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The other party's insurance in my situation was substantially more than minimums, which is a good thing because the Medical portion was almost $123K...Originally Posted by Monky
Light a fire for a man, and he'll be warm for a day, light a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life...
Discussion is an exchange of intelligence. Argument is an exchange of
ignorance. Ever found a liberal that you can have a discussion with?
My first question should have been: Have you discussed this with your lawyer and if so, what did he/she say?
As a last resort, if you truly feel you were misled or mistreated you could always file a complaint with the state bar association. They take those complaints very seriously and the lawyer would be required to respond or face disciplinary action.
Again I would only do this as a last resort but it is an option that is available to you.
I will use generic whole numbers to illustrate my point:
Policy limit $100, split 50/50 with W/C ins co. I was unaware nor would I consider this $100 as given to me, but put in a trust account to decide who it belongs to. Merely released by the at fault driver's ins co so as to not be in "bad faith". In my mind, this would equal roughly $17 to the attorney, $33 to me, $50 to W/C.
W/C agrees to pay me the $50 back. In my mind this means another $10 to the attorney and $40 to me.
Total here for W/C = $0, my attorney $27, me $77. Follow me so far?
This is how they saw it:
Policy limit $100 = $33 to them, $50 to W/C, $17 to me. W/C pays the $50 back = $10 to them, $40 to me.
Total: W/C $0, my attorney $43, $57 to me.
Again, since I have hired them to represent MY best interests, I think they should have said during the conference "Hey, you're already paying us $33 out of the PI limit $100 regardless of how you word your settlement. You should tell the W/C ins co to just release their claim to the $100 and not pay you anything. The net result is the same to them, but it is going to save you a lot of money in fees from us."
Total here: W/C $0, my attorney $33, me $67.
Big differences to me here when you convert them into real world numbers.
Last edited by VDW; 09-02-2015 at 18:27.
A big thanks to Monky for talking to me about this and running it by his employer.
An update: It appears after a few heated phone calls/conferences, my attorneys will adjust their take to equal the middle ground position. This is equal to how I think they should have advised me during the settlement conference with W/C. Not as good as I thought I was negotiating with W/C, but I think a fair middle ground. I still have not received the actual checks, so I'm keeping my options open until then.
Thanks again to everyone for your prompt replies.
For anyone who is going through this now, or maybe in the future, I hope this helps you out.
No, I walked out empty handed with my head burning...lol!
For those of you in a similar situation, my understanding is Un-insured Motorist/Under Insured Motorist coverage on your personal insurance would cover you even in your work vehicle - talk to a lawyer. Again, I'm not a lawyer, but that is what my lawyer told me. So if you drive for a living, I would suggest getting as high a UM/UIM policy as you can afford. I wish I had!
If you drive your own vehicle only? It's been a while since I've been in that side of insurance. I'll have to check.
Thank you for posting this, as I may need to adjust my own coverage.
"There are no finger prints under water."
Nah, it can come into play in other vehicles as well. The same way you can use a resident relative policy. Stack policies if more than one policy is owned... Lots of avenues
Sent by a free-range electronic weasel, with no sense of personal space.
That's what I was thinking after I posted. Just like MedPay right?
"There are no finger prints under water."
Now that I lost my career, maybe I need to go into insurance sales??
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