attn gfy lawyers - car accident
 

a friend of mine was in an accident
really messed up her knee to the point where it has to have 3 surgerys in the past few months aswell as two more to come ....
the guy that hit her ( drunk driver ) is in a coma still ( like going on 4 months )
the guys insurance is telling her lawyer to take 25k and lets drop it

should she just accept the 25k and go on .. or should she tell her lawyer to take it to court .. her lawyer is telling her to take the 25k but she says he seems ike a douche and just wants it over with


she cant work anymore ( was a fashion model ) as she can stand for period of times and her legs and arms are all cut and scared up

If her injuries are permanent, which they sound like they are, I would not settle for 25k. But, how much was she making in modeling per month and how long would that income have kept coming in? That is a good estimate to figure out what the lawsuit is worth.

If that comes out to more than 25k she also needs a new attorney.

If she can no longer work she can sue for lifelong damages. DO NOT take the settlement.

My dad was in an accident where the guy was drunk and tboned him and his sister.

My aunt took a 4k settlement. They offered my dad 8k. He said fuck you, went to court and got 100k+.
My aunt was sorta angry about that. :)

Reason my dad got so much is because it injured his shoulder beyond repair to the original state and he was a hobby weight lifter considering going pro. So he won the sob plea.

What he said.

:2 cents:

If it was a drunk driver, wouldn't it automatically be taken to court to get him sentenced anyway? I'm assuming that a sentence would force them to pay a compensation based on her future income? That's the way it works up here and I'm kind of thinking 25k is beer money in the long run...

as an ex-settlement negotiator I can tell you that three surgeries are worth a lot more that $25k, she needs to find out what his policy limits are and go for that. If 25k is the limit, take it and run.

Is $25,000 the max coverage this guy had? If more is available to be paid out, then it seems like it would be low hanging fruit for her.

If his insurance will not cover what she wants, will she be able to recover anything from him directly? Is he going to die? How badly will his own hospital bills impact his personal assets? Does he even have any money at all?

I would say that $25,000 isn't enough given that it has ended her career, but there are a lot of factors when dealing with these DUI lowlifes.

And her lawyer thinks that's ok? mine would laugh and hang up

thnx for the replies

the guy is a dead beat i guess...
will find out more... from the sounds of it ..it sounds like the max his policy he had would pay is 25k + all her medical bills....i wonder if it would be worth hiring someone to look into her personal assets and see if he has asnything of value but if he is in a coma can she still go after him??

i dont know how bad off he is but i doubt he will survive

ask more than 25K

I'd think most people have 1 million dollars liability insurance..


Shoot for the stars..

never take an insurance companies offer to settle... they lowball hardcore.

Doesnt matter, insurance companies are scared shitless of court. You can only bend them so much in settlements (before court, you cant get more than the coverage) But once in court, coverage disappears and the awards can go crazy.

I am kinda in a similar situation, I got hit by a drunk driver and turned out breaking a small piece in my back. I got some decent offers but I am taking this shit to court.

Wow, gfy got a lot of lawyers...

Tell her to get a REAL 2nd and 3rd opinion. Personal injury attorneys will look at a case for free and if they think they can get more, they'll go for it. If this guy's been in a coma this long what would have been his estate is probably being eaten up by medical bills. It could very well be that $25K and payment of her medical bills is all there is.

Demand the policies limits and run financials on this guy...

If the policy limit is $25k and he's in a coma, not likely to work a normal job after 4 months in and he has no assets, she is unfortunately SOL.

Unless he was driving someone else's car or she has a policy covering her beyond his insurance....

In a ideal and dream world they do. So many have the very minimum the state requires in liability insurance assuming they even have any.

25k bare min insurance policy is sad(should be a lot higher).. here 200k is the min

Unless the defendant is loaded, with lots of assets, policy limits is the best you can do. As they say, you can not get blood from a rock.

Look at it this way. If you were rich, and had assets, would you only have $25k in coverage?

Don't waste your time or money. This is a field that I was acknowledged at being one of the best. I am giving you free advice. Find out the policy limits and take it. If they have $300k in coverage then you can start thinking about assets.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

I would hold out for more.. Take the house.

Homestead

I still think its absurd you can sue the car owner if they weren't driving. What if the car was stolen?

Shush there aint no fangled thing like homesteading, specially if they are low income or even worse on social security. :winkwink: Odds are they are renters anyways.

Different story if the car was actually stolen. Point being actually stolen. Not just like borrowed by your roommate or signifigant other without your permission that time and so forth.

listen to baddog he is 100% right

Find out how much the insurance policy maximum coverage was. Then find out how much cash, assets (houses, cars) the guy has as that's also stuff you can seize. If this girl can't ever be a model again because of this guy, take him to the cleaners and seize every penny he has.
WG

lol @ pretty much every post in this thread:helpme

you have enough opinions in here to keep you going for a while so need for me to post actual facts or opinion:2 cents:

I would say don't settle. It has cost her to much

look deeper into the case , where did he get drunk at . Its illegal for bars to serve inebriated customers so if he just left a bar you may be able to sue the bar etc. was he working etc, just because he was in his own car doesnt mean he wasn't working at the time.

that't too fuckin' sad but still something is still good:that guy is in coma...but 25k is...

Very sad!!!