What is a reasonable insurance pain and suffering amount for a leg fractured in 2 places?
Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at
1:23 pm
My 20 year old nephew was injured when a guy pulled out in front of him while he was driving his moped home froom work one night. He flipped over the truck and his leg was broken in 2 places. It required emergency surgery, a hospital stay, and several months of recovery. We are trying to avoid getting an attorney and are looking for advice on what is normal or fair for this type of injury when it comes to pain and suffering. Any advice appreciated! Have a great one!
First of all, I don’t know how your state is but in PA you have to have full tort on your insurance plan. I had an accident 2 years ago with injuries to my neck and back that are permanent. I hired a lawyer and received $21,000 but after the lawyer fees I got $14,800. Hope this info helps!
Maybe nothing, depending on how exactly the accident happened, and what state you are in. In limited tort states, you don’t get pain and suffering for this type of injury. If he went straight up the back of the truck, he was going too fast, and HE’LL be the one at fault.
Only if he hit the SIDE of the truck will you be able to pin this on the truck.
He needs to ask his agent for a realistic guess. If he bought insurance without an agent, then he’s his own agent, and he’ll probably have to cut the lawyer in on 30%. In any case, the other guy’s insurance is NEVER going to pay out more than the policy limit – which might not be enough to cover just the medical bills.
With that type of injury, a lawyer would be your best bet. Insurance companies are not known for their generosity.
Here in Texas, we have an attorney that says in his commercials that he got over $100,000 for a client that got a broken ankle in a car accident. I don’t think that included what the insurance company had to pay for the medical bills.
A lawyer that specializes in personal injury is your best bet. Whatever he gets your nephew, he will probably take about 33% of.
"Pain and suffering" is a term open to huge interpretation. Good idea to have an exact definition/interpretation of his "pain and suffering" before you make anymore calls. Typically insurance companies won’t pay for "pain and suffering". There isn’t a coverage on an insurance policy for that. The insurance company will probably be more than willing to work with him to pay the necessary AND resonable medical expenses to restore his physical injuries. Is he having emotional trauma, lost wages because he missed work, etc.? Is that your/his interpretation of his "pain and suffering"? If so, his best option is to contact an personal injury attorney. If he’s just looking to have his medical expenses paid then their may not be any need for an attorney.
Make sure you are working with the insurance company of the person that was cited or determined to be at fault for the accident. It is very important that you/he document everything. From how he feels one day to all paper docs from hospital and doc visits and so on.