Hello all my name is Justin. I'm 23 years old and recently involved in a serious car wreck. I was headed home one Saturday night after a long weekend of riding 4-wheelers. The time was around 10:30pm when the accident happened. Here are the details.

I was traveling the speed limit and another driver pulled out in front of me from a side road and t-boned me. Well I was in a full size pick-up truck and when she hit me it caused the truck to flip over onto the drivers side. My arm went out of the window and the truck landed on top of my arm while sliding 150ft down the pavement with my arm underneath this 4500lb truck. It then went off into a field and flipped several times before stopping. The injury was catastrophic and I almost lost my hand. At the scene I was life flighted to the nearest trauma hospital where I was rushed inside to be stabilized. I spent 6 days in that hospital and had a total of 4 surgeries in that time. Then I was transferred to another hospital where I spent another 6 days and had one surgery in that time. My surgeries consist of having pins put in my fingers (due to bone loss and dislocations), skin grafting to cover my hand, and a couple other surgeries to deep clean and other small stuff. As of right now I have almost no bones in my wrist, no tendons, no feeling, severe tissue loss, and I'm sure there is more but I cannot recall off the top of my head. Currently I am in rehab trying to learn to use my fingers again while my skin grafts heal. I will have more surgeries in the future that will consist of reconstruction and tendon transfers to make my wrist movable again.

The 23 year old driver who hit me was charged with DUI, failure to yield when entering highway, and felony injury by motor vehicle. Her insurance company is telling us that they are only liable for $25,000 because she had minimum coverage. I refuse to accept that measly wager as I have a permanent injury and will be affected in for the rest of my daily life, hobbies, sports, working, etc. I am out of work for a year at least and I have suffered from depression, anxiety, grieving, constant pain, and anything else you could possibly imagine.

What are your thoughts and how can I get what I deserve.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as much details as possible to help you help me. I sincerely appreciate any help and hope you will reply if you read this because it took me almost an hour to type this with one hand. :(

Thanks All,
Justin

You need to contact an attorney. I had an accident a number of years ago. Other driver at fault and he too had piss poor insurance, but my insurance had an underinsurance policy that made up the difference. Unfortunately not a lot of money but covered all medical.

An attorney should be able to help you.

Hello S:

You're not going to get more than $25K from the insurance company, so I'd take it at least. Then you need to sue her for the rest.

Yup, you're going to need a good lawyer.

excon

If her policy has a 25 K limit that is all they will pay, so you accept that from them as partial paymenment and sue the driver for the rest. You can not make the insurance company pay more. If your state has "under insured" coverage on your own truck, meaning many states now alllow you to buy insurance for yourself if the person who hit you caused more damage than their limits, your own truck insurance may pay more depending on your policy.

But you get a judgement against the other driver and see if they have any money in the bank, or garnish their pay for a few dollars a week.

You should get thousands, but most likely will not if that other driver has nothing.

This is what I was not wanting to hear. The other driver has nothing. She is 23, rents a house, financed the car she hit me with, and will be in jail for a long time I think after it is all said and done. I understand I cannot get more than $25,000 for my injury if that's all she is covered for but what about all my medical bills, supplies I've had to buy, lost wages, pain and suffering, depression, permanently affected for life. Those can't all be factored in with that $25,000 I would hope. If that's the case then why get a lawyer, just so he can take 1/3 of the underpaid settlement I would be getting.

I read that there are "special" lawyers that can go past the insurance companies and enter a separate claim. I've tried to find where I read that at but cannot locate it anymore.

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Originally Posted by Stol3n

this is what i was not wanting to hear. the other driver has nothing. she is 23, rents a house, financed the car she hit me with, and will be in jail for a long time i think after it is all said and done. i understand i cannot get more than $25,000 for my injury if that's all she is covered for but what about all my medical bills, supplies i've had to buy, lost wages, pain and suffering, depression, permanently affected for life. those can't all be factored in with that $25,000 i would hope. if that's the case then why get a lawyer, just so he can take 1/3 of the underpaid settlement i would be getting.

i read that there are "special" lawyers that can go past the insurance companies and enter a separate claim. i've tried to find where i read that at but cannot locate it anymore.

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If she has nothing a Judgment will not do you any good. You can always sue her, you probably would get a Judgment, you may be able to suspend her driving privileges until the Judgment is paid (which very well might be forever) but the cash in hand, if she has $25,000 in liability, is all that you are entitled to receive in hand and it's to cover everything.

Don't accept it and file suit against her for pain, suffering, lost wages and so forth. I just don't know that you have any means to collect. You don't need a special Attorney - you need an Attorney who specializes in liability lawsuits. Only problem I see is that he/she will either want to be paid hourly or will take his/her fee out of the insurance money. An Attorney is not going to wait for the next one hundred years (give or take) while the Defendant tries to pay you in full.

You normally get an Attorney because you are out of options and need legal advice - and the standard fee if it goes to suit is 33-1/3%. I do see some Attorneys who will handle it up to trial and through settlement for 25%.

Did you carry under insurance which would bring the amount you can recover up to the level of YOUR policy, not hers - ? Has anyone inquired about this - ?

Did anyone look into dram shop coverage - where she was drinking? Did anyone look into other cars in her household, other cars with different insurance companies? If not, that's another reason to retain an Attorney who will hire an invesestigator who will go out and beat the bushes for you.

Once an Attorney finds out where she was drinking he's in a position to bring in their insurance AND if he/she can't find out, her Attorney will probably be very willing to share the info in exchange for some type of plea bargain recommendation on the DWI.

Why do you think she will be in jail for a long time? Does she have priors?

(By the way, I'm a liability investigator for law firms/insurance companies and I see this situation a lot. And the message - CARRY UNDER INSURANCE and UNCOVERED MOTORIST INSURANCE!)

Unfortunately, the other driver's not going to be in jail nearly as long as you think. Especially if this was her first DUI.

Like the others have suggested, find out if your insurance as "underinsurance" which would also help with your bills.

If all her insurance is going to give you is $25k, then your only alternative, unfortunately, is to sue her for whatever the balance is on your bills. Odds are you'll win but the hard part is collecting. Good luck with everything.

She was charged with DUI, failure to yield, and felony injury by motor vehicle. Just 3 weeks after all of the above she was charged again for DUI, failure to maintain lane. Surely, she'll have to do some time for all of the above to happen within a 3 week window.

Maybe I should ask the jury and her insurance company if they would be willing to let me cut one of their hands off for a measly $25,000? I GUARANTEE nobody would accept that offer, and neither will I.

Hello again, S:

Judy is right on about that dram shop stuff. The bar where she got drunk, if there was one, has deep pockets...

excon

Sure, she'll do some time. However, I know someone who has 4 convictions for DUI under his belt. You know what he got for the 4th one? 60 days with work release. The law isn't as great as we like to pretend it is.

I'm not saying you should take 25K and call it even; nobody is. We're telling you the reality of the situation, though. Trying to get anymore money out of her insurance is going to be like getting blood from a rock; it's not going to happen. The only way to get more is to hire a damn good attorney and sue the other driver personally.

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello again, S:

Judy is right on about that dram shop stuff. The bar where she got drunk, if there was one, has deep pockets....

excon

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I hope she was coming from Anheuser-Busch. There was an event (company party) that same night towards our direction.

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Originally Posted by Stol3n

i hope she was coming from Anheuser-Busch. there was an event (company party) that same night towards our direction.

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The only way to know is to hire someone to find out. Anheuser has VERY deep pockets.

I don't know how long ago this was but people are going to be using the "I don't remember" defense unless you get somebody out there soon to track where she was.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stol3n

she was charged with DUI, failure to yield, and felony injury by motor vehicle. just 3 weeks after all of the above she was charged again for DUI, failure to maintain lane. surely, she'll have to do some time for all of the above to happen within a 3 week window.

maybe i should ask the jury and her insurance company if they would be willing to let me cut one of their hands off for a measly $25,000? i GUARANTEE nobody would accept that offer, and neither will i.

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You have no choice but to accept the $25,000 offer from the insurance company. You can hold out, of course, but that's all they are going to offer and that's all they are going to pay. That is the limit of her policy. As far as what the Judge thinks, it doesn't matter. Unless you go non-jury, he/she has no say. As far as what the Jury thinks - without an Attorney (and I've already covered that) you aren't going to get before a Jury.

It's not what you should get - it's the amount for which she's insured.

Look, I'm on your side. I'm not on her side but you are taking a stand here which is unreasonable under the law.

And did you carry under insured motorist coverage?

And, Excon - thanks and would you believe people actually PAY me to do this stuff?