Long story short last year I bought a car, the morning I got it my wife was going to pick up the registration and some moron made a left turn in front of her, she hit him broadside, flipped his truck and busted her kneecap in the process.The guy was cited and no traffic tickets were given to my wife.
But shes a nurse and that requires walking, theres a piece of her knee cap floating around in her leg and she couldnt walk, she missed a bunch of work as a result.Since she wrecked my car I also missed work.Then the games began.
The guys insurance company started screwing her over from the begining, they told her to file the medical bills with her health insurance who of course refused to pay them, theres surgery, physical therapy, and nobody knows if her knees gonna be the same againTime kept going by and the insurance companies kept screwing around to the point I have hospitals threatening to sue me, shes got her workplace threatening to get rid of her etc... and nobody would pay a dime towards anything.
Weve never sued anyone in our lives, I have never even hired a lawyer for anything.But these guys pushed and pushed untill I had no choice, I was being threatened with lawsuits, we lost a lot of income, and my other bills were falling behind.Finally she got ahold of the guys insurance adjustor the other day after weeks of him ignoring her calls.He was a dick about the whole thing and told her it was her problem, he would call back in 3 or 4 months and see if everything was over and done with whatever the hell that meant.
I had enough and told her to go see a lawyer, this has been going on for over 8 months now and theyve paid nothing to anyone, Im not getting my wages garnished over this mess.We discussed it and werent even expecting a large lawsuit or settlement, pay the hospital bills and pay her for missed work etc... they could have settled the whole thing for a few thousand dollars before I got a lawyer involved.
She contacted them and told them they would be hearing from her lawyer, the guy actually hung up on her.Now im thoroughly pissed, Ive been very reasonable for the better part of year and her legs still screwed up and not improving much anymore.The lawyer looked at everything and informed us we could get a lot more than we were after{not getting into specific amounts}and he would be glad to handle it.
My question is Im assuming most people are like me, I just wanted this headache over and done with as quickly and painlessly as possible for everyone without getting screwed in the process.Why would they let it get to the point where I have to get lawyers and the legal system involved, they have no grounds for not paying the claim, they know they have no basis for screwing us around and they know its gonna cost a lot more in the long run to do it this way.Were bailing these idiots out and this is how theyre conducting business, its no wonder theyre going broke.
A friend of mine along withgirl friendwere run over and killed by a truck while sitting at a red light in Denver. The scummy trucking company said that their driver did nothing wrong. The trucking companys insurance would not pay. Daughter of my friend got a good lawyer and sued the socks out of the trucking company and their insurance company. She was awarded millions but that does not bring her dad back.
I got hit a couple yrs ago...after diking around w/ the others insurance, as soon as I mentioned lawyer, they coughed up the $ I asked for. The guy said 'if you need to get a lawyer, thats your deal.' of course, i said they too would end up paying the law fees too. shortly after, they settled w/o the lawyer.
Best wishes to you and the mrs.
oh, and let me guess....the guy that hit you had St. Farm?
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David
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Insurance companies aren't going broke. I worked for one in the IT dept and learned a lot. They figure the lawsuits are just the cost of doing business, and have legal staff on hand to cover a dozen suits at once. They figure you might get sick of arguing and either go away or take their low ball offer. If you do go to court and you have a decent case they delay as long as possible and then settle at the last minute before trial starts. For every time that happens, a couple dozen people cave, so it comes out ahead for the company. Even those multi-million dollar awards you read about are appealed and often reduced. If there is an actual payout of millions, and it does happen sometimes, the re-insurance company ends up paying it. Of course in the end insurance rates go up a little so we all pay it.
There is actually another side to it as well; for every innocent victim like the ones described above there's a scam artist who will take a couple thousand and go away. The whole system is corrupt, but don't expect it to change any time soon.
Oh theyve tried all sorts of things, theyre claiming my wife was speeding and is partly at fault, only problem is the cops found no reason to believe she was speeding, she was never charged, and thier only witness said she was doing 40 mph in a 25, but went on to say she couldnt judge speed very well and she was the guys girlfriend, he was turning in to pick her up.According to them shes responsible for 10%[:'(]Idiots.
Then they made her go to thier knee specialist who said she didnt have anything wrong with her knee and wouldnt operate on it, funny that our family surgeon had to pull a piece of her kneecap out that had actually sheared off from the force of the accident.Since the first moron wouldnt fix it or even adknowledge it was broken she had to walk around with a piece of bone in her knee floating around for weeks waiting to get approved for a second opinion.Of course that screwed things up worse and made a more extensive surgery than was called for.This whole deals gonna cause her more problems all through her life now according to her doctor and physical therapist[:@]
Now theyre simply ignoring us all together, tell them were being sued for bills they should be paying they tell us theyll check back in 3 to 4 months.WTF is that?Im being sued now, 3 to 4months isnt even an option, the hospitals dont care who is responsible for the bill, they want thier money.
As a result of her losing 6 weeks of work it cut our income in half, my creditors are now after me to pay them, its a disaster and Im the one getting screwed, not to mention I had to take out another car loan since she wrecked the one Id just bought.Im done being reasonable, I hope my lawyer rapes em for every dime he can milk out of them.
A close acquaintance of mine A. Nonny Mouse says the stalling is part of their strategy. Here's what they stand to gain.
1- You'll get desperate and settle for less.
2- Evidence gets stale or lost and witnesses forget.
3- If you wait long enough, the statute of limitations may run out.
4- The longer you wait, the more you recover from the injury and you look less sympathetic to a jury.
5- They make money by investing the premium money. If they give it to you they don't earn interest/dividends on the money.
Solution? If you're involved in an accident, see a lawyer right away to evaluate your claim. If you have a claim, let the lawyer handle it. If you don't have a claim, you might as well find out right away so you can plan accordingly.
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Proud parents of our own "Daddy's Little Girls"
I heard Jesus He drank wine and I bet we'd get along just fine.
The guys insurance company started screwing her over from the begining, they told her to file the medical bills with her health insurance who of course refused to pay them...
Why? And does your car's insurance offer any type of medical insurance for the driver and passengers? Did the health insurance carrier advise you to exhaust that first? Not doubting you, just asking questions, Peta. Because these matters are hardly something the one experiences with regularity, confusion and misunderstanding is easily fostered. If you were refused by your health insurance carrier, they should have given a reason. Check that reason against your health insurance...which is a contract. Does your contract exclude auto accidents? That would be unusual, wouldn't it?
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But these guys pushed and pushed untill I had no choice...
The contract involved usually requires that the other guy be LEGALLY responsible for the accident. That is usually proven in a court of law. Was he convicted of the citation?
Then the actual amount of damages must be determined and essentially agreed upon. I"ve never heard of any formula wherein a knee is automatically worth X dollars and an arm is worth Y dollars. That is where lawyers are often involved, right? You also mentioned that you missed work. Do you expect to be compensated for that? Again, I respect you very much, not doubting your integrity, but your post raises a lot of interesting issues and questions.
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Oh theyve tried all sorts of things, theyre claiming my wife was speeding and is partly at fault, only problem is the cops found no reason to believe she was speeding, she was never charged, and thier only witness said she was doing 40 mph in a 25, but went on to say she couldnt judge speed very well and she was the guys girlfriend, he was turning in to pick her up.According to them shes responsible for 10%Idiots.
Do a search for "comparative negligence." I don't know if it applies, but it might be a factor in your state. If so, nothing is ever as cut and dried as it might otherwise be.
Even then, the "value" of any litigation is subjective and dependent upon many factors. That any firm, individual, or insurance company does not start throwing checks at everyone in sight after an incident is no surprise in this era where even the slightest slight has a price tags and attorneys can advertise their "services."
Aluminumshooter, your post was interesting. I wasn't aware that IT guys are granted access to board meetings. I mean, after all, you'd have to have attended to a few to be able to make statements like, "They figure you might get sick of arguing and either go away or take their low ball offer."
You also wrote, "If you do go to court and you have a decent case they delay as long as possible and then settle at the last minute before trial starts." I would think that is a function of the court system and not the contracts involved.
But of course, I could be wrong. Did you attend board meetings and hear the discussion of mission statements to the effects I mentioned? Or did you ever see such matters reduced to writing? Just curious.
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The whole system is corrupt, but don't expect it to change any time soon.
The bulk of the processes involves contracts, negligence or the lack thereof, and the legal system. I wonder if the attorneys we have on board would agree that the litigation now commonplace after car accidents is a function of corruption.
Why the insurance companies are broke
Idiots.
