QuestionOn July 2008 I was involved in an MVA. I had immediate signs of pain which continue on until today. The other party was definitely at fault and since she totaled my car I was out of a vehicle. I still owed money on my car so on top of buying a new vehicle, I owed a fairly large amount of money on my totaled car. My medical bills as of right now are nearly $20,000. I spoke with the attorney I have hired and he has told me that I probably can not have any more treatments (for my back) as the policy limits are nearly expired. (I'm a little confused regarding any legal jargon so, I hope I'm getting most of it correct). He wants to make sure that I have enough settlement money to cover the loss of my totaled vehicle, new vehicle, pain and suffering, lost wages at work and any future medical bills.
My back seems to be getting worse and he has said on more than one occasion that my medical treatments are too expensive. I'm at a loss here, I'm considering acupuncture as a final means (for now) and want to pay without having any LOP's from my attorney and just to owe my insurance myself. Would this interfere with what is already going on with my settlement?
I hardly ever get to speak to my attorney with regards to my accident. He is impossible to get a hold of and he never contacts me to fill me in on what is going on. As of now, he has told me to hold treatment off for a month, see how I feel, and in the mean time he is going to find out policy limits and begin requesting medical records.
Am I getting the run-around? And what can I do in the meantime for treatment if I can't "pay for anything"
AnswerYou're throwing a lot of details at me.
My initial reaction is to look for another attorney... you can do that.
If your car was totaled you should be able to get the Actual Cash Value (ACV)/Book Value for that car. Depending on how you financed the vehicle that may or may not be enough to pay off the note.. that is not the insurance company's problem.. they only owe the true ACV and not what may be owed on the car. That part of the claim should have been concluded by now and can be separately concluded prior to the settlement of any injury claim
Ask you attorney to tell you what the liability limits (amount of available coverage) are for the at-fault party.
Based on $20K worth of medicals if that available coverage is less than $50K I would ask your attorney whether you can make/have made an UnderInsured Motorist claim.. assuming you have that coverage on your own policy.. have him explain the concept of UnderInsured claims.
Did you have Medical Payments coverage on your own auto policy that would pay incurred medicals up to that limit?
Do you have Health Care coverage (through an employer, etc)?
. If so you can run your medicals though them for handling/payment. Depending on the type of policy/contract you have with your HealthCare provider they may have a lien against any future settlement of your injury claim up to the amount of medicals they paid.
There appears to be a lot going on here and you probably do need an attorney to fully protect your interests.
With that said you need to remind you attorney that he is getting upwards of 1/3 of your action and you expect him to earn it and to be timely responsive to your every inquiry.
Back claims can be tricky especially if they are soft tissue (strain/sprain) in nature and especially if super-imposed on pre-existing degenerative issues which is oft times the case.
I would caution you about any uni-lateral actions as that may jeopardize the over-all nature/value of your claim.
Talk to your present attorney and make him/her aware of your concerns. If he/she doesn't address them I would say it's time to discharge your attorney and move on with another more attentive/response lawyer.. they are out there.
Hope and trust that the above helps.
Get back to me with specific followup issues......
