- Jurisdiction
- North Carolina
We were in a car accident. It was on a 5 lane city street with the center lane for left turning vehicles. We were hit head on by the at-fault driver attempting to make a left while we were in the lane next to the center lane. She was cited, her car was damaged greatly, and ours was totaled. There is one injury that we are trying to settle with. We have been told that it is a very serious injury. After being fully treated and released by the orthopedic surgeon, we tried working with the insurance adjuster. The first offer was less than the medical bills (I thought that was against the law). We negotiated back and forth a little and got a little over medical bills.
The injury was a severely broken wrist with 3 breaks and shattered fragments. It is on the dominant arm. The break was straight across the radial and ulna. The major break was a distal radius fracture. This sheered the bone at the joint and shattered many pieces. We were told surgery was scheduled for 2 weeks, but 4 hours after release from ER, we were called by the head surgeon to get in for immediate surgery. The damage and fragments were a danger to the artery. After a year of physical therapy, there is going to be permanent restriction in movement by 10%, arthritis/tendinitis are already present. Surgeon has stated that if the tendinitis does not go away after 5 years, another surgery may be necessary. Total medical bills were $33,000 (before insurance); $20,000 (after insurance).
We have had to retain counsel and file a lawsuit. This is not one of the ambulance chasers. I do not know why, but lawyers do not like talking numbers. I think they are afraid that if they do and don't hit it that there will be a problem. We have never been in a situation like this. I have looked at calculators online which I think are a joke but the only thing I have to go on. When we ask what our attorney thinks, he simply says he will get us fair value. To me, that means nothing.
Based on the garbage information I have found online, it would lead me to believe that this would be worth $60,000 - $150,000. But there is no right way to estimate something like that.
Do any of you experts have any guidance on what may be a realistic range?
The injury was a severely broken wrist with 3 breaks and shattered fragments. It is on the dominant arm. The break was straight across the radial and ulna. The major break was a distal radius fracture. This sheered the bone at the joint and shattered many pieces. We were told surgery was scheduled for 2 weeks, but 4 hours after release from ER, we were called by the head surgeon to get in for immediate surgery. The damage and fragments were a danger to the artery. After a year of physical therapy, there is going to be permanent restriction in movement by 10%, arthritis/tendinitis are already present. Surgeon has stated that if the tendinitis does not go away after 5 years, another surgery may be necessary. Total medical bills were $33,000 (before insurance); $20,000 (after insurance).
We have had to retain counsel and file a lawsuit. This is not one of the ambulance chasers. I do not know why, but lawyers do not like talking numbers. I think they are afraid that if they do and don't hit it that there will be a problem. We have never been in a situation like this. I have looked at calculators online which I think are a joke but the only thing I have to go on. When we ask what our attorney thinks, he simply says he will get us fair value. To me, that means nothing.
Based on the garbage information I have found online, it would lead me to believe that this would be worth $60,000 - $150,000. But there is no right way to estimate something like that.
Do any of you experts have any guidance on what may be a realistic range?
