Filing Case, but concerned about car accident

[casterramom]

Hi. We are new to this site and would like some honest advice. Our lawyer is my husbands cousin, so his response is, 'pay the filing fee and we'll see what happens'...not very comforting.
My family and I bought a 2005 T&C Minivan in October 2008. On March 3rd 2009 we went to Wal-Mart and had the right drivers front wheel replaced by a Goodyear Viva 2 tire because the valve stem was damaged and leaking on the van. 19 days later on March 22nd my 3 children and I were on our way to have lunch with my husband. We heard a large shot like sound and the sidewall of the new drivers front tire blew out and jerked us to on coming turning traffic. We hit head on, bounced off and went down a small embankment and hit 3 trees head on. The van was totalled of course, and required the 'jaws' to get my daughter and myself out of the front seats. Our daughter (11 yrs old) was in front seat passenger seat reaching for the radio at the time of the wreck. My stepson (10) was behind me and our other daughter (9) was behind the 11 yr old daughter. I was in and out of consciousness, so don't remember much, but basics are this: 11 yr old had ruptured ear drum (hit by airbag) bruised up face and general seat belt bruising, 10 yr old had seatbelt brusing and general aches etc., and 9 yr old had her hand broken in 2 places. On the 9 yr old, they talked about surgery to fix her hand, but said that small place that is broken off 'floating' is 'permanent and no big deal' (per Surgeon, NOT me). I only say this because she is right handed and the piece aches after pressure on her writing hand and a callous is formed from the inside out from that bone. I had a concussion, and this van had the drop down air bags with the engine pressure that turned my lower legs from knees to heel and from front center around the back entire back calf a disgusting purple black bruise for 3 weeks. Now originally Goodyear came to our home said no problem, took the tire and was going to pay EVERYTHING per their rep. But after reviewing the tire, they sent us a "oops, nevermind" letter. Said that (quote here) "an unknown and unfound piece of plastic took a bite out of the tire causing an immediate loss of air theirfore causing the accident". Police noted on report "obvious blown out sidewall of 19 day old tire caused accident". Now here's the problem, we had lapsed our insurance. We've been paying the medical bills and now we are filing this case, but because we had no insurance, are we totally screwed? Please be honest, I've been beating myself up because of my fault of the insurance, so please don't bash me about it. Thanks so much and sorry for all the detail.

 

[NY_Shark]

It seems that Goodyear came to take the tire to test whether it was faulty. They found out that the tire was not faulty, but was blown because of a foreign object. They said "oops nevermind" at this point because they felt comfortable that they had not breached any duty to the customer. That's bad for you because it would mean there is no negligence claim, but it doesn't mean there is no room for arguments to be made. For example, should the tire have been able to withstand running over that piece of plastic? This is more of a duty argument, but it proves that there is some leeway in tort law.

I don't specialize in PI law, but to be honest it doesn't look good.

Instead of the lawyer you have, you could consider shopping around for some PI attorneys that work on contingency fees. That means that they don't get paid unless you get paid. That also means that these lawyers are serious about being awarded damages, as lawyers typically want to be paid. One of them may be able to organize a settlement. But it would be worth a try, and at least you would have some direction. You also wouldn't have to pay out of pocket.