QuestionMy wife and three children were all involved in an accident 3 months ago and we live in Missouri. The accident was not her fault. Our insurance made us an offer on the property damage and so did the other persons insurance but the other insurance offered $1,000.00 less than mine did. What are my options. The other issue is that my wife got whiplash and the 3 children received moderate injuries. Even though 3 months has passed they still have no proceeded on this claim. They tell us that since kids were involved that they have to get a lawyer to represent them and that it will probably take another 3 months. when is sufficient time to settle this and is it to much to ask that my wife and kids be compensated somewhat for what they went through. thanks for your advice.
AnswerHi Wayne,
Since your own company has made a far better offer for the damage to your car, you should deal with them for that portion of the claim. If you carry medical payment coverage under your own auto policy, you should be having them pay all the medical bills.
In Missouri, the Statue of Limitations for settling a personal injury claim is five years. This law was written for your benefit, not for the insurance company. This means that in very serious injury cases, you can't be rushed into an early settlement (some states only have a 1 year limit).
I hope that your wife is treating with a Medical Doctor and he is prescribing Physical Therapy. The entire insurance industry is extremely anti-Chiropractor. If she is treating with a Chiropractor, this will reduce the value of her claim by 45%-50%.
Once your wife is fully recovered from her injury and released by her doctor, then she will be in a position to start negotiating a settlement for her injuries.
She will need to prepare a list of her 'specials'. This is all her economic losses which will include Ambulance bill, ER visit, each doctor visit, each therapy visit, any prescription drugs and the round trip mileage for each visit she made for medical treatment or to pick up prescriptions at $0.43 per mile. If she suffered any loss of wages, she will need a documented statement from her employer for the amount of loss. Once she totals these losses, she she should multiply this total by 3.2 (to include pain and suffering) and make a written demand against the other insurance company for that amount.
At that time, the negotiation process begins. She will be offered a much lower amount to which she will counter offer by slightly lowering her demand. This negotiation process can take a period of weeks or months. She should eventually be able to settle the claim for somewhere between 2.5 - 2.7 times her 'specials', unless the majority of her specials are Chiropractor bills. If that is the case, the best offer she can expect will be between 1.5 - 1.7 times her specials.
The attorney appointed by the insurance will work with you to reach a settlement for the children. Again, this is a process of negotiation. His first offer will be to low and you will have to negotiate for a higher amount. Once you have reached an agreement for each child, an appointment will be made for you and your family and the attorney to meet in a private session in court in front of a judge.
The judge will review each childs injuries and each amount being offered. Once he is satisfied that all the offers are fair, he will approve the awards and have them placed in an interest bearing trust account and they will become available to each child on their 18th birthday.
I trust that this has been of help.
Your feedback by rating my answer will be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area 12-07-07 2:14 PM PST
