I'm recently the victim of a hit & run, dui. After sustaining severe whiplash, concussion and ligament damage in my neck, I'm kind of curious how much I should settle for. I'll probably miss at least one month of work and school. I'll also be obligated to pay the university back $1800 in financial aid because I had to withdraw from my classes to avoid failing.

Please consult with a personal injury attorney your injuries and your monetary damages that you sustained. Not knowing the extent of your injuries or medical treatment for them it would be impossible for us to give you any sort of figure.

Please consult with a personal injury attorney your injuries and your monetary damages that you sustained. Not knowing the extent of your injuries or medical treatment for them it would be impossible for us to give you any sort of figure.


Yes, this is one of those instances where this matter should be evaluated by an Attorney - anything else and you are shortchanging yourself.

yes, first it has to cover all of your medical costs, even if your health insurance paid for it upfront, if you receive a settlement you are suppose to pay the health insurance back for the medical treatment Then the cost of all of your loss of income, all of the other loses you had. Including loss of work, But it also has to cover all future medical costs also. So a cousel with your doctor is also needed as to what treatment in the futue this can cuase. Plus of course the value of your car repair or replacement.

Now to be honest you also have to look seriously at their limit of libility insurance, since after the insurance pays, they max, most liekly you will never actually get any money from the persons bank account unless they own things and have money.

So having a 300,000 claim if they have a max of 100,000 on their policy is not going to help you also.

Hello T:

I don't know. Why do you mention $1800 that you'll owe the school, and not the $1,000's upon $1,000's that your injuries would have cost you. Would I be correct in assuming that you didn't go to a hospital?

If not, you ain't going to get much... And, if you don't go to a lawyer, you're going to get even less.

excon

Are you all a bunch of idiots? The man that hit me was arrested for DUI, so no we will not scratch the DUI. I have ligament damage in my neck and back and was only listing the repayment of tuition assuming you would automatically factor in the cost of everything else car, medical etc. Yes I went to the hospital and I'm not quite sure what would make you think I did not. Yes I have hired an attorney and we are well on our way to suing the dumb drunk that decided to rear end me at 11:00pm without headlights on going 60 in 25. With the exception of Fr Chuck the rest of you should learn to read and not just assume you know the answer w/o thinking it through sorry to sound harsh but I'm looking for real advice not just feedback from people who want to sound smart. As for the tuition, I have missed 3 straight days of summer school. Anyone out there who might actually have an education will know that summer school is very condensed and missing any of it will set you back. So now my professor recommended dropping the class, if I do this I will be forced to pay back tuition 1800, to the financial aid office. If I was never involved in this accident I would not have to do this, so the driver should be held responsible for this as well, thank you and good day

For the school, while I doubt it, you may see if the school would refund it for special reasons or apply a credit on your next sememster ( OK I don't think they will, but at least I would ask and give them a chance to deny it) Also because of the situation, would the professor consider some other way of extra credit or allowance or a agreed to or negotiated grade.
Yes some teachers can do this,

But do remember the insurance issue, I will swear, I have had several accidents and to be honest I don't think any of them ever had insurance.
The last one was a illegal alien in a stolen car that did not have insurance on it from the person they stole it from. Before that it was a lady with no insurance at all. And before that it was a hit and run that we never did find. So on the first two I could have sued them both but what would I have gotten from someone with no money and no insurance, beside a legal bill I would have to pay.

are you all a bunch of idiots?


the rest of you should learn to read and not just assume you know the answer w/o thinking it through sorry to sound harsh but I'm looking for real advice not just feedback from people who want to sound smart.

You need to sit back and CHILLAX!!

You have been given very good advice based on the limited amount of info your provided in the beginning.

We are not mind readers here. You never stated, until your last post, that you had been to the hospital, that you had a lawyer, etc. You never even told these fine people the circumstances of the accident in question. Yet you take it upon yourself to assume that they can read between the lines and look inside your mind and find what you had not stated.

This is not the psychic network. We need all the information to give a valid answer.

Think about that the next time you call these people "idiots!!!"

are you all a bunch of idiots? The man that hit me was arrested for DUI, so no we will not scratch the DUI. I have ligament damage in my neck and back and was only listing the repayment of tuition assuming you would automatically factor in the cost of everything else car, medical etc. Yes I went to the hospital and I'm not quite sure what would make you think I did not. Yes I have hired an attorney and we are well on our way to suing the dumb drunk that decided to rear end me at 11:00pm without headlights on going 60 in 25. With the exception of Fr Chuck the rest of you should learn to read and not just assume you know the answer w/o thinking it through sorry to sound harsh but I'm looking for real advice not just feedback from people who want to sound smart. As for the tuition, I have missed 3 straight days of summer school. Anyone out there who might actually have an education will know that summer school is very condensed and missing any of it will set you back. So now my professor recomended dropping the class, if I do this I will be forced to pay back tuition 1800, to the financial aid office. If I was never involved in this accident I would not have to do this, so the driver should be held responsible for this as well, thank you and good day


Your attitude is WAY out of line - I have no idea what your problem with me (specifically) is. I investigate accidents, that's what I do. There is no formula for what your injuries are "worth." There's no magic number. You add up your losses, pain and suffering, medical bills, you come up with a figure. That's what I told you. I told you to retain (not hire, this is a personal injury matter) an Attorney. I don't know what in that advice led you to believe I'm an "idiot." I also actually do have an education - really, I do.

I'm not assuming I know the answer here - I actually DO know the answer here. There is no magic number.

For your edification - hit and run is: accident, driver leaves, driver is not found, hit and run. Leaving the scene is: accident, driver leaves, driver is found, it's leaving the scene. I couldn't figure out the hit and run dui - how, if the driver wasn't caught, could anyone know he/she was dui - ?

I advised you based on the 3 sentences you posted - I would think your Attorney (who presumably had more than those 3 sentences to work with) could figure out what your injuries are worth.

Everyone else also advised you based on what you posted.

Again - you are way out of line.

Excuse me... the answers we provided you were in response to the very brief description of what happened to you. Had you initially provided more information we would have answered much differently. I am curious also as to how someone could be a "hit and run dui" without being caught? I believe you had misstated this fact.

If you did retain an attorney I would strongly suggest asking him what your monetary compensation should be as he has more information than we do(did). We were not told of any car damage either, etc. Also, it was your decision to drop out of summer school. I seriously doubt missing 3 days would cause you to flunk the course. You could have made up the time. I disagree that you "would" have flunked. How do you know? How would your teacher know? You presume way too much. I don't see you being compensated for the course though.

I didn't want to rate the previous answer, but I would like to point out that as summer semester courses are in fact highly condensed, missing three days is a fairly substantial blow. If it was an all summer thing rather than a summer I/ summer II semester thing, then the grade is definitely salvagable, but if it is a minimester (3 weeks), you are pretty much sunk. If it is a summer I or II semester, then 3 days out for 5 weeks = 3/25days is about 2 weeks of regular semester missed, so it might not be salvagable depending on if you originally had an A or a D. Obviously if the professor advised it, he thought it was a long shot. Especially since you say you will miss the next month. But I agree, you should ask the school for a refund/credit due to extenuating circumstance. That way you can at least present that to the judge to prove you tried to get the money back so you feel he really should pay. Make sure you get everything in writing, including your profs advice to drop it due to missing class.

Hello again, T:

I don't know. There's only one idiot here. If I had a lawyer, it would be pretty idiotic asking questions of people on the internet instead of the guy who I'm paying to have the answers. But, that's just me.

excon

But excon - if that was the case... Now that's too easy.

Also, flunking out of the summer school. I strongly disagree with Smoke on this. Everyone acts like they are psychic and would flunk out after missing 3 days. Jeesh. Why are you taking the course in summer school anyway? Didn't you pay attention the first time around?

I don't think OP would be compensated as they did not flunk out but voluntarily QUIT. Also your injuries could not be that substantial if you only missed 3 days of school. It would be an entirely different matter is you could not attend at all and missed the entire course due to your injuries. THEN I would think you could get compensated as you missed the entire course, not just 3 days of it. That 3 days thing is going to be very hard to sell to a judge considering you voluntarily quit the course.

Twinkiedooter,

I understand what you're getting at, however, we're not talking about high school summer school, and this is not necessarily a repeat course. I am taking 2 courses over the summer and I haven't failed any classes. Some degree plans just take longer to complete, so some people take classes during summer semester to graduate on time. And like I said, I think it depends on how many days the summer class originally was, as well as what grade they had before the accident. If it was a minimester (3 weeks) three days is a big blow, because you basically cover 15 or so weeks of material in 3, thus each day is equivalent to about a week, and missing 3 weeks of school is tough. If it was a regular summer semester, as in 5 weeks, it might still be tough depending on how well they were doing before, but if it is a 10 week summer course, it is probably salvagable. Also, if they were having a tough time with the class to begin with and were barely passing before they got into an accident, it would be even worse. Regardless, if the prof really did suggest they drop the course, then he probably doubted the salvagability of the grade, and the OP needs to get that reccomendation in writing to show the judge he didn't just quit for the hell of it. The OP would not be compensated regardless, he would have to give that money to the school since the course was paid for by financial aid. It is really dumb to fail a course if you can help it, so if you aren't going to pass it and have the option to withdraw/drop it, it is better since then it won't go on your record as an F and bring down the Grade Point Ratio, so I can understand how the OP would have good cause to drop the course.
About the three days thing, I'm confused. In the original post, it says they should miss about a month, but in a later post, they say 3 days. This would be a little more cut and dry if it was the month thing, as 4 weeks out of even 10 weeks for the longest summer course is obviously a lot of time to miss. But if it is three days, it would take a lot of explaining to a judge to prove it was a result of the accident, again depending on the length of course and grade.

Twinkiedooter,

I understand what you're getting at, however, we're not talking about high school summer school, and this is not necessarily a repeat course. I am taking 2 courses over the summer and I haven't failed any classes. Some degree plans just take longer to complete, so some people take classes during summer semester to graduate on time. And like I said, I think it depends on how many days the summer class originally was, as well as what grade they had before the accident. If it was a minimester (3 weeks) three days is a big blow, because you basically cover 15 or so weeks of material in 3, thus each day is equivalent to about a week, and missing 3 weeks of school is tough. If it was a regular summer semester, as in 5 weeks, it might still be tough depending on how well they were doing before, but if it is a 10 week summer course, it is probably salvagable. Also, if they were having a tough time with the class to begin with and were barely passing before they got into an accident, it would be even worse. Regardless, if the prof really did suggest they drop the course, then he probably doubted the salvagability of the grade, and the OP needs to get that reccomendation in writing to show the judge he didnt just quit for the hell of it. The OP would not be compensated regardless, he would have to give that money to the school since the course was paid for by financial aid. It is really dumb to fail a course if you can help it, so if you aren't going to pass it and have the option to withdraw/drop it, it is better since then it wont go on your record as an F and bring down the Grade Point Ratio, so I can understand how the OP would have good cause to drop the course.
About the three days thing, I'm confused. In the original post, it says they should miss about a month, but in a later post, they say 3 days. This would be a little more cut and dry if it was the month thing, as 4 weeks out of even 10 weeks for the longest summer course is obviously alot of time to miss. But if it is three days, it would take alot of explaining to a judge to prove it was a result of the accident, again depending on the length of course and grade.


I don't think it's some "mini course." He said he would miss a month. That's full time Summer school.