I was rear ended a little over a year ago in a 2 year statute of limitations state. I have had medical care, imagining, and physical therapy totaling over 13k. I have ongoing pain. The other driver’s insurance company offered me 1K plus medical bills (which have so far been paid through my own insurance). My impression is that this offer is too low.
The attorney I am considering will take the case on retainer for 1/3 of collections, and his fees would be paid with priority over my medical bills. There also seems to be language in the contract that if he advises me to settle and I don’t, I’m on the hook for his fees.
My concern is if the ultimate settlement is unable to cover his fees plus my medical bills at a minimum. If this were to be the case, would I still need to pay back my insurance company for all the bills? How much financial risk am I taking on with this attorney agreement?
Would you try to negotiate a higher settlement without the lawyer – I think a fair payout would be 2x my medical expenses but not sure how reasonable this is?
Posted by slopmop22
4 Comments
Are you still receiving medical treatment? What is the additional 1k for?
What state ate you in? Did you auto carrier pay your medical bills or health insurance? If health insurance, get the lien info as they will want their money back. If auto carrier, they may have subrogation rights.
1K plus medicals (IMO) is low but 2x medicals is not standard practice and varies by how injured you are. Some adjusters use this and some not. When I did claims, looking at the medicals was my my factor, not 2x medicals and be done. All you can do is now is negotiate. If you are not happy, then you can always seek the attorney you would like to retain. Advice – send out a demand and negotiate down to where you want it to be – example- start at 40K and they will offer something and go back and forth.
*** disclosure: not an attorney***
>physical therapy
Depends on how long you had physical therapy for, related to this accident (no offense, but this caveat is important). When negotiating in the past, I have tried to find some objective number (like the person’s weekly pay or the weekly bills for their treatment) as a basis for their pain & suffering offer and consider it for the duration of the treatment.
For example, if you went to physical therapy for 4 weeks due to the accident and you had a significant discomfort at work, you have small children you couldn’t pick up, could clean around the house, couldn’t drive to and from work comfortably, I would call the adjuster and negotiate with that. “Hey, I considered the $1000 offer, and based on (factors impacting your life) and the length of treatment, I was wondering if you could do $4000 for my pain and suffering [their original offer times 4 weeks of treatment].”
If you had four weeks of treatment and you work a desk job, no kids, no hobbies outside of work, and the discomfort just affected your quality of sleep, maybe ask for $3000 instead? ($250 off the original offer because low impact to your life x 3 weeks).
I wouldn’t settle for that. The total claim value/offer should be around 20k-30k. Speaking as a claim adjuster.