot. Just to give you an idea, if your chiro costs $100 per visit, and you need 12 visits per year for 35 years, that’s 42k. And if the premature birth and death are causally related, you’re talking about big damages.
Again, though, get a lawyer. Because this is a big $$ case potentially, they will either try to get out cheap (because you are not a lawyer, and they have a huge information advantage against you) or, if you try to hold out for a worthy settlement, they will defend vigorously and you will be in over your head. There are complexities to this I can’t explain easily — how insurance limits come into play, for example. Get a lawyer.
Well, what happens now is the insurance company will contact you and offer you a settlement. If you are happy with it, accept, if you aren’t tell them you aren’t happy with that and to go back to the table. If you aren’t happy with any of the offers, then you should get an attorney. I would say for permanent damage you should receive a very good sum of money, so don’t’ settle for 25K or anything like that.
It doesn’t make any sense that the person in the back seat was at fault, which is what you said has happened. In any case, you may have a claim (against whoever caused the action) for any and all damages and injuries you suffered. If you believe your claim is worth any amount of money beyond small claims court, then it is worth contacting a lawyer to take care of it for you.