Boyfriend hit by car today

[Triskeliongirl]

The reason I advise working with an attorney, is that while its easy to get the insurance company to 'accept liablity' and issue a check for a new bike and med bills, the lost wages and pain and suffering parts are more complicated. When I said I sued the insurance compnay of the women that hit me, that is probably not correct. What I hid was hire a lawyer, and he started by issuing a 'demand letter' on my behalf to her insurance company asking them for what we thought was fair reimbursement. They came back with a low-ball counter offer and this continued for some time. Finally we went through a process called mediation where my lawyer and I sat around a table with the insurance company lawyers (the women that hit me declined to attend) and a third impartial lawyer who acted as the mediator. If this didn't work, then the next step would be going to court, but it did. It took time too, because you don't want to settle until you know the extent of your injuries, which can take time. In retrospect even I settled too soon since 5 years after the fact I found out my injuries had been more extensive than initially diagnosed. While I did have to give 30% of my settlement to my lawyer it was money well spent cuz I am sure with out him I would have ended up with even less, given all the low ball counter offers from the insurance company. The reason I think you should talk to a lawyer soon, is that my lawyer didn't want me to talk at all with the insurance company, they can turn around things you say later to hurt you, or get you in haste to accept a low ball offer. Any letters that came in whether from mine or her insurance companies were promptly sent to my lawyer to handle.

[mimitabby]

I agree with Triskeliongirl about the lawyer. My husband works in insurance and he too would not hesitate to hire a lawyer in a similar circumstance because he DOES understand how insurance companies work.
Insurance companies (yours included) owe their first allegiance to themselves.
they will pay you what you agreed upon when you bought the policy but it is not all black and white. Having a lawyer familiar with this process keeps the insurance company(s?) on their toes and speeds up the process.
When my husband ends up dealing with lawyers on work cases, it vastly simplifies the claim for him. In 10 years of this kind of work (he is an insurance adjuster) he has NEVER gone to court (and he deals with lawyers every day)

ps glad your sweetie feels good enough to have his sense of humor!

[Bad JuJu]

Just want to add my belated So Sorry to the rest. Also, glad to hear that it wasn't worse, as it certainly sounds like it could've been. Hugs!

[AllezGirl]

Best wishes to Jim for a speedy recovery. On the bright side, for whatever reason, cyclists seem to be more "resiliant" that the "normal" person.

What Pooks said.... You need to focus of Jim's health, let a trusted lawyer deal with the insurance company. One of the members of our cycling club is an attorney and has assisted several members through similar issues. Ask around for a good recommendation.

[GirlWonder]

Just wanted to wish Jim a speedy recovery. Hang in there!

[Denise223]

I am terribly sorry to hear of your boyfriends horrible accident . Sending many prayers & healing thoughts to him for a quick recovery.

Please keep us updated on his progress.

Peace & Love,

Denise

[Jo-n-NY]

I am so sorry to hear about your boyfriend. I am wishing him a speedy recovery and everything work it self out for him.

~ JoAnn

[Susie]

I'm so sorry about the accident and I hope that he heals up well soon. Here's what I've learned from my accident in May:

1. The responsible insurance company will replace the bike right away. I had a new bike within 3 weeks (most of that was because my LBS put a quote together for me the next day and my insurance company fronted the money and then got reimbursement from the driver's insurance).

2. The responsible insurance company will reimburse all medical costs (your costs as well as the payments that your health insurance company paid) as well as any other expenses related to the accident (I live alone and had to have someone come in a clean for me a couple of times, I've had to buy medical supplies, etc.) as well as a "settlement" (usually 2-3 times the total cost of expenses). They won't make any of these payments until a waiver is signed saying that you are completely healed and that they are no longer liable for any medical bills. Since I have another 6-9 months before we can determine whether or not I need surgery, I'm not going to see a penny from them for this for probably a year or so.

3. Insurance companies set aside a reserve for each injury case. If your final expenses + settlement fall within that reserve amount, you're within their budget and you'll be fine. If they lowball the reserve, then you may have to go to court later. In my case, my initial x-rays didn't show any fractures or cartilage damage so the reserve was set too low. When I finally had the MRI and found out I had a fracture, a pretty bad adema, and major cartilage damage, things got a little rough.

4. The insurance company stopped returning my calls and I had no choice but to go to an attorney. He's managed to get them to up the reserve significantly. He will take 28% of the final settlement, but I have a feeling that he saved me a lot of money. Another nice thing is that I've been paying a lot of medical expenses out of pocket (I ran out of my physical therapy allotments about a month ago). My attorney has relationships with a lot of health care providers in my area and has the PT group sending my bills directly to him. He will be paying them out of the settlement. That's saving me about $250/week out of pocket right now. He also is handling all communication with the responsible insurance company and my health insurance company, and previously that was eating up hours of my time and keeping me awake at night in annoyance. All I do now is hand over my receipts and he takes care of the rest.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is going to be a process. I hope that he heals quickly and that he has no lingering affects. Tell him to hang in there -- it does get better.

Susie