What does it take to settle a car wreck injury case?

After a car wreck, insurance companies try to save money by making a quick settlement offer. Some offer less than $1000, some offer up to several thousand plus offer to pay medical bills up to a certain amount. Keep in mind, this is for the injury part of the case, not the property damage. This typically occurs within a week or two after the wreck. Many insurance companies won’t do this, but some of the bigger ones can be aggressive.

IN KANSAS, NORMALLY A VERBAL AGREEMENT TO SETTLE IS BINDING. This means if they offer you something on a phone call and you say yes, you may be locked in to settle. BE CAREFUL. Usually when this call comes in, it is too early to know the full nature and extent of your injury. Usually when this call comes in, it is too early to know how much your medical bills total. There is no way to know the true value of your case in the first few weeks after your injury. But if you say yes to an offer, it no longer matters. Whatever deal you have reached likely is binding on you. Many lawyer ads say don’t sign a release. That is not an accurate way to determine if you have a settlement agreement. EVEN IF YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED A RELEASE, THE VERBAL AGREEMENT LIKELY IS BINDING AND CANNOT BE UNDONE!

A lot of lawyer ads also talk about being tricked by insurance adjusters. The reality is if you take a small sum of money early on, you may have lost a substantial amount of money by being quick to react. In Wichita, some hospitals can bill more than $30,000 or $40,000 simply by charging large sums to do CT scans. If you accept a small sum before knowing how much your medical bills total, you actually could be in the hole after you factor in your medical bills. Remember being seen in the emergency room results in multiple bills from multiple healthcare providers. It is normal to get a bill from the hospital, and a separate bill from the emergency room physician, and a third bill from a radiological company for the doctor who reads the x-rays or CT scans. Our attorneys will help you get a fair resolution after knowing all the information necessary to properly value your case.

Another real problem is you don’t know how you are going to feel two weeks later, two months later, or even six months later. People sometimes settle their case for a thousand or two and then several months later end up needing surgery. If you have verbally accepted an offer, that normally cannot be undone, even if your condition worsens over time. If you end up needing surgery, the medical bills can be substantial, even up to $100,000 or more. Obviously you have made a huge mistake by being tricked into a small settlement by the insurance adjuster.

If you hired an attorney, the same is true about a verbal agreement to settle. If an offer is made and you tell your attorney you want to settle, once your attorney tells the insurance company verbally you want to take the offer, you are stuck with that deal. You need to protect yourself, even with an attorney, to know not only how much you will get after your attorney gets paid, and other expenses and deductions are made, but you need to know whether the medical bills are paid or not.

Our firm attempts to do what is best for the client regarding outstanding medical bills. Some clients have poor credit or other outstanding medical bills. It doesn’t always make sense to pay all the bills. As an example, if someone already is in a financial position where they need to file bankruptcy, the funds need to go to the injury victim instead of paying the medical bills. The opposite is true also, and if you have great credit, your attorney can work on reviewing all bills to make sure they get negotiated down (Yes most bills are negotiable!) and paid from the settlement. Your attorney should be protecting you, not the healthcare providers. Some attorneys work so closely with the medical offices that there is almost a conflict of interest. If your attorney is more worried about getting the medical offices paid than what ends up in your pocket, that certainly would be a problem. Bottom line is you should know yourself what is happening to each and every medical bill you incurred from the wreck and know whether that bill is getting paid or not getting paid. Your attorney should help you if you need help figuring that out.