Hit today - not sure where to go from here...

[owlgirl]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I was hoping not to have to contact an attorney. I do have some friends in the law school here at my university and i'm hoping they can help me out. I have not looked at the website provided by SLash but I will be spending some time doing that today. Thanks for all the well wishes; don't worry, I will be taking it easy for awhile to see if anything else develops. Thanks again for the help!

[Biciclista]

Owlgirl, you need a bicycle attorney; they are very good and know the important details of laws as they pertain to cyclists. I am sure there are good ones in the Bay area.

[indysteel]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I was hoping not to have to contact an attorney. I do have some friends in the law school here at my university and i'm hoping they can help me out. I have not looked at the website provided by SLash but I will be spending some time doing that today. Thanks for all the well wishes; don't worry, I will be taking it easy for awhile to see if anything else develops. Thanks again for the help!

As a lawyer, I'd advise you against seeking legal advice from law students. They really aren't capable or competent to render it, and if they think they are, then they're not particularly good law students. Remember, there's a reason that you can't practice law until formally licensed to do so.

I would find a competent personal injury attorney in your area and talk to them. If your bike club or teammates have a referral for someone who has experience with bike accidents, then by all means talk to them, but I don't think you necessarily need someone who specializes in bike accidents. Fault is fault, negligence is negligence, damages are damages. It doesn't necessarily matter that the accident was between a bike and a car.

Do you know whether the driver or his car suffered any damage/injury? Did you obtain the driver's insurance information? The insurer will likely contact you and ask for a statement. Do not give one until you have talked to an attorney. If you do give one, do not indicate or suggest that you misjudged the distance or the car's rate of speed. Just stick to the objective facts.

Good luck.

[Onix]

Did police come? Is there a police report? Did you get the guy's insurance information? Any witnesses?

If so...I am not even sure that you need to contact a lawyer?? Unless the guy wouldn't give you his information/refused any responsibility. (I could be wrong--just speaking from my experience).

I don't know where you live, but in Texas...if you are hit from behind (in a car, in a bike, walking, whatever), it is automatically that car's fault. No excuses, questions etc. Even if someone pulls in front of you last minute, they will tell the car that did the rear-ending they were "driving too fast, failure to control vehicle, etc. etc."


It seems all you should do is call his insurance, unless insurance wasn't exchanged?? Insurance will attempt to verify with him the occurence, you should be compensated for health/"vehicle" damages etc.

At least this is how it worked for me in the past.

No attorney needed at all for me. I'm not sure where the line of needing attorney/not needing one is....


Good luck
I hope you are okay!!

[Biciclista]

No attorney needed at all for me. I'm not sure where the line of needing attorney/not needing one is....

Here's the deal: when you are in an accident between two motor vehicles, the assumption is that you both have insurance. Even if your insurance does not pay a dime (because it's the other guy's fault) they will protect you.

When you are hit by a car while riding your bike, you do not have motor vehicle insurance to help you. You are at the mercy of the guy who hit you (if no insurance) or his insurance company.

My husband is a very ethical man who works for the insurance industry. he will tell you in no uncertain terms that you need someone who knows more about this than you to represent you; because the other guy's insurance agents are looking after THEIR best interests, not yours.

You might end up with several situations (like not getting enough money for your bike, like having physical problems later and they tell you it's too late for them to pay your doctor bills) that will really bite you.

I hope that helps

[Eden]

When you are hit by a car while riding your bike, you do not have motor vehicle insurance to help you. You are at the mercy of the guy who hit you (if no insurance) or his insurance company.

Here in Washington this is not entirely true, because we have PIP (personal injury protection). I was hit by an uninsured motorist this summer. Because it was a motor vehicle accident *my* car insurance, even though I was not driving... is the first to kick in. My medical insurance won't pay any of it, unless/until the PIP benefits are exhausted.

This actually is a pain in the butt.... even though the collision was entirely the fault of the motorist (she turned left in front of me as I was going through an intersection on a green), I have had to go through all the insurance hassles. Of course when you go to the ER (turned out I was not severely injured, but my kneed immediately swelled up like a balloon and I couldn't bend it, so X-Rays were necessary) you say yes ma'am here's my insurance card, thank you very much... Not, hold on I need to file a PIP claim with my car insurance. So in the end I had to wait for my health insurance to deny the bills and then send them on to my auto insurance.

Here we are 4 months later and I'm still having to call the insurance company, call the hospital etc. to make sure all the bills are being paid. And my case was *not* a particularly complicated one. I had one ER visit with a set of X-rays to be taken care of. I can't imagine how much more difficult it would have been if I had been injured worse and had follow up care to claim too.

[indysteel]

Your PIP insurance sounds similar to uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. I have it, but you're not required to carry it in my homestate. I had to make a claim against it a few years ago. My insurer paid to have my car repaired but then was entitled to seek indemnification from the uninsured driver. My insurer also had some recourse under state law to see to it that the driver's license was revoked. I have no idea what ultimately happened in my case.

That, however, is different from the situation we have here. Owlgirl will either have to pay out of pocket and/or with her own medical insurance for any damage/injury that she sustained. Her medical insurer has no right to indemnification against the driver's insurer or the driver. So, if she wants to hold the driver liable, she will have to go after them herself, ideally with the help of an attorney. It is possible that the driver's insurer will voluntarily offer her something but it may be insufficient to really cover her losses and will likely be contingent on her signing a release.

[shootingstar]

Your PIP insurance sounds similar to uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. I have it, but you're not required to carry it in my homestate. I had to make a claim against it a few years ago. My insurer paid to have my car repaired but then was entitled to seek indemnification from the uninsured driver. My insurer also had some recourse under state law to see to it that the driver's license was revoked. I have no idea what ultimately happened in my case.

That, however, is different from the situation we have here. Owlgirl will either have to pay out of pocket and/or with her own medical insurance for any damage/injury that she sustained. Her medical insurer has no right to indemnification against the driver's insurer or the driver. So, if she wants to hold the driver liable, she will have to go after them herself, ideally with the help of an attorney. It is possible that the driver's insurer will voluntarily offer her something but it may be insufficient to really cover her losses and will likely be contingent on her signing a release.

Owlie: Aren't you a full-time student? Perhaps you should contact legal aid for California state..as an initial more cost-effective route.

[Fredwina]

Your PIP insurance sounds similar to uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. I have it, but you're not required to carry it in my homestate. I had to make a claim against it a few years ago. My insurer paid to have my car repaired but then was entitled to seek indemnification from the uninsured driver. My insurer also had some recourse under state law to see to it that the driver's license was revoked. I have no idea what ultimately happened in my case.

That, however, is different from the situation we have here. Owlgirl will either have to pay out of pocket and/or with her own medical insurance for any damage/injury that she sustained. Her medical insurer has no right to indemnification against the driver's insurer or the driver. So, if she wants to hold the driver liable, she will have to go after them herself, ideally with the help of an attorney. It is possible that the driver's insurer will voluntarily offer her something but it may be insufficient to really cover her losses and will likely be contingent on her signing a release.

Close
In CAlif, your health ins can legally come after a post-accident settlement. I had to surrender part of my settelment bucks, but I was ok with that.
In the USA, most personal injury attorneys will work on contigency. i.e. the will take a flat rate (most likey a third) of whatever the final settlement with the ins company will be. I found it was more than worth it in several ways to have Legal representation than to DIY