wage loss and medical bill lawsuit

[carterbeauford]

Jurisdiction

Pennsylvania

I sued a distracted driver who rear ended me for the combination of her policy limit and my uninsured motorist policy limit. I have a limited tort PA insurance policy and am not pursuing a personal injury claim. I am entitled to claim lost wages and medical bills related to the accident. I have a concussion, post concussion syndrome and neck injury that cost me an $88,000 a year job and caused me to file for disability. I have around $14,000 in medical bills as a result of the accident and expect much more. I have letters and medical charts from 3 doctors stating the injuries were not present before the accident and the accident caused my job loss. It was a clear rear end accident, she hit me going 60MPH as I turned into a business and was observed staring at a cell phone. She is 100% at fault. I have tried in good faith to settle the claim with her insurer for lost wages and medical bills for 6 months but her insurer has not cooperated. A week after filing suit I received a letter from her insurer asking for a 30 day extension to plead to the case and that they are referring the case to their attorney. No trial date has been set. A trial date could be a year off. This sounds like they want to settle. The insurer has a history of making increasing settlement offers as a trial date goes near. Your thoughts?

 

[army judge]

She is 100% at fault. I have tried in good faith to settle the claim with her insurer for lost wages and medical bills for 6 months but her insurer has not cooperated.

The other party owes you nothing just because you demand it.

The other party OBVIOUSLY disputes and dismisses your allegations, as well as your assumptions regarding the collision.

Your thoughts?

Lower your expectations, because the other party's insurer has EVERY right to take the matter to trial.

No one must accede to the demands from another party, just because said party demands tribute.

Tribute, by the way is piracy.


If the other party LAWYERS UP, it will behoove you to do so, too!!!

 

[adjusterjack]

I have a limited tort PA insurance policy and am not pursuing a personal injury claim.

Why not?

An exception to limited tort in PA is

Serious Injury – If you suffer a "Serious Injury" which is defined as Death, Permanent Serious Disfigurement, or Serious Impairment of a Bodily Function, then Full Tort applies and you can recover Non-Economic Damages (pain and suffering).

Losing a high paying job and going on disability should qualify.

I suggest you get yourself an attorney who can file an amended complaint and get you the money you deserve.

By the way, extensions for a defendant to file an answer are common. Lawyers do it for each other all the time. Doesn't have anything to do with an insurer's feelings about settlement.

 

[zddoodah]

I sued a distracted driver who rear ended me for the combination of her policy limit and my uninsured motorist policy limit. I have a limited tort PA insurance policy and am not pursuing a personal injury claim. I am entitled to claim lost wages and medical bills related to the accident. I have a concussion, post concussion syndrome and neck injury that cost me an $88,000 a year job and caused me to file for disability.

This doesn't make a lot of sense. How do you expect to get compensation for your medical bills and lost wages if you're not pursuing a personal injury claim?

A week after filing suit I received a letter from her insurer asking for a 30 day extension to plead to the case and that they are referring the case to their attorney. No trial date has been set. A trial date could be a year off. This sounds like they want to settle.

Doesn't sound like that to me. It sounds like the insurer wants an extension. That said, auto insurance carriers almost never want to go to trial. Unless there's a basis for a dispositive pretrial motion, that leaves settlement as the desired option.

Your thoughts?

About what? This is something you ought to be discussing with your attorney. If you don't have one, then you are doomed to lose in some way.

 

[Redemptionman]

My thoughts, is don't walk but run to the largest PI attorneys in your area. They have a lawyer up why haven't you found one?

Lost wages is not really what you are after unless of course you want to pay taxes on money you have already been taxed on. Medical expenses and the future there of is what you are concerned with. What do those bills look like for 5-10 years afterwards?

Good Luck.

 

[cbg]

Come on, you boys have been around these boards long enough to figure that out.

Filing a lawsuit is much sexier than just submitting a dumb old insurance claim. Anyone can file an insurance claim. Not everyone gets to go to court and have a judge kick the Bad Guy's ass for you, in front of you, so you get to see it and laugh in his face. You gotta be special for that to happen.

 

[carterbeauford]

This doesn't make a lot of sense. How do you expect to get compensation for your medical bills and lost wages if you're not pursuing a personal injury claim?

PA law entitles limited tort policy holders to claim lost wages and medical bills, not pain and suffering.

I retained one of the biggest personal injury firms in western PA. The attorney assigned to my case stated we had well exceeded limited tort and told me to keep treating. I was misdiagnosed and did not receive the proper treatment. Vestibular rehab, tossing a ball back and forth wasn't treating occipital nerve entrapment and facial tendon injury. I was not properly diagnosed until the demand letter went out. The attorney moved out of state and another attorney was assigned to my case. She terminated their representation and referred me to firm specializing in limited tort cases. This firm terminated their representation stating they do not take limited tort cases. The two firms wasted about 14 months of the 24 month statute of limitations. Starting to run out of time, I submitted my medical bills to the insurance company. Their response was to submit them to my medical insurance. I lost my medical insurance when I lost my job. The insurance company is trying to exhaust the statute of limitations.

Despite all the pictures in advertisements of this law firm in conference rooms and courtrooms with slideshows of MRIs they had a very limited medical understanding of my injury and I do not feel I received proper representation.

This insurer paid $800,000 for a broken wrist days before a trial so I don't think $300,000 for a neck injury is unreasonable. I've already lost almost half of that in wages and benefits.

 

[Zigner]

Their response was to submit them to my medical insurance. I lost my medical insurance when I lost my job.

...but you had insurance at the time of the accident. You may want to try submitting your bills to the insurance company you had at the time of the accident.

 

[Tax Counsel]

My thoughts, is don't walk but run to the largest PI attorneys in your area.

It's not the size of the firm that matters. I know some big firms that are only average at best. It's the skill of the individual lawyer you hire that matters, and good lawyers can be found in firms of all sizes. What you want is to find a good lawyer, not just go with the largest law firm.

Lost wages is not really what you are after unless of course you want to pay taxes on money you have already been taxed on.

That makes no sense. Lost wages are wages that would have been earned if the plaintiff were able to work but were not paid because the plaintiff was unable to work. Wages are are not taxed until the wages are actually paid. So the OP has not "already been taxed" on any lost wages. Moreover, in a personal injury claim like this one, the award of lost wages is not subject to federal tax. I don't know the extent to which PA would tax the lost wages; a PA tax attorney would need to be consulted on that. But in any event, even if taxes had to be paid on an award, that doesn't make worthless to pursue. Suppose you get an award of $100,000 and it is subject to an income tax rate of 20%. That would mean the plaintiff still gets $80,000 in his/her pocket after tax and would thus still be worth going after. So it baffles me why you would say "lost wages is not really what you are after". In some cases the lost wages addes up to a rather large amount of money.

 

[Redemptionman]

[QUOTE="carterbeauford, post: 339931, member: 135478]
This insurer paid $800,000 for a broken wrist days before a trial so I don't think $300,000 for a neck injury is unreasonable. I've already lost almost half of that in wages and benefits.[/QUOTE]

Who paid 800k for a broken wrist? Usually permanent spinal injuries don't hit that amount. 300k for a neck injury if permanent is very low. What kind of UIM coverage did you have? what are those limits cause that is what you are generally capped unless the person who hit you had a lot of coverage.

You need to look for or research a Life Care Planner, someone licensed that can review your records and recommend a future course of action. What does that picture look like?