Expert: Anne - 10/4/2010

Question
My wife was rear ended by a drunk driver over two years ago. The driver was charged and convicted of drunk driving. My wifes was injured in her back neck and leg, requiring multiple surgeries. She recently went for an arbitration hearing for the medical bills and her back pay. The arbitrator did find the injuries were a result of the accident and had all medical bills paid by the insurance company. However, he did not reimburse my wife for her back pay. The insurance company has admitted he was obviously drunk and at fault, they paid the medical bills. So why wouldnt they reimburse her for back pay. I do have a pay reimbursement on my policy. Can we appeal the arbitrators decision. We are in New Jersey. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hello Rick,

usually arbitration awards are not appelable (you likely agreed to this when you enter into arbitration). However, you can try to see if you can request for reconsideration on that issue and the arbitrator may reconsider. If this does not work, talk to an attorney about bringing an actual lawsuit for breach of contract against the carrier.

I hope this helps

Good Luck
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