New member taken out by cage driver

Hi All -

I am probably hijacking this thread (sorry), but I'm in a similar situation and could use any insight and advice I can get. I had a lady lurch into me while I was going down the road about 35-40 mph.

Motorcyclist Hospitalized after Perkiomen Crash - Perkiomen Valley, PA Patch

I was hit on my way to work on Tuesday morning and just got out of the hospital yesterday. Thankfully, I was completely geared up, so the worst I got was a severely broken leg (2 plates and 14 screws). I will start physical therapy once I can start putting weight on my leg again in 4-6 weeks.

My perfect, amazing, dream bike was only worth about 4k (2003 no ABS). My gear was probably closer to 2k (armored pants, jacket, heated jacket and gloves, helmet).

I feel really bad for the lady. She was a mess at the scene, she was so sorry - downright hysterical and panicking (I was wedged under a minivan so I think she thought I was dead. I kicked my left leg now and then to remind everyone that i was still there and alive). I don't want to screw her over. I do want a fair settlement.

So we thought we might need a lawyer to navigate this, but the first one we spoke with got downright giddy when he heard the story and started going off on how this was a six-figure settlement and would be as easy as pie - he sounded like a shark who smelled blood in the water.

I am a little concerned because I don't want to make her life a living hell, and I would rather remove the added cost of a lawyer to the settlement. But I also highly doubt that I will be taken care of by *her* adjuster.

Any thoughts? Experiences? Advice?

 

I am going through a similar situation that happened 11/28/12. I am waiting for a settlement now. But in my case, the woman only had $30,000 in her policy. This is the minimum in my state. I have $52,000 in medical bills. I also have $350,000 in underinsured coverage. I am waiting for their first offer now. Amazingly the bike (Property claim) was settled quickly. The personal injury will not be settled until MMI (Maximum medical improvement.) This can take many months to occur. Not all lawyers all sharks. If you do retain a lawyer, his office will take care of an amazing amount of work. You can sit back and relax and he will earn his cut. At least his office will.

The first thing to find out is the coverage involved. This includes any UIM you may have. Adjusters job is to get you to take the least amount of money. You are not concerned with the woman anymore. You will not cause her any harm unless you decide not to take the insurance settlement and sue her personally. Her rates are going to increase. Her current carrier may drop her, but she caused this by hitting you. You are now dealing with one of the largest money making machines in the world. It is no longer personal. It is what it is. In my case she has drastically changed my life. She and I paid premiums to have the insurance compensate us if this happens. I am waiting for their first offer. If it is low I will have a lawyer settle this.

 

Nationwide didn't tell us how much her coverage was... I think our underinsured insurance is pretty low. I was afraid that we could/would settle for more than she was covered for and that her insurance agency would, in turn, go after her. I have no intention of suing her personally, though.

 

Glad your alive and will heal. Remember you are not suing the lady that hit you. You are suing her INSURANCE company. You need to get what you're owed for all the material stuff and then some for your personal life for being out of normal lifestyle because of injuries and the possible problems down the road from those injuries.

Don't make this a personal matter against her because it's not. Yes it was her dumb move that did you in. It's her insurance company that has insured her and HAS the money to pay for her screw ups. Though you may have to go after her later if the insurance coverage is not good enough. I was her fault but your paying for it now and may be later.?? Good luck to you.

 

Try to settle with the insurance company, they will give you the runaround but be persistence. Only settle if it is something reasonable and that they pay for the total cost of repairs to bike and medical bills and a little for pain and suffering. If they are unreasonable or give you crap then u should get a lawyer who will take less than 25% max, there's tons of them out there who will take the case for that fee, some even take 15%. Good luck.

 

Btw sorry for the mishap glad you are still around to tell the story. Speedy recovery and good luck

 

I think is is admirable that you are showing this kind concern for this lady. Maybe we all should follow suit to some degree. But I believe that your most important concern is your own circumstances and that which affects your family. You are presently at a disadvantage due to actions of another person. Now you must improve your immediate situation to try to put yourself and your family back to a situation you occupied before this errant action of the other lady. If that requires you to take legal action against her, then so be it.

Having said this, if deep down you feel that, and for the sake of argument only, $10,000. fulfills that goal, then that is all you should seek or get. If you are in need of hiring anyone to help you gain that sum, then their fees should be added to this figure so that you are still getting what is acceptable to you.

I have said some not so complimentary things about lawyers in the past and probably will continue. Most of that is tongue in cheek. I have hired a lawyer a couple times and found their service to be quite beneficial to what my concern at the time was. The fortunate part was, I knew all but two of the lawyers I had hired so was in tune with their ethics. The other two, one came highly recommended by my wife, and the other was for a matter that ethics did not have a huge bearing on what was being done. Legalities did. She did a great job. (She was hawt too!)

It appears that the first lawyer you spoke with really is, like you said, a shark and give the rest of them the bad reputation they have. I am glad you moved on. However, make no mistake when it comes to insurance companies. Their goal is to take in as much money as they can in the form of premiums, and pay out as little as they can in claims. That is how they became such incredibly rich and profitable companies. To some degree, I am hard pressed to find too much fault with that because I understand people are in business to make, not loose money. Insurance companies have shareholders or investors who like the rest of us, tend to be a little greedy and want to see tremendous returns for their investments.

But the Insurance Companies, their shareholders and employees, or the lawyers and this lady's difficulties are not your concern. Your recovery, your family, and reasonable and fair compensation, are.

Good luck.

 

^ This!

Remember that you aren't going after the other driver. (And canning the 1st lawyer was a good call.) You need someone to fairly represent you while going after the other driver's insurance company. That is why we all purchase insurance, so we aren't personally sued. This isn't a personal thing against the other driver, it's a matter of putting you back into the same, or as close to as possible, shape as you were in before the incident.

 

Funny that nationwide will not tell you limits, they told me right off the bat. They also said that they would only pay the limits and then my UIM would take over. In my state you can sue either the insurance company or the person not both. The insurance commissioner in NC is a pretty tough cookie. I know laws vary by state. I had one lawyer speak to me for over 2 hours on the phone on a Sunday and gave me good advice to follow. Perhaps the right one will contact you. You are in the early stages of healing. Once again a quick settlement only benefits the insurance company. Even if money gets tight I suggest you take your time settling. you only get to settle once.

 

marilynjane

I am very sorry to hear about your accident, and I wish you a full and speedy recovery.

However this sounds ominously like the sort of injuries my friend suffered, so I really think you need to get a lawyer on the case NOW and stop worrying about the other driver. What matters is you and all the consequences that this accident is likely to pose for you over the next few months/years.


You asked about experiences - so here goes. My friend was knocked off her motorbike in London (UK) after a cab driver decided to do a U turn without signalling. Her left leg was seriously crushed between the cab and motorbike. One year on and she is only just able to stand/walk for more than 10 minutes without severe pain. Her employer was brilliant allowing her to work from home for 6 months and then working 4 long day weeks allowing her to commute with crutches to/from central london by train at times when she could be certain to get a seat. I am not sure all employers would be so supportive.

Initially she had 2 plates and 38 screws used to hold together both lower leg bones which suffered mutiple breaks. She has been unable to ride her motorbike, and can't drive her own car as it has a manual gearbox, so she has had to borrow an automatic to get around. Like me she is a keen skier and will miss skiing for at least two years. Last month she had her third major surgery to remove one of the two plates - where the bone has now managed to rejoin, and to reposition the other plate because the gaps between the numerous smashed bits of the other bone were just not closing.

Hopefully the other bone will rejoin within the next 12 months allowing another operation to remove the second plate/screws sometime in 2014, and she will finally be able to resume full weight bearing exercise - and possibly get back on her Triumph Street Triple. Meantime her left leg has lost a lot of muscle strength (its like a matchstick compared with the other leg) despite regular physio sessions. So it will probably take a further 6-12 months before she is really back to normal - so 2015 sometime. All this came about from a low speed collision under 20mph oh and yes she had all the gear - her helmet and gloves saved her from a lot of road rash.

What I am driving at is, that you are only just starting out on the road to recovery, a road which my friends experience shows it some times does not run smoothly, and recovery (and the impact on you work and normal daily life) can take a lot longer than first thought.

In your position I would strongly recommend you get legal representation as soon as possible.

I realise you want to be fair - if you don't feel happy with someone recommended by your own insurer then perhaps some of the folks your side of the pond are located close enough to be able to recommend someone suitable.

Remember it is easy for things to get overlooked, especially if you don't start recording everything in detail, hence you will probably overlook things which you would be perfectly entitled to reclaim. A decent lawyer will largely take over that burden - allowing you to focus on your only real task - getting well again.

Its not about being harsh or seeking to claim compensation for stuff which you are not entitled to. But you will be shocked how this sort of accident is going to impact on your life and probably your family and friends for a long long while. Hence it worth having a firm goal - to get back on your motorbike and put the whole thing behind you.

Best wishes.

 

Let me offer one more piece of advice. If you have health insurance paying the medical bills, they may want their money back. And the part that your insurance didn't pay the hospital may want that also. Doesn't make sense to me, but my insurance that I pay premiums for and the hospital who the insurance paid the agreed amount get their money first for up to half of whatever I settle for. Everybody is after money, except you usually. If you had your bike back and full recovery and missed wages most would be happy. Unfortunately you may never recover to where you were. Money is a poor substitute for even partial loss of the use of a limb.

As far as the lady, I'm glad she is sorry and taking responsibility. She sounds like she has learned a very hard lesson, and the road will be safer because of it. The lady that turned in front of me blamed me for not seeing her. She never talked to me while waiting for the ambulance. I still remember her saying she never saw me. Lots of others came to my aid. At one time I wished she had to wipe my tail when I couldn't, just so she could see what she did to me. At this point I don't care. She is never going to learn (IMO) and I hope her premiums are so high she has to sell her car.

One final thought on a lawyer. Once you find out her limits you will know how to precede medically. If she has a low amount that will not cover the medical a lawyer will do you no good and eat into the settlement. Remember your health insurance and the hospital want their share.

SOme rules:
do not miss doctor appointments.
If referred to physical therapy go.
Follow doctors orders.
Do not feel any responsibility the insurance will use it against you.
Be very careful what you say to the insurance company. I never had to give a recorded statement.
You did everything you could to avoid it.

Remember the first consultation is free for most lawyers. The insurance company is going to want your complete medical history so they can say something was a previous injury. At 26 you heal fairly well. You don't want to be crippled by arthritic pain when you are 50. In a few months you will know better how you are. Consider all aspects before you precede. You may feel entirely different. You must heal before they will settle with you. Do not get in a rush. This will be a long drawn out thing. Some companies would show up in you hospital room wanting to settle. And for gosh sakes increase your UIM coverage. What if she didn't have any insurance.

 

Check with your insurance company, they may have lawyers represent you/your side encase it goes to court for some reason. That's part of your insurance companies responsibilities to you. May be, depending on the type of policy you have. So give them a call and ask.

 

Glad your OK, marilyn. Best wishes to a quick and full recovery.

If you feel up to it, I'd be interested to hear about your type of gear.

I've been in the insurance business for over 20 years, although never on the company side. I'll refrain from going into a lengthy write up, but suffice to say the other insurance company is obligated to release the drivers info. its hard to say what's going to happen without knowing the other driver's limits.

(By the way - do you have an insurance agent, or do you handle your insurance placement directly?)

Any attorney that seeks you out is probably one you want to avoid, although there are still plenty that if you call them they will think you/they hit the jackpot (as you've already experienced). Should you elect to pursue an attorney, make sure you speak to several before making any decisions.

Best of luck.

 

Not to worry about the woman that hit you. She is over it by now. Ten bucks says her insurer has made you the enemy. They will lowball you and try everything within legal and yep, unethical means to get out of paying any more than they have to.

PI lawyers are sharks especially those that "ride". The usual contingency fee is 33 1/3 % and they get theirs right off the top and deal from the bottom.

Your insurer has all the tools including legal staff you need IMO. That's what you pay them for and why insurance companies have all that money.

It's a business.

So help me Newt Romney.

 

+1 on all advice above. Glad to hear that you are ok. All advice so far IMO is spot on. Couple more bits of advice. 1st call YOUR insurance company and just ask them the reverse of your situation. (i.e. ask if you hit someone on a cycle and you were driving and responsible what and how they would handle it legally.) You may get some insight on how the insurance companys work. I know for a fact that my insurance co will cover up to 6 digits for medical insurance if the other company doesnt pay. But they will go after them (the others insurance) for everything that they can get.

2nd is to take your time and not settle on anything the other insurance gives you for the first offer. Her insurance will want to finish this quickly. Confer with your insurance and maybe a decent lawyer. By then a lot of time will have passed, bills will accumulate, and your patients will have worn thin. I think then...and only then you will realize that this is going to be a long and arduous journey and how much of an inconvenience this is to you and your family. Think of all the free time that has been lost having to deal with this situation. That, there and in itself, will show you how much a monetary settlement you should be entitled to and deserve for this accident.

 

The very first question you must ask your Insurance Company supplied lawyer is, Who are your representing. Me, my insurance company, or both. Sorry, but if the lawyer is also representing your insurance company, how can they assure you that there is not a conflict of interest. Mind you. If your insurance company is supplying a lawyer, they not foot the bill for you to hire another. This of course as comes into play in the final settlement.

 

I meant to mention this as well but forgot. By all means, do not sign any medical release forms. That lets the Insurers off the hook. Complications can and very frequently do, arise years down the road. To re-open at that time and seek more compensation or coverage would probably fail.

I injured myself back in 1978 and it had over the years gotten worse. Fortunate for me, that was duty related and well documented, and now administered quite well by Veteran's Affairs Canada. But that initial injury wasn't really too bad. It was further complicated by re-injury and resulted in several trips to Ermerg. My phobia about documenting the shit out of everything, served me very well. I am also about to re-open a Worker Compensation Claim for present semi severe shoulder issues that arose out of a work related injury back in 2004 which WCB has closed the file on. Don't know how I will do with that as WCB is quite another story here in BC.

Different jurisdictions have different rules. Where I live, you must settle by the end of two years or seek a continuance which has a cost to it, but minor under the right circumstances. A lot to keep in mind. I suggest you get yourself a notebook and keep track of everything you experience on this, and to jot down ideas you may wish to discuss with your counsel or Insurance Provider.

 

Wow, thank you all. This really helps. We may end up going the lawyer route. I was thinking we may be able to network to find a lawyer, besides calling a few. It will be interesting to me to see how the insurance companies change their tunes as this progresses.

I was wearing Joe Rocket Alter Ego pants and jacket (newest "model"). NICE Alpine Stars boots - I called them my Star Trek boots and paid 300$ for them but I LOVED them. You can see the dent in the ankle armour on my right boot where it saved my foot. My leg was broken quite low - close to my ankle, and now I think that if it weren't for my boots, my whole ankle and foot may have been done in, too. Also a 212$ AVG full-face helmet.

My clothes were cut to literal ribbons, so it was hard to find all the impact points, but they definitely did the trick. The funny thing (to me) is that my gloves are untouched. I was actually wearing non-motorcycle gloves and heated liners. The gloves I used because they are so ultra-warm. But there is not a snag or scratch on them. I had some scabs on my right hand knuckles, but that was because, while I was under the mini-van, I took my gloves off and proceeded to punch the pavement to try to distract from the pain in my leg.

 

Randy - I'm originally from Surrey, BC - my brother used to live in Chilliwack! Fun times.