In a moment you are walking, and another you find yourself on a stretcher inside an ambulance clutching to life. You must have lost consciousness for a while depending on the level of the hit. Knowing where you are right now, you’ll come to the realization of the damage done to your boy. You cannot feel other part of your body, you cannot feel your leg. One thing will sharply come to mind, if you’ll be able to ever walk again or confined to the wheel chair forever. On reaching the hospital, you are announced to of how lucky you are to have survived being by a drunk driver.
Knowing that the road to recovery will be a long one, one dilemma sets in, the cost of hospitalization and therapy. You cannot work, so how will you offset the bills. Be calm, insurance should cover a substantial part of the bills, even for the lost wages. Without any doubt of being hit by a drunk driver, an injury settlement will be tendered and not trial. Hence, to be commensurately compensated, you must be aware of the insurance laws, limits and no fault insurance limit.
Avoid Immediate Settlement
Don’t be coerced into an urgent settlement, ensure that your condition after the accident is fully ascertained before going into settlement. Expect the at fault driver’s insurance company to be gunning for an immediate and early settlement to quickly close the case and keep a low payout. What you think of a minor injuries may turn out to be serious in the aftermath or cause another serious damage to your health.
In return for the early settlement, a release of liability form will be provided for you to sign. This is to prevent you from seeking any further settlement in the evident of a severe health issue arising later. You are advised to keep your record of financial loses which should include the medical expenses and the lost wages till after you are up and doing before considering any settlement offer.
You also have leverage after the driver has been convicted of DUI to seek settlement. The insurance company would prefer out of court settlement as this will make the jury and judge sympathetic to your cause and injury. Be aware that there are limit of settlement an insurance company can provide, usually in the $50,000 range. Incase the damage exceed the state limit, there is a need to file a civil suit which will usually end in pre-trial settlement. In any event that there are many parties filing a suit against the same offender, the settlement will be lower for each party.
Fault Vs. No Fault Insurance Laws.
There are about a dozen state including New York, Florida and Pennsylvania which have the “no fault”auto insurance law in place. If you are in any of this state, your auto insurer is expected to cover your injury claims. State also has varying monetary limits claims for injuries, this is known as the personal injury protection (PIP) claims.
From the above, you now understand the complex legal process involved in a settling a car injury claim. You can only get the best possible compensation for your injury by involving a DUI accident injury lawyer.
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