AboutDoctor Settlement Expertise 27 years of front line plaintiff`s trial lawyer experience in PERSONAL INJURY INSURANCE CLAIMS. Along with other attorneys and insurance adjusters, we have created a website to help injured people settle their own personal injury claims. With the help from feedback from hundreds of satisfied members, www.settlementcentral.com has become THE AUTHORITY for Internet personal injury insurance claim settlements. I am humbled and honored if people can benefit from my experience and current volunteer work in helping injured people. I hope I can explain things in a manner that is useful for the questioner. If not, do not hesitate to e-mail me and I will take a second shot at it! Best Wishes for your physical and financial recovery.
Experience
Life Experience: 27 years of front line plaintiff's trial lawyer experience
Organizations: American Trial Lawyers Association (AAJ)
Washington State Trial Lawyers Association
Awards and Honors:
I am humbled and honored everytime I am selected to help injured people. And when people give feedback that they have benefited from my experience and current volunteer efforts, then that is a double honor and award for me.
Question My husband was involved in a car accident were he had rear ended a semi truck. They found the simi driver at fault. He has received a lot of facial damage with many hours of plastic surgery and now emotional damage because of his looks. The air bags in the car did not deploy can we sue the car company?
Answer Hi Elizabeth,
I am sorry to hear of your husband's injuries. Plastic surgery insurance claims Dr. Settlement knows well, and I have represented a number of victims who have suffered life-long scarring. Let's hope that two things can happen for your husband. First, sometimes revision work can be done after the scars "mature". Second, a good psychologist will help your husband cope with this terrible accident.
As for bringing a claim, I presume that you have brought a claim versus the truck driver, and the company itself. If so, have you exhausted their limits? Or, are they claiming that the real cause of the injuries is the failure of the bag to deploy? THAT IS A BOGUS DEFENSE.
THEY BOTH (the driver and the company) are liable for the damages: if they want to blame the air bag, then let them open a claim versus the car manufacturer. If they insist upon reducing your husband's claim by the amount of the negligence of the manufacturer, then YOU MUST SEE AN ATTORNEY ASAP. She will decide whether or not there is sufficient negligence versus the driver to go forward with a claim. Or, if not, then she can decide if there is sufficient evidence to move versus the manufacturer.
I would NOT want to start a case many months after the accident if you did not preserve the air bag unit. My bet is that the car was totaled and you have no proof whatsoever regarding the evidence necessary to bring a product liability claim. Hence, it would be difficult to get a claim going now, unless some photos of the damage to both vehicles can help a forensics expert estimate the forces impacting your vehicle. Such product liability claims versus an auto manufacturer are defended vigorously. And woe be it to him who has bought a foreign car since their records and memos and studies are nearly impossible to get in trial discovery. I do not wish harm to anyone, but someday our people will know about the deceitful practices of the Asian manufacturers when it comes to hiding the ball during discovery in a lawsuit.
My best bet is for you to AVOID bringing up the topic of the airbag unless and until you have exhausted all three policy limits: the driver, the company, and your own underinsured motorist coverage (UIM). Only then would you ever raise the topic of the airbag.
IF the airbag deployment topic has reared its head in your case, you may have to contact an attorney ASAP. She can either get the case back on track versus the three policy limits I mentioned above, OR she can initiate a claim versus the manufacturer. But do not count on that unless there have been earlier claims of airbag failure.
OK, Elizabeth, enough of that for now. Let's turn our attention to making a claim versus the driver and the company. First thing is to get some medical or psychological treatment for your husband's emotional distress. Then, second, I will show you how to bring the claim, and how to communicate with the insurance company.
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Learn about emotional distress claims
You have described a basic case of negligent infliction of emotional distress. This can be a compensable item IF THE INJURED PERSON IS TREATED FOR ACCIDENT-CAUSED EMOTIONAL DISTRESS BY A PROFESSIONAL. i.e. a medical doctor, or a psychologist. I suppose that if you cannot get in to see a psychologist, then use a counselor, BUT MAKE SURE HER RECORDS ARE SHARED with your husband's medical doctor and thus become part of his records and hence, part of his treatment regimen.
Emotional distress treatment costs are also part of the reasonable and necessary consequences of the auto accident, since the plastic surgery was made necessary by the crash. Hence, you can bill your husband's PIP or Med/Pay insurance or even his health insurance.
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Learn about valuation factors in personal injury claims; INSURANCE INJURY CLAIM VALUATION TIPS
What about valuation of your husband's claim? How does one figure out what to ask for? Quick Answer: get as much as you can. Figure out what would make you happy, and increase that amount by at least 50%! The value is what you and the adjuster agree it will be. Well, if that is not scientific enough for you, let’s learn a bit more about valuation of personal injury claims.
Valuation is not like going to a drive-in for a fast food meal. It takes time and study of many factors, including liability and medical records. Plus, one would like to meet the claimant to see how she will “sell” to the other side and to the jury. Those online sources that mention a "rule of thumb" is just that: a gross estimate.
SHORT ANSWER: A common theme among those who still think a “rule of thumb” formula will put you in the valuation ballpark is to multiply the medical specials times a number from ONE to FIVE (depending upon factors, some of which I will give you later—or all of which are fully discussed in the members' side of my website, dealing with insurance settlements www.SettlementCentral.Com ). Then that figure is the total value of the personal injury portion of the claim. Of course there is a long list of factors to consider for adding or deducting from the total.
Let's take a look just two factors that put the lie to the general use of this rule of thumb. An obvious one is that of the scars that you mentioned. There may have been JUST SURGERY treatment costs to date. And if the scars are likely is not subject to revision by a plastic surgeon, the value will have little relationship with the costs of surgery. SCARRING BRINGS MONEY DISPORPORTIATE TO THE COST OF TREATMENT.
A second, not so obvious, but very important factor that shows how inaccurate a “rule of thumb” formula can be is just plain location of the trial. Let's start with geography. Values differ from state to state, and within each state. City values are often different than rural values on claims, especially if the economy is tenuous in small towns. And the differences can be HUGE between these areas, even if only 20 miles apart.
Here is a listing of factors that will affect both the multiplier you will use, as well as the value of the claim inasmuch as they will increase or decrease the product of your multiplication.
1. LIABILITY DISPUTE
This is a big one because it most dramatically affects value. Your husband should NOT ACCEPT any reduction in value for fault.
2. Trauma suffered
The value of your claim increases with a bigger crash, and decreases with a low damage tripping wherein one catches himself. Why? Just human nature. Your husband had a HUGE crash, so this is a PLUS for your side.
3. Medical special damages
Cost of medical and related health care expenses; higher costs usually equate to an increase in value (excepting, of course, cases of gross overtreatment).
4. Type of injury
Where does the injury fall within the insurance industry's "hierarchy list" of valuing injuries? Irrespective of which injury may cause more pain, injuries are valued according to seriousness, tendency to be persistent or permanent, and whether or not they need objective proof to be believed (e.g. a broken bone versus soft tissue strain). Scarring shows the tremendous trauma of the impact.
5. Type of medical care
Where does the medical care fall within the insurance industry's "hierarchy list" of valuing medical care? Orthopedists at the top, chiropractors near the bottom.
6. Prognosis- future care—permanency of injury or pain and suffering—does his doctor recommend 6 months of care, or was he done treating 4 months ago? Even if he is done treating, will the doctor predict future problems? MAKE SURE you have psychologist work on the emotional distress.
His claim value gets a boost if his doctor specifies that he will need some future medical treatment, and right now you could check out plastic surgery revision costs in the future as a possibility.
7. His medical and claims history, prior accidents, prior injuries or treatment of the same area of the body.
8. Impairment of quality of life. Emotional distress fits in here.
9. Quality and persistence of pain suffered.
10. Quality and thoroughness of her medical records.
11. Lost wages.
We have a lot of free legal tips on insurance claims settlements using doctor narrative reports http://www.settlementcentral.com/page8003.htm You can get information there as to how to ask for a narrative letter and what it might cost. Talk to the doctor's office manager about it. This is also a good way to boost the value of the claim. And whatever you pay will be repaid to you from her settlement.
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#5. Learn about how to handle your daughter's injury claim: DO IT YOURSELF INSURANCE CLAIM SETTLEMENTS
OK, Elizabeth, Let’s Look at self-help methods of resolving your husband's claim. Learn how to settle his personal injury insurance claim AND DO IT YOURSELF.
Here is a series of pages that you can review. Take what makes sense to you and don't worry about the rest. Just get a flavor of how the system works without spending a ton of time right now.
By the way, did you know that getting an early settlement is a favorite trick of the insurance adjusters? Please see my website wherein we show Insurance Claim Adjuster Secret Tactics http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0092.htm
Do It Yourself Advantages, or do these claims need an attorney? As for an ATTORNEY, this does not seem to be a case that involves any legal issues in dispute nor any large or complex damages. Why should you pay someone one-third to do what you can do yourself? Do-It-Yourself Personal Injury Claims; Eliminate Personal Injury Attorneys' Fees; Save Thousands of Dollars Settling Your Own Insurance Claim http://www.settlementcentral.com/page3011.htm
Without having to join my website, I have given a lot of free information on handling insurance claims without having to join as a member. Read the module at "5 Easy Steps to Do-it-Yourself Insurance Claim Settlement" http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0102.htm
This stuff is not rocket science, but it will take some effort on your part to read and cut and paste letter examples and to communicate. But hundreds of people are doing it each day, and they are getting good results.
What if you get only two-thirds the way to your settlement goal? Well, you can get as big a settlement as you can and then turn it over to an attorney and save a lot of fees. Thus, you could go it alone just to get an insurance settlement offer, and then take that insurance settlement offer to a personal injury attorney, thus exempting the amount of the offer from her fees. Do It Yourself Personal Injury Settlement Offer Reduces Personal Injury Attorney Fees http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0109.htm
Learn about how to communicate with the insurance adjuster: FINAL TOPIC—COMMUNICATE IN WRITING AND "DEMAND" NOT "ASK"
FINAL TOPIC, Elizabeth: Effective communication with insurance claims adjusters. Establish Firm, Professional, and Positive Relationships With the Insurance Injury Claims Adjuster http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0059.htm
Always communicate with the adjuster in writing, showing your own analysis of value. It is OK I guess to have one call or so, but no more. Always have your information and ammunition in writing to give to the adjuster.
Let him know that you are FIRM IN YOUR RESOLVE to get what you are demanding (NOT "asking", since that invites a counter-offer, but instead "demanding" as fair and reasonable compensation) by asking him what the options are to resolve the matter fairly should he not agree to a reasonable claim value. In other words, let him know that you will go through with a court filing if need be.
Remember these tips, do your homework, print out your evidence, show resolve to get your fair settlement, and you will DO JUST FINE.
I trust that my extra time here has produced some information that has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take the time to locate the FEEDBACK FORM on this site and leave some feedback for me.
