I hope this is the right place to ask this but I’m not sure what to do. First time ever being in such a situation.
I was hit by a car in a crosswalk last night. I am mostly okay, but I got some not-insignificant injuries. My wrist is very badly sprained and I have a black eye. I called 911 and was taken to a hospital where I was evaluated overnight. I am thankful lucky to have no major injuries or brain injury despite hitting my head. I don’t know the extent of my wrist yet but I don’t think I’m going to have significant medical care from what I know now. I’m not hurt that that badly but I may miss some work this week.
I did get the guys license plate, and the police ran the plate and pulled up a pic of the guy and I was like yes that’s him. So the police have him identified and I have his plate number.
At the hospital the nurses said “everything is going to go through the guy who hit you’s insurance claim” but idk what that means exactly. Should I contact my insurance company? Or a lawyer? I didn’t do anything I just got hit and the police know who is responsible. What’s going to happen next? I want to be prepared.
My friend keeps urging me to call a personal injury lawyer immediately. She is saying that I can potentially get a huge settlement from this and I need to get a good lawyer. She said she knows people who have gotten hit by drivers less seriously than me and got money from it. I don’t think people can get huge settlements unless they’re very seriously hurt. I’m hurt but not seriously to my knowledge. I don’t think I should retain an expensive attorney for a potentially broken wrist. But settlement aside should I get an attorney anyway???
So I don’t know if I should do that. I don’t know if I should get an attorney at all. The cops were telling me how I’m going to have to go to court and stand against the guy. They didn’t say much else. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do here! Crazy situation that I’ve never come close to experiencing before.
Posted by WestOk6935
11 Comments
It’s impossible for us to know how much you might get, it just depends on so many factors.
But I can absolutely confirm that the amount you get is largely based on your injuries. You don’t get tons of money just because you were involved. A broken wrist is worth more than a sprained wrist, etc.
If you wanted a settlement of like. Mid 5 figures or more, you would probably need a broken wrist, potentially w/ a minor surgery and lengthy rehab.
Your nurse has no idea how the billing or if the other driver is going to pay for anything.
Tired of people who work in healthcare falsely reassuring people about billing.
You may have to go through his insurance and or sue them for repayment.
I know a great personal injury lawyer, DM me
Are you still in pain? Like another said: the real settlement value comes from *months* of going to physical therapy, ongoing pain, injections from pain management, etc. It seems like it’s too early to tell if you will have any lasting pain if the accident was so soon ago.
If your pain is still present weeks from now, you’ll be ordered to get an MRI and further imaging, which will tell you if surgery is indicated (otherwise it is not). If surgery = you’ll hit 5 figures, otherwise if pain slowly tapers off as expected = less than that.
So wait and see, in the meantime maybe get in contact with a physical therapy place
Sound like things are pretty straightforward. You can always hire an attorney a year from now. Talk with the guys insurance, ensure you get some money for yourself and they cover all the medical bills
State?
You have to pursue a claim with the drivers auto insurance, and depending on the state and your coverage, your own as well.
You need to file a claim with the driver’s insurance, if you have that information. The driver’s insurance company is not responsible (and will be unaware) for paying anything until a claim is opened.
At that point, any issues, such as potential limits or coverage issues can be addressed. Hopefully, there won’t be any issues. Once you know the full extent of your injuries and recovery time, you can start looking into settlement amounts.
a lawyer will take 30 to 40 percent of the settlement for his fee They will rip you off.
Lets hope this guy even has insurance to pay your settlement
“Huge” settlement is very vague, so I’ll use some real numbers. It’s still early so you don’t really know the full extent of your injuries yet, but yeah car vs pedestrian and an overnight stay in the hospital, you’re likely owed all of your medical bills and at least $5k on top of that, maybe upwards of $10k depending on your state and other circumstances. Could be a lot more depending.
Do you need to contact your own auto insurance? It depends on whether or not you have uninsured (UM) or underinsured motorist (UIM) bodily injury coverage. If you do, yes, call your insurance and let them know what happened, and then send them something IN WRITING putting them on notice of a potential UM/UIM claim. You should also check to see if you have medpay coverage or PIP coverage, as those can also help in this situation. Note that your own auto insurance will not help you deal with the other guys insurance.
Do you need an attorney? It depends. I’ll dissent from the typical insurance adjuster rhetoric that all attorneys suck. You don’t NEED an attorney, you can handle it all yourself, but you may WANT an attorney so that you don’t have to handle it yourself. If you’re the kind of person who would rather pay someone so that you don’t need to worry about handling everything and doing the whole process yourself, yeah you probably should hire an attorney. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t mind doing some extra leg work yourself, and you want the most money in your own pocket, you don’t need an attorney.