Uninsured Bodily Injury

[RFMaurone]

I would recommend you reach out to a personal injury attorney, someone that has been referred to you by someone that has had a case similar to yours. If you were in Pennsylvania Delaware or New Jersey I could make a recommendation. I wish you luck.

 

[djs]

If she is up against policy limits, a personal injury attorney won't do any good. Its pretty rare they get more than what the policy limits are and then they take 30-40% of the settlement.

 

[ToddC]

If she is up against policy limits, a personal injury attorney won't do any good. Its pretty rare they get more than what the policy limits are and then they take 30-40% of the settlement.

I've seen that happen so many times. People get brainwashed by the commercials. They really think the attorney is sincere about looking out for their interest. Yeah... if their interest is only money. People are also programmed to think that they can't collect anything without an attorney.

In some cases an attorney _is_ needed. No doubt about that. However, first thing I'd always recommend is to look at the policy limits.

This case for example... let's say the BI limits are $25,000 (which from the OP it appears they are not). That carrier would probably just offer up the $25,000 and then the OP would go to their drives UIMBI policy. An attorney would have taken 33% of that $25,000 just for drafting a letter and sending in some medical records/bills... about an hours worth of work. That is an $8,259 hit the OP would take. That is not chump change. The attorney may be willing to lower their take but I doubt it would just be offered up. The OP would needed to have understood he/she was taken for a ride and called the attorney on it. So perhaps the attorney would lower the rate to 20%. If the $25,000 was not offered, simply get an attorney then.

 

[CKSINSURANCE]

the first question is to find out if the other party has insurance, if yes then you may hire a lawyer to get the policy limit for your medical bills and pain & suffering. otherwise, you may go after your girl friend's policy for $5k med pay if any, and $25k UMPI limit.
UMPI covers what your are legally entitled due to the injury not just medical bills, so that means it will cover pain and suffering and lost wages. what you were saying before looks to me that you don't want to claim pain/suffering due to your 35+ friendship with your girlfriend. so it's your call.

 

[lorrieduke]

So here's the million dollar question. In your educated opinions what would be a decent $ amount to settle on?
I know it's a hard question to answer with lots of variables to consider, but I haven't a clue what might be fair. I spoke to Progessive. Told them what my medical bills have added up to ($20,000) and asked if the policy limits would cover my medical expenses and was told it wouldn't be an issue.
I know my question is tough to answer since we don't know the policy limits but for arguments sake, let's assume or pretend the limits are high.
I'm currently unemployed (company closed after 28 yrs. of service) so I have no lost wages.
I have 2 broken ribs. Have to sleep sitting upright, can't move much. Twisting, turning and breathing still hurts. It's been 3 weeks since the accident. Doctor said I won't beable to lay down or resume my normal life for 3-4 more weeks.