QuestionQUESTION: HI
Iwas involved in a high speed collision defendants car was speeding lost control of his car hit my car and rolled my car over. Diagnosed three days later with a bulging disk c5-c6. Since then my neck has not healed its even gotten worse. After over a year and a half of physical therapy My ortho recommended that I see a rumotologist his diagnosis was fibromyalgia. The force of the blow was so strong that threw me forward against my shoulder restraint and my head snapped forward and back. The impact was so big that the safety belt did not keep me from being thrown against the steering wheel and striking my left arm because I had a large black bruise the next day on my arm and my collar bone cut my head 4 stitches. My car total lost. also I've developed lots of headaches. I have a lot of pain. I'm worried about the case that can not pay off my medical bills. I have a attorney. I did MRI but did not show anything except one small bulging disc and I still have constant muscle spasms in my neck(C5 C6 area) and left shoulder. Over a year later. I was 100% heathy before this and Im a golf pro and cant perform or practice. WHAT else CAN I DO?
CAN I WIN
ANSWER: Hi Roco,
I am sorry to hear of your severe injury. Let’s hope that you can get some treatment to be restored to good health.
As for the medical bills, you will have to use both your own auto insurance PIP or MedPay coverage and your own health insurance.
As for the herniated disc and associated problems, your attorney should be able to get adequate compensation for those. Is he or she an experienced trial attorney? Those proofs can be made by any good personal injury attorney. The problem is going to be proof of your fibromyalgia.
Those are serious injuries, and unfortunately for you, fibromyalgia is a very hard case to prove. Given your injuries, it is easy enough to see how one can get to that conclusion of causation, but I am warning you: fibromyalgia will be strongly resisted by the insurance industry if one tries to claim it was brought on by trauma.
Hence, unless your attorney is EXPERIENCED AND A MEMBER OF YOUR STATE TRIAL LAWYERS Association http://www.settlementcentral.com/links.php
he or she is going to have to compromise your claim because he does not know the proof of traumatic fibromyalgia. THAT might take a referral to an attorney who has done at least one or two successful fibromyalgia cases before.
In my old office we thought that we could do the proof, since it seemed simple, with just the kind of referrals you got: medical doctor to rheumatologist, and thence the fibromyalgia diagnosis. But because the claim was so large, the insurance attorney brought in expert doctors who vigorously disputed our doctors. We had to bring in an expert trial attorney who had done a number of fibromyalgia cases in order to succeed with the fibromyalgia claim.
Hence, in direct answer to your two questions: #1, can you win, and #2, what else can you do----I offer the following for your consideration:
FIRST, what do you mean by “win”?
Your attorney should be able to get you adequate money for your bulging disc and all associated pain and suffering and loss of work and future problems from that disc injury. Those sums might well exceed BOTH the policy limits of the tortfeasor and your own Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage.
For example, in most states the minimums are $25,000 for bodily injury coverage. What if the tortfeasor had $25K and your UIM is $50K? Your attorney—or perhaps even a blind dog with a note in its mouth—should be able to get those limits paid out to you. Is that a “WIN”? I do not know—what about the assets of the tortfeasor?
What if the combined limits are $100K? How would you then define a “WIN”? In my book, it would be NOTHING LESS than the full $100K. Can you get there? I say YES, PROVIDED YOU HAVE A GOOD, EXPERIENCED TRIAL ATTORNEY. If you have an attorney who does not like to go to trial, or who is not a member of your state trial lawyers association, then you may find that your award will fall short of the full $100K.
Now, for FULL VALUE, you would have to include the fibromyalgia and PROVE IT. Here we are talking about combined tortfeasor and UIM limits in excess of $100,000. If the limits DO EXCEED $100K, then you will need to prove the fibromyalgia causation in order to get to the bigger money. How much money? I have knowledge of such cases as yours, when proven by an attorney who knows what he is doing with fibromyalgia, and who IS WILLING TO HELP FINANCE THE EXPERT DOCTORS you will have to hire, that resulted in verdicts (NO—the insurance industry is reluctant to settle fibromyalgia cases) in excess of $350,000 and $600,000, respectively.
The issue is: what assets and insurance is on the table in your case? THAT answer will determine whether or not your attorney will have to hire an expert attorney and expert doctors.
BUT, it will be difficult to get full value for your fibromyalgia. You might ask why fibromyalgia should be so difficult to prove since your doctors already said it was caused by the accident. For example, look at the articles on Wikipedia and the Mayo Clinic to see how difficult it is going to be to prove a traumatic connection with your fibromyalgia
Here is the Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibromyalgia
Take a look down the page to the section titled “Hypotheses on the cause of fibromyalgia.” Answer this: wherein do you see trauma as a leading cause—or even mentioned at all?
Same thing on the Mayo Clinic page: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fibromyalgia/DS00079/DSECTION=3
Except here, you will find that INJURY IS LISTED AS A CAUSE. But note how the article starts out: “Doctors don't know what causes fibromyalgia.” Then comes the supposition, which will require an expert doctor for an opinion:
“Injury. An injury or trauma, particularly in the upper spinal region, may trigger the development of fibromyalgia in some people. An injury may affect your central nervous system, which may trigger fibromyalgia.”
OK, you get the point. Now for your second question: What else can you do?
I would cooperate fully with the doctors and with your attorney for starters. Be a good historian. I would ask the attorney to learn the policy limits. If they are really low (i.e. less than $50K), then I would WRITE BACK TO ME so we can see if you can fire the attorney and do the settlement yourself.
If the limits are high, then I would read up on fibromyalgia and discuss with your attorney how he plans to prove it.
Best wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
www.SettlementCentral.Com
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I BELIVE ITS 100K PER POLICY MINE AND HIS.
ALSO 5000 MEDICAL FROM MINE
I DIDNT WANT TO SOUND GREEDY BUT THIS GUY MESSED ME UP BIG TIME.
IM STILL PO'D AS YOU CAN IMAGINE OVER A YEAR AND A 1/2 PYHSICAL THREAPY NO CHANGE AND EVEN GOTTEN WORSE THATS JUST NUTS "WINNING" WOULD BE THE MAXIMUM SETTLEMENT I THINK
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP
AnswerYo, Roco,
Thanks for the nice comments on the Feedback Forum. We all appreciate that kind of response.
As for your own feelings, I agree 100%. I have personally suffered two serious accidents and had two shoulder (L & R) surgeries and a bulging disc in the lumbar area.
Guess what: once you settle, the problems DO NOT JUST GO AWAY. Even now my lower back can flare up.
So next time you hear the President or the insurance industry spouting off about big tort verdicts, tell them to stuff it. Those are made up rare examples and most of us NEVER GET ANYWHERE NEAR THE MONEY THAT IS NEEDED FOR THE INJURIES WE HAVE SUSTAINED.
In your case, you might have enough to do pretty well with the report of the reumatologist to supplement your proof of the disc injury.
Try to keep a positive outlook, and I hope you heal up OK. And of course, let's hope that your attorney can muster some good solid support from the medical community.
Best wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
www.SettlementCentral.Com
