Auto Insurance Claims: Claim Settlement !!, soft tissue injury, specialist chiropractor

Question
Hello:

Thanks for the excellent forum. I was rear ended by the company mini-truck nearly a year ago. The truck driver was at fault. Cops came on the scene and the other driver was find at fault. I did suffer back and neck injuries which were mentioned in the police report. My car was totalled.

In the past year, I have been to ER, Urgent care, CT-scan, MRI, Spine specialist, Chiropractor, Physical Therapy.. all this not at once but over the 1 year period. I suffer from severe low-back pain and the pain is just not going away. All reports say its strain/soft tissue injury (disk is fine). I am in Minnesota (no-fault state) and my insurance has paid for all the medical bills (close to $7000). The other insurance (Allied/Nationwide) paid for the car.

The adjuster from Allied called me the other day and asked me if I wanted to settle the claim and I said yes.. she asked me if there was a amount in my mind and I said 25K and told her everything I went through and still going through.. As an FYI, after reading these forums and some books I have gained fair amount of knowledge on how to handle the settlement myself. I have no attorney.
Did I ask too much? (25K).. The adjuster has been asking me to settle for the past 6 months but I told that person it was important for me to go through treatment and my back-pain prognosis was more important than settling the claim... but finally last week after nearly a year I said yes.

Wondering if I asked the right amount (too much or too less). I know that adjuster is going to low-ball me next time he calls me.

Thanks for your time.
-Sam


Answer
Hi Sam,
The statue of limitations in Wisconsin is two years from the date of the accident.
It's a favorite ploy of the insurance adjuster to rush you into an early settlement before you have received adequate treatment.

There are many factors used to determine the value of your settlement.
Including, but not limited to, your medical bills, lost wages, cost of travel to each medical appointment at $0.465 per mile and your doctors statements as to what the future costs of medical treatment might be and whether or not this is going to cause a long term disability or future changes in your job or lifestyle.

Since I am not an attorney, I have to be careful on how I word my answer, otherwise, I will have the Minnesota Bar Association on my back for providing free legal advise.

First, I don't feel that you should have made a demand until you are fully recovered.  In my opinion, based on similar cases that I have seen in the past 44 years, your demand of $25,000 is on the low side,
considering the fact that you are still treating and, at this moment, still don't know what's going to be the exact cure for your injury.
If the adjuster comes back and accepts your demand, you will have to accept the payment.  If the adjuster makes a counter offer, then I recommend that you withdraw your demand and see this thought to the end.  It's conceivable that the additional medical bills and lost wages during the next year will bring the value of your claim to
$40,000+.

If this claim is not settled by the 20th month after the accident, you need to file documents to extend the time statue.  You can handle this yourself, but I would recommend that you secure and attorney or para-legal for this purpose.  The cost should be minimal, probably less than $500.

I hope that you find this information to be helpful.
Your feedback by rating my answer will be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area