QuestionEight months ago, I was hit head on by a driver who crossed the center line into my lane while I was on my way to work. He was killed in the accident and I luckily survived due to my seat belt and airbags. He was found to be completely at fault. My car was totaled. Responders had to cut the roof and door off of my vehicle to remove me. I suffered a fracture to my fibula (no splinting necessary) cuts to my foot which have scarred, bruising all over my chest, hip and legs, and I have a 6"x6" area on the inside of my leg near the knee which suffered nerve damage. To this day there is no sensation to light touch, but any bump to the area causes a lot of pain. The doctor said it may never go away. I had one physical therapy visit for short lived neck pain which thankfully has not come back.
I missed a couple of full days of work and two half days. After that I was back to work, but was in physical, though not severe pain for quite a while. My calves began to hurt so badly, especially on the side where I had the fracture and nerve damage, that I had an ultrasound to rule out blood clots.
I am feeling well enough to settle my claim now. I don't expect any other medical expenses associated with this accident. My car has already been paid for. Now, I just need to put a value on my injuries. I have read Settlement Central's site that says to multiple the medical bills by 1.5 - 5 depending on severity. What would you recommend as a multiplier based on my injuries?
AnswerHI Carolyn,
You are to be commended for reading www.SettlementCentral.Com insurance claim settlement information, BUT who told you that I put up the “right stuff” there? If you are a member at www.SettlementCentral.Com then write to me directly care of the “contact us” and pass along your username and password and ask for them to transfer your message to me and I will show you more on the members’ side dealing with difficult cases such as yours.
It is hard in a case like yours to make any real judgment on valuation because of the nerve damage. There is no medical billing to speak of associated with nerve damage and the one or two visits that amount to zilch in medical specials.
Hence, you have a claim that has little in medicals, but a lot in terms of long term pain and suffering. Thus the value has little or no relationship to the amount of medical bills. So no formula is of any use here, and as we say on our site, they are not really followed anyway since the insurance industry has purchased Colossus for $3 million per company using it.
Here is what I have seen in cases that involved nerve damage. The patch on the inside of your leg sounds like a painful neuroma to me—sometimes called a pseudoneuroma as well. In my cases these were nerve ends that produced sharp pain when bumped. One of which was just below the knee, and
My clients had these for 3 and 4 years before their cases resolved, and we were able to get full value based upon expert testimony that this painful condition was not going to just disappear once the money came in, but would be with my clients for the rest of their lives.
I would get a narrative letter from your doctor. If you are a www.SettlementCentral.Com member, go to the Narrative Reports Module on the left hand side of the Main Members’ Menu, under “What to Do”. The instructions there are complete. But if you are not a member, then here is the free page with a skeleton of the concept for you. Narrative reports http://www.settlementcentral.com/page8003.htm settle insurance claims. Your doctor may have to send you to a neurologist to get the definitive word on whether or not there is any medical help that can be given to you. But FOR SURE you need a medical opinion in writing with the statement he made to you about this being a lifetime injury that will always produce pain.
Just make sure before you go there to be examined again that you have some instances you can tell about when you were stabbed by that pain unexpectedly while doing normal activities. Also, get some witness statements to the same effect that will show you blurting out or grimacing when the pain struck you.
The next thing is to wait for settlement until you have gone through a full season change to see if your broken bone produces any ache with the change in weather (actually it is the change in barometric pressure and sometime humidity that gets blamed). I have had numerous clients with broken bones who suffered pains when the weather changed. The onset of this was months after the break healed, so who knows when it might show up. But I would wait to see what the winter months bring to your pains in the leg and feet.
Along with your other significant injuries, you do have a claim of substantial value. If the other side has minimal limits, or anything less than $50,000, you should be able to put together a good demand letter to get those limits. If your own UIM is minimal, then perhaps you have two policy limits claims here: the third party claim and your UIM, if the total insurance is only $50,000 to $75,000. Do you know what the policy limits are?
This was a very hard crash. Document it in your package. If you can make a well-documented medical and loss of enjoyment of life package, complete with good witness statements and SOLID doctor reports of the nature described above, you can support a demand for settlement in six figures.
Best wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
www.SettlementCentral.Com
