Injury lawyers

[Bob Wright]

Right now my TV is inumdated with advertisements for injury lawyers. And each sort of make the insurance company to be dastardly villians. Between the two,I'd say its a draw. My case in point:

I was involved in a minor traffic accident, deemed my fault. This really very minor, though the driver did complain of shoulder pain from the strain of the seatbelt.

Shortly after the accident, I got a copy of the letter from an attorney for my insurance carrier. The claim was for $45,000. My insurance company claimed that was excessive for the damages/injury submitted. The attorney then resubmitted a claim of $16,000. My insurance company countered with an offer of $11,000. I have received a letter from my company telling me the claim has been settled.

So, who was the greedier?

Bob Wright

 

[kmoore]

The person that told their lawyer, "Well, I have suffered some shoulder pain from the seatbelt. I want 30,000 bucks."

 

[Jeepnik]

Some years back I was driving a company vehicle. A bicyclist rode directly into the company sing on the passenger door while I was stopped at a light.

His lawyer claimed all sorts of injuries backed by a "doctor's" reports. The insurance payed them off because as the attorney said "it's cheaper to pay them than go to court".

It didn't matter whether I wanted to fight it or not. Another perfect example why insurance rates are high and lawyers are the lowest occupation on earth.

What other occupation can two members conspire to defraud good people and both sides support one another.

 

[foolslife]

I had a minor fender bender a while back. The lady in front of me was making a right turn at a four way intersection. Our light was green so my plan was to follow thru the intersection as she turned. But 1/2 way thru her turn she slammed on her brakes and came to an abrupt stop. She said that she thought someone was stepping off the curb. Turns out that there was no one there. I put on my breaks but could not come to a complete stop before tagging her left rear bumper. I saw zero damage to her car. She called the police who said that they were busy and it was up to us to exchange personal info.

A month later I am being sued for some ungodly amount by her as well as her husband. It seemed that she was in such severe back and shoulder pain that she could not work so they were down to one income. Further she was unable to cook meals, take their son to ball games and/or have sex with the husband. I was really mad but the insurance company "settled" for an amount that was not disclosed to me.

 

[Watertender]

My son was hit head on by a texting driver in 2007 while on a motorcycle and died 10 months later after being in a coma the entire time. The person who hit him was related to a politician. I retained an injury attorney who must have been on the payroll of the politician... We "won" $100K which after the lawyers got done turned into $43K.
My wife and I were being counter sued by family members for wanting to allow my son to die after 6 months in the coma because they felt guilty for buying the motorcycle for him against my wishes. He was 18 when hit and died at 19 never coming out of the coma.

His hospital bills were almost $1.2M and my health insurance covered it. I have little faith in lawyers and value them somewhere below whale manure....

 

[thinckley]

When I read the title of this thread, I thought it was a monthly shooting challenge or something... more than a little disappointed....

When we go to Vegas for a soccer tournament, we like to play a little car game: count the injury lawyer billboards. I'm not sure what there are more of in Vegas, pot shop ads, strip club ads, or lawyer ads.

 

[thinckley]

My son was hit head on by a texting driver in 2007 while on a motorcycle and died 10 months later after being in a coma the entire time. The person who hit him was related to a politician. I retained an injury attorney who must have been on the payroll of the politician... We "won" $100K which after the lawyers got done turned into $43K.
My wife and I were being counter sued by family members for wanting to allow my son to die after 6 months in the coma because they felt guilty for buying the motorcycle for him against my wishes. He was 18 when hit and died at 19 never coming out of the coma.

His hospital bills were almost $1.2M and my health insurance covered it. I have little faith in lawyers and value them somewhere below whale manure....

Truly sorry for your loss. The "family member"? There is a special place in hell for them.

 

[Watertender]

Truly sorry for your loss. The "family member"? There is a special place in hell for them.

Thank you, I disowned them as family after they lied in court to try to make their case to keep him alive. Let's just say that their grave is well watered with 2nd hand coffee....

 

[Wvfarrier]

I was in an accident 20 years ago, about 7 mph, the woman who rear ended me did not have her kids in car seats or seatbelts. She refused medical aid on the scene and then tried to file a claim for nearly half a million dollars. My insurance settled with her for $25G, even though she was deemed to be at fault. The adjuster said it just cheaper to pay them off than to fight it

 

[gnappi]

A Robin Williams's quote from the movie Hook comparing lawyers to rats...

"There's certain things even rats won't do".

 

[kmoore]

Welcome to the world of stupid, trumped-up lawsuits. Many will try to make a cash cow out of their own wrongdoing. Lawyers are happy to do the dirty work for 1/3 to 1/2 of any settlement. I have been named in 7 tort claims for doing my job. A common tactic from anti police groups. Standard filing is for 200,000 per person claiming they need money. Risk management stays busy.
A year or more later Risk management will offer 5 to 10,000 to settle. Just to close it out. The government already spent that or more paying all the wages of government workers doing the investigation. The low life who started this is happy with anything, they sign a waiver saying the government will settle but takes no responsibility and admits no wrong doing.
Whats worse is the large dollar pay outs after a minority group protests and burns down the city before anyone knows all facts.

 

[GasGuzzler]

The reason insurance is such a racket is because of injury lawyers. The reason injury lawyers have a racket is because of insurance.

They almost always try to find a reason to go for the limit of liability on the specific policy being challenged. That is the attorney's fault, not the plaintiff's. Most times the insurance will okay a claim as long as it's not above the limit of liability. That's the fault of the broker, not the defendant.

 

[gnappi]

I remember a time when if you fell down you got up, dusted yourself off and checked to see if anyone saw you being a clumsy idiot. Nowadays people get up and look for witnesses. So sad.

 

[vito]

Its not just after car accidents. When I was still working I had a woman working for me in a management position. She became very ill with cancer and it was unsure if she could ever return. Our company policy was to cover six months at full pay, which we did. Then we foolishly agreed to keep her on for an additional three months when it became clear she would never be well enough to return to work. We let her go at that point, and even paid the severance pay she was eligible for. She ended up sueing us, claiming disability discrimination. The powers that be, on the advice of attorneys, settled this outrageous case for $250,000 even though we had gone over and beyond with this woman and had paid her for nine months of no work plus severance pay. It still pisses me off to think about it all these years later. I guess I was a fool for just retiring after 18 years with this company. I should have started wetting my pants everyday or something like that and then sued when I would have been let go.

 

[Dave P.]

I'm NOT defending the lawyers but keep in mind they're playing the game according to the rules the jurisdiction sets.
Many of our elected and appointed officials are lawyers.....
Also keep in mind that a jury most likely awarded the settlement.
Insurance companies are in business to make money, profit is their "product" and they'll take the most efficient
path to optimize it, as in cheaper to pay out then pay their own lawyers to fight.
Individual lowlifes will "game" the system because it's rules/laws let them.
Remember, in life everything that happens to you is..... somebody else's fault!

 

[sceva]

I'm NOT defending the lawyers but keep in mind they're playing the game according to the rules the jurisdiction sets.
Many of our elected and appointed officials are lawyers.....
Also keep in mind that a jury most likely awarded the settlement.
Insurance companies are in business to make money, profit is their "product" and they'll take the most efficient
path to optimize it, as in cheaper to pay out then pay their own lawyers to fight.
Individual lowlifes will "game" the system because it's rules/laws let them.
Remember, in life everything that happens to you is..... somebody else's fault!

Also remember that Lawyers probably wrote the statutes that cover the lawsuits.

 

[Baxter6551]

The above cases make me sick. Very similar to post #9 except my wife tapped the rear of an Acura SUV on the entrance ramp to a limited access highway. Ramp controlled by stop sign with limited take up lane. Vehicle started to go then stopped. Minor impact just Scratches on plastic bumper. Driver, her mother and 3 year old in car seat all sued for injuries etc including loss of work earnings for the 3 year old. Insurance Co. settled for $24k.

 

[Bob Wright]

In my case, it never went to court, nor was there any lawsuit. It was simply negotiations between her lawyer and my insurance company.

In my opinion, worth nothing of course, the tremendous amount claimed originally was way out of line. My obligation was to pay her medical expenses, repair her car, and pay a sum for her inconvience. She apparantly wanted a new car or tidy sum. And the law firm was O.K. with that.

Bob Wright

 

[Dave P.]

I remember a time when if you fell down you got up, dusted yourself off and checked to see if anyone saw you being a clumsy idiot. Nowadays people get up and look for witnesses. So sad.

Two winters ago I had an evening appointment with my dentist, hopped out of my Jeep and caught my foot on the bottom of the door opening and the
foot on the ground was on an icy spot in the lot ( Michigan in the winter...duh, imagine that ). Crashed pretty hard, few parts hurt, major pissed for being
the proverbial "clumsy Bastard ". Foul language flowed while I was deciding nothing was damaged and getting up. The receptionist witnessed this and
came flying out the door to help, promptly fell right on her ample ass. They were very adamant about calling an ambulance and requiring me to get a medical checkup.
sorry not happening, do you want to fix my tooth or not? All because they were afraid I'd sue them later for my own mistake, dentist finally agrees to go ahead
and see me and all is good.
Few weeks later I get a call from the office manager and it turns out the receptionist is claiming a workman's comp injury and asked if they could have a lawyer
from their WC carrier interview me. The woman claiming injury was a maybe 30 year old porker and seemed fine when I gave her a hand up from the sidewalk.
Asked dentist about it at a later appointment and he stated the insurance made her a settlement....never heard how much.

 

[MaxMan]

Insurance companies have a schedule of what they will just pay for what injury. They fight for less. I have found it necessary to go to s lawyer after my wife's accident a number of years ago. I have also seen and been on the receiving end of the scummy other side of this lawyer thing.