I was in an accident dec 30 2006 in which a drunk driver hit me and my boyfriend head on at about 75 mph. we were at a stop sign so we carry no fault at all. The guy that hit us has had 2 brain surgerys and he is paralized and mentally retarted now due to the accident. He had no insurance. I shattered my ankle in the accident and my boyfriend broke his leg in 3 places and his opisite foot in 2 places. My bfs leg is now fully healed and our insurance has paid a pretty penny in his medical bills. Well I had to get a lawyer because I was a minor and can't do anything on my own legally. I had surgery and with all of the hardware that had to be used to fix my ankle costed me about $30,000 my health insurance covered as little as they could because it was a car accident and then I had 4 months of physical therapy that my insurance didn't cover at all because "it wasnt necessary" even though it was. w\o physical therapy I would have never learned to walk again because I had to have intensive pool therapy and then lots of one on one help. I was on crutches for about 6 months. Well I'm having problems with it now. I hit my ankle at work yesterday and haven't been able to stand on it since I'm assuming I'm not going to be able have any surgeries on it because I am pregnant even though I am certain I need one now. It appears that at least 3 of the 13 pins in my leg have shifted. Any way my problem is if he has no insurance how do I get compensation for my medical bills that are now at 70,000 we only had auto insurance of 100,000 our company doesn't offer anymore. They are paying out full but my lawyer sucks and I can't fire him because he has already filed suit and I have to payhim either way now. I'm on medicaid for the baby but I don't know how to swing another surgery on top of the 70,000 I already owe from the last one and PT. does anyone know anyway to get around the maximum payout on the insurance contract?

My lawyer gets 33 1/3% so he leaves me with $66,666.66 obviously not going to cover my current med bills

<moved from Other Health & Wellness to Other Law>

OK I wasn't sure where to put it.

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Originally Posted by brown_eyes_3546

I was in an accident dec 30 2006 in which a drunk driver hit me and my bf head on at about 75 mph. we were at a stop sign so we carry no fault at all. the guy that hit us has had 2 brain surgerys and he is paralized and mentally retarted now due to the accident. he had no insurance. i shattered my ankle in the accident and my bf broke his leg in 3 places and his opisite foot in 2 places. my bfs leg is now fully healed and our insurance has paid a pretty penny in his medical bills. well i had to get a lawyer bc i was a minor and can't do anything on my own legally. i had surgery and with all of the hardware that had to be used to fix my ankle costed me about $30,000 my health insurance covered as little as they could bc it was a car accident and then i had 4 months of physical therapy that my insurance didnt cover at all bc "it wasnt necessary" even though it was. w\o physical therapy i would have never learned to walk again bc i had to have intensive pool therapy and then lots of one on one help. i was on crutches for about 6 months. well im having problems with it now. i hit my ankle at work yesterday and havnt been able to stand on it since im assuming im not going to be able have any surgeries on it bc i am pregnant even though i am certain i need one now. it appears that at least 3 of the 13 pins in my leg have shifted. any way my problem is if he has no insurance how do i get compensation for my medical bills that are now at 70,000 we only had auto insurance of 100,000 our company doesnt offer anymore. they are paying out full but my lawyer sucks and i can't fire him bc he has already filed suit and i have to payhim either way now. im on medicaid for the baby but i dont know how to swing another surgery on top of the 70,000 i already owe from the last one and PT. does anyone know anyway to get around the maximum payout on the insurance contract?

my lawyer gets 33 1/3% so he leaves me with $66,666.66 obviously not going to cover my current med bills

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What State are you in? Also - you can get another Attorney and that second Attorney will have to make arrangements with the first Attorney. If there is a $100,000 offer (if that $100,000 is the liability portion and not the medical pay portion) a second Attorney is not going to make a difference because I think you are saying that that is the policy limit - you are not locked into the first Attorney. If you are on Medicaid there is a possibility any settlement you receive will have a Medicaid lien filed against it and you will not "collect" your entire 2/3's.

I'm a little confused about the $100,000 insurance and the company not offering any more - are you talking about medical pay or liability? What do you mean about getting around the maximum payout on the insurance contract? If you are talking about medical payments once you reach the maximum limit, that's all they pay - unless you had an umbrella policy.

Again - what State?

We have 100,000 per person per accident coverage up to 300,000 per accident in unisured drivers insurance. The other 2 people in the car with me have already settled for aprox 75,000 that leaves 225,000 left under our policy for payout but the 100,000 per person my lawyer says stops me from collecting more than 100,000. We also found out that there were two people that ran from the other car while we were unconsious but we didn't find out until a year after the accident. Nothing we can do right? There are so many things in this case that are weird that I have millions of ?'s can an eye witness of the accident identify the people that ran and have them prosecuted. Supposedly they were driving and left there friend to die.

I am in North Carolina.

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Originally Posted by brown_eyes_3546

we have 100,000 per person per accident coverage up to 300,000 per accident in unisured drivers insurance. the other 2 people in the car with me have already settled for aprox 75,000 that leaves 225,000 left under our policy for payout but the 100,000 per person my lawyer says stops me from collecting more than 100,000. we also found out that there were two people that ran from the other car while we were unconsious but we didnt find out until a year after the accident. nothing we can do right? there are so many things in this case that are weird that i have millions of ?'s can an eye witness of the accident identify the people that ran and have them prosecuted. supposedly they were driving and left there friend to die.

i am in North Carolina.

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Your Attorney is correct about the $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident - if one party settles for less than $100,000 the excess money does not flow over to other people involved. They are limited to the $100,000.

As far as the other people running - this is more a Police matter and whatever the result of an investigation would be it will not change your situation. You cannot force the Police to investigate and/or prosecute. Your only chance might be to prove one of them was actually driving (and not the uninsured person you believe was driving) but this could go against your interests because if that person DID have insurance and it was LESS than what you carried you would be bound by their policy limits.

It is heinous but I think there is little that would change your situation - and I'm sorry you're in this position. $100,000 sounds like a lot of money - until you have serious injuries!

Yea it isn't worth the hassels you go through with being out of work and follow-up injuries.

Well if our med billls exceed the other persons insurance shouldn't our underinsured add to our settlement with the same amount because we have them with the same limits.

If we find the other people we can prove one of them was driving because the original guy was ejected out of the passengerside window and the seatbelts on driver and center in the truck were cut like with a knife but not the passenger side. If he was wearing a seat belt it would not have broke and he would have remained in the vehicle like his budies and us. The problem is getting someone to investigate it. Our lawyer says he doesn't do police work he just gets the money. I thought he would want to find the others because it would mean more money because w/o insureance if they were driving can't we sue them personally assuming they have something?

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Originally Posted by brown_eyes_3546

yea it isnt worth the hassels you go thru with being out of work and followup injuries.

well if our med billls exceed the other persons insurance shouldnt our underinsured add to our settlement with the same amount bc we have them with the same limits.

if we find the other people we can prove one of them was driving bc the original guy was ejected out of the passengerside window and the seatbelts on driver and center in the truck were cut like with a knife but not the passenger side. if he was wearing a seat belt it would not have broke and he would have remained in the vehicle like his budies and us. the problem is getting someone to investigate it. our lawyer says he doesnt do police work he jsut gets the money. i thought he would want to find the others because it would mean more money bc w/o insureance if they were driving can't we sue them personally assuming they have something?

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Okay, now I'm confused - you are presently limited to $100,000 per person, right? If you find someone with less insurance than that your underinsured would kick in to the amount of $100,000 per person - I see no advantage to you to locate the correct driver. Of course you can sue the alleged driver and also the true driver, if you can locate him and if that person owns anything... or ever will own anything.

Your Attorney is probably not interested because he's not the Police, the Police don't appear interested - and you would appear to come out financially the same. Do the Police think that the alleged driver actually was the driver?

The police havnet even been told about it yet. The alleged driver was the only one there when they got there other than us. The woman that told us about the other people left before the police got there. She tried to get me out of the car and I stood on my ankel and she was afraid that she would get into trouble for causeing me more harm than good. She is the one who called the police initially but as I said she didn't talk to them when they arrived. We went to visit her and she asked if they caught them and we didn't know what she was talking about and she explained what I have told you. That they left the scene and were not hurt.

And I thought I would get say there 30,000 plus my 100,000 which would be more.

Well thank you for your help.

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Originally Posted by brown_eyes_3546

the police havnet even been told about it yet. the alleged driver was the only one there when they got there other than us. the woman that told us about the other people left before the police got there. she tried to get me out of the car and i stood on my ankel and she was afraid that she would get into trouble for causeing me more harm than good. she is the one who called the police initially but as i said she didnt talk to them when thay arrived. we went to visit her and she asked if they caught them and we didnt know what she was talking about and she explained what i have told you. that they left the scene and were not hurt.

and i thought i would get say there 30,000 plus my 100,000 which would be more.

well thank you for your help.

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I think the best you can do is try to get the Police involved, keeping in mind the uninsured/underinsured position you are presently in.

If I can put in a "plug" here for investigators - this is why negligence Attorneys should get every case investigated. Amazing how many times the person who called the accident in and then left the scene knows something that is important.

I hope it works out well for you - I really do.

Yes, and normally people who drive uninsured cars don't have anything to get anyway, Well so far you have had the surgary and have not paid, so get it and worry about how to pay latter. Also if there is no insurance money left, go though your medicad or private insurance if you have it, and let them pay. The problem before was they would not pay when another insurance was the primary, but after the other will not pay, they can be liable to pay. Your attorney may have to write them a letter or two

My health insurance paid but they are demanding repayment because of the settlement. The next surgery may be covered by mediciad but I'm not certain.

How can I reimburse them if I didn't get the money to cover it from the primary insurance? That is what is such a mess. Too many hospital bills and I get new ones every week and its been a year!

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Originally Posted by brown_eyes_3546

how can i reimburse them if i didnt get the money to cover it from the primary insurance? that is what is such a mess. too many hospital bills and i get new ones every week and its been a year!

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Ok, here is what should happen. YOU don't reimburse them at all. Prior to settling the case, your lawyer should talk to your health insurer and compromise the lien (settle it for a fraction of what it is worth). It is customary in the industry for private insurers to cut at least 1/3 of the bill in cases like this, but I have seen much more under some circumstances.

You see, what happens is that your lawyer calls your insurer and says:

" Browneyes stands to recover $60,000 if we settle this case. However, since she currently owes you $70,000, there is no incentive for her to settle for that amount. therefor, we need you to reduce the lien amount if we are to settle the case. If you do not reduce your lien, the case will go to trial where we risk (1) getting less then $100,000; or (2) losing outright, in which case your will receive nothing."

The insurance company will agree because some money is better then no money. Your lawyer should really be expalining all of this stuff to you.

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Originally Posted by sideoutshu

Ok, here is what should happen. YOU don't reimburse them at all. Prior to settling the case, your lawyer should talk to your health insurer and compromise the lien (settle it for a fraction of what it is worth). It is customary in the industry for private insurers to cut at least 1/3 of the bill in cases like this, but I have seen much more under some circumstances.

You see, what happens is that your lawyer calls yoru insurer and says:

" Browneyes stands to recover $60,000 if we settle this case. However, since she currently owes you $70,000, there is no incentive for her to settle for that amount. therefor, we need you to reduce the lien amount if we are to settle the case. If you do not reduce your lien, the case will go to trial where we risk (1) getting less then $100,000; or (2) losing outright, in which case your will receive nothing."

The insurance company will agree becasue some money is better then no money. Your lawyer shoudl really be expalining all of this stuff to you.

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I could be wrong - and often am! - but I believe her original question was how to get around med pay, which she has already exceeded. I had the impression she didn't want to spend the negligence portion on medical bills.

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

I could be wrong - and often am! - but I believe her original question was how to get around med pay, which she has already exceeded. I had the impression she didn't want to spend the negligence portion on medical bills.

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Ya, well it isn't exactly clear from the facts she sets out. The important thing is that anyone who pays out money (other then NoFault) for medical treatment as the result of injuries in an accident has a subogation right to any proceeds recovered from the tortfeasor. Independent insurers are MUCh more flexible then Medicaid/Medicare. There are times the Medicaid will simply refuse to reduce a lien, however in NYS they usually have a sliding scale of what they will accept based on the settlement amount for cases like this.