How horrible! I hope Jim heals easily and quickly.

As for the other -- I agree, get a lawyer. A friend worked for a personal injury lawyer for a few years (I know, boo-hiss!) but the fact is a couple of people in my family have been hit by other drivers (everybody in autos, though) and with the lawyer involved, their problems were smoothed out. Nobody got a huge settlement or anything, that wasn't the point. But they didn't get the runaround and their bills got paid, their medical bills were covered and they got wages lost. Whether they would have gotten all this without the lawyer I don't know. I know that they would have had many many headaches dealing with insurance companies if the lawyer hadn't been handling it all, and that's worth a lot.

That has been our experience. Others' may vary.