QuestionI WAS INVOLVED IN AN AUTO ACCIDENT IN WHICH I WAS REAR ENDED TWO MONTHS
AGO. I WAS ABOUT EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT AT THE TIME AND THE OTHER
DRIVER ADMITTED FULL LIABILITY. I WAS ADMITTED INTO THE HOSPITAL OVERNIGHT
BECAUSE THE ACCIDENT SENT ME INTO PRETERM LATER WHICH LATER SLOWED DOWN
SO I WAS RELEASED. WITHIN 30 MINUTES OF ME BEING RELEASED FROM THE
HOSPITAL HER INSURANCE COMPANY WAS AT THE DOOR. HE INFORMED ME THAT HE
HAD A CHECK FOR ME FOR $2500 AND THAT THEY WOULD PAY 10,000 FOR MEDICAL
EXPENSES INCURRED AND AN ADDITIONAL 5000 FOR MEDICAL EXPENSES INCURRED
WITHIN 90 DAYS OF THE SETTLEMENT. HE SAID BECAUSE THERE WAS NO POLICE
REPORT THAT WOULD BE ALL THAT I WOULD BE ABLE TO GET IN COURT. I
ACCEPTED AND SIGNED THE RELEASE. TWO WEEKS LATER I WAS ADMITTED INTO THE
HOSPITAL FOR EMERGENCY SURGERY, I WAS BLEEDING INTERNALLY, AND MY PLACENTA
HAD ABRUPTED, MY BABY WAS IN DISTRESS, AND I HAD TO HAVE AN EMERGENCY
C-SECTION. I WAS TOLD BY MY DOCTORS THAT THESE ISSUES WERE A DIRECT
RESULT OF THE ACCIDENT. MY INSURANCE DID NOT COVER THE FULL BILL AND WHEN
I TALKED TO THE INSURANCE COMPANY FROM THE ACCIDENT I WAS TOLD THAT I
WOULD BE REIMBURSED UPTO THE AMOUNT AGREED UPON. WELL I HAVE FAXED
COPIES OF ALL RECIEPTS TO THEM AND EVERY TIME I TALK TO THEM HE SAYS HE IS
TRYING TO FIND OUT A WHY MY INSURANCE COMPANY DID NOT PAY THESE CHARGES
AND THEY HAVE ALREADY STATED BECAUSE THEY WERE IN DIRECT RELATION TO
THE ACCIDENT. I HAVE JUST BARELY HEALED WELL ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO DRIVE
I CAN BARELY DO THINGS THAT WERE SIMPLE BEFORE I HAVE CONSTANT PAINS IN
MY BACK, ME AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY MY CHILD ALMOST DIED, I LOST OVER A
LITER OF BLOOD AND NEEDED A BLOOD TRANSFUSION. FOR ALL THIS THEY PAID
ME $2500 AND HAVE YET TO PAY ON OR REIMBURSE ANY OF MY BILLS. MY DOCTOR
SAYS I SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY AND FIND OUT IF IT MATTERS THAT I WAS
NOT 100 PERCENT WHEN THE CONTRACT WAS SIGNED AND THE INSURANCE COMPANY
KNEW THIS. I SIGNED THIS AGREEMENT HALF AN HOUR OUT THE HOSPITAL ON
PERCOSET AND MUSCLE RELAXANTS. I WOULD NOT BOTH!
ER BUT I
T SEEMS EVERYONE KEEPS SAYING THERE OUGHT TO BE SOMETHING I CAN DO
BECAUSE THE ONLY ONE PAYING HERE IS MEPHYSICALLY FINANCIALLY AND
EMOTIONALLY. SO HAVE I MESSED UP OR CAN THIS BE FIXED
AnswerInsurance adjuster misrepresentation
Insurance settlement OK with no police report
No police report needed to get insurance award
Good faith insurance settlement practices
Bad faith insurance practices
Getting out of insurance release
Getting out of insurance settlement
Avoiding agreement to settle
Consumer protection act violation
Dear Trish,
Well, maybe you feel you made a mistake, but I do not. That snake deceived you and purposely took advantage of you at a time when you were incapacitated, and we are going to get him. You WILL PREVAIL IN THIS.
Don’t be hard on yourself Trish: the insurance industry has mostly very good adjusters: how were you to know he was deceiving you and taking advantage of you? Plus you are a smart lady to ask these questions, because we are going to get you TOTAL RELIEF. Now follow my lead here and DO NOT CONTACT THE INSURANCE COMPANY AT ALL. You are done with that snake.
You were seriously injured and someone took advantage of your mental state and lied to you. Don’t you just love the insurance industry and those politicians who work to protect it?
I feel that you were absolutely abused by the insurance industry and so I will work with you personally to find a competent attorney who will help you. E-mail me at my site (“contact us” block) and mention where we met so I can retrieve this report of yours. Give me your contact information and a lot more about both the accident and your other injuries.
I will work hard to find you a good attorney who will get this overturned and help you to file an insurance commissioner complaint versus the adjuster and his supervisor.
Here are the general rules for getting out of a settlement agreement. It is like any contract, in which there are certain defenses to the formation of the contract. In this case, I see three possible defenses to your contract.
1. LACK OF CAPACITY. Your doctor has raised the first defense to the contract, and that is lack of capacity to contract.
2. MISREPRESENTATION. The second defense to the contact is if one party is in a position of power or specific knowledge and misrepresents a fact crucial to the decision to enter into the contract, it is voidable at your election.
3. UNKNOWN DAMAGES. This could be the weakest of the three reasons to avoid the contract, but it is valid in my eyes. Neither you nor your doctor at the ER nor the adjuster knew or had reason to know at the time that you would suffer the damages you did. Thus, the basis of the agreement was founded on a false premise: to-wit: a belief that you would have no problems with your baby.
One other thing I am going to ask the attorney to go for is a violation of the consumer protection act in your state. That type of abusive behavior has no place in good honest insurance adjusting. Usually the winning complainant gets treble damages plus attorney’s fees. This award is ON TOP OF your personal injury award.
Give me more facts and cities of the accident, where the tortfeasor lives, name of insurance company, and county seat.
All the best to you, Trish,
David,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
Http://www.SettlementCentral.Com
