QuestionHi, my name is David, I’m 19 and I was in a car accident on May 18th, 2007. I was going through an intersection when the other car ran a red light and I ended up hitting him. I kind of hit him at an angle going about 30-35mph and I spun around to the left 180 degrees hit a light pole and then spun around the other direction to the right about 180 degrees before rolling to a stop. The other driver was found at fault. When I got out of the car I was in pain but I was able to stand and walk, I was more pissed off then anything but was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital for x-rays. Nothing was found broken, fractured, or anything however, they did not take x-rays for my back, I later had that done at with a Chiropractor (in California) and had an MRI done with a Physical Therapist (in Arizona). There was no herniated disc or ruptures or anything too severe other then whiplash and one of my discs, L2 was very, very small. I was doing treatment on a VAX-D Decompression machine, Physical Therapy, and MED-EX for my lower back (lumbar spine). I wasn’t working for a few months, I couldn’t even stand for more then 10-15 minutes and about a 1-2 months of starting treatment I got a job at a movie theatre, bad idea. With the treatment I was doing I was still in a lot of pain, missed a few appoints because I was in too much pain to drive, and a few appoints that I went to in pain were shortened because they didn’t want me to hurt myself. During my first month working at the movies, I was in intense pain everyday that I worked, which was only 2-3 days a week, usually on the weekends, and I had begun my MED-EX treatment. Working and MED-EX combined was just too much, I either had to miss work or miss my appointments because I was in too much pain. But this was only during my appointments / work, at home when I did nothing, I was fine, a few headaches and dull sometimes sharp pains here and there but I was able to function at home. For this reason my doctor just said to sit down at work or don’t work and he didn’t prescribe any medication. After just putting up with it because I needed the money (which still wasn’t very much) I started to have spasms in my upper back. When those started I also started to have more sharp pains in my lower back and was really, really, really stiff. I felt as if my discs were grinding bone on bone. After that I went to another doctor, a family physician, who prescribed me an anti-flammatory and muscle relaxers for the spasms. The muscle relaxers were enough to put me to sleep and I would be so tired I would still feel the pain but it was tolerable. I was only able to take them at night and sometimes I would sleep for a good 5-8 hours, sometimes 3, and sometimes 12+. It just varied on how bad it was at work. One day I went to work and after 15 minutes of walking around I couldn’t move without almost being in tears from pain. I had to leave early and 2 weeks later I just quit. It was too much. After that I was taken off MED-EX and put on just “core” therapy, basically physical therapy for a little less then a month. I then moved to CA (the accident took place in AZ) and am trying to seek therapy out here. My attorney already wants to settle, I have about $10,000 in medical bills, I already received a check for my car for about $2900, it was an 1994 Oldsmobile. But I am still suffering from pain and am no where near being “fixed”. Just the other day I was twitching in my sleep and every few days maybe 1-2 out of the week I am in really bad pain and the other days I’m “OK”, its tolerable. My attorney wants to settle, even though I am not done with my therapy, I am waiting on documents from my doctors to see how well everything is documented so that I can continue treatment in California. But my attorney says I will barely be able to get enough to cover my current medical expenses + pain and suffering etc. Any suggestions?
AnswerHi David,
The statue of limitations in Arizona for settling a personal injury case without having to go through the formality of filing a lawsuit is two years.
If you did your homework and hired a competent attorney with Trial Experience, he should have done at least three things by now.
1. Filed a formal demand to the adverse company to reveal policy limits. This means he knows exactly how much insurance is available.
2. Researched the assets of the driver & owner of the other vehicle to determine if there any attachable assets in the event he takes your case to trial.
3. Reviewed your own insurance policy to determine if you have a claim with your own company from the underinsured motorists portion of your policy if the adverse company settles for their policy limits.
You need to have a thorough discussion with your attorney on these three items.
Based on the description of your injuries, your claim has a very high settlement potential, assuming the funds are available. This is why the assets of the at fault driver/owner need to be researched.
Since only about 15% of the attorneys practicing personal injury cases have ever taken a case to trial, it's very possible that you have an attorney that is not qualified to represent you in the event that the at fault party has a lot of attachable assets. You may have to consider firing your attorney and hiring one with proper experience IF there are large attachable assets involved.
It is also possible that the driver/owner has no assets, that the adverse company is offering to settle for policy limits and you have no grounds to claim against your own company's underinsured motorist coverage. If that is the case, then the amount that you can collect now is no less than the amount you can collect a year from now, there is no reason to delay the settlement.
You need to have a very thorough discussion with your attorney and then make a decision.
After that discussion, It might be to your advantage to have a consultation with a large law firm in California who also has offices in Arizona. In most cases, the first consultation is free.
I hope this information is found to be helpful.
Your feedback by rating my answer will be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area
