<p>I’m glad you’ve got good counsel. You’ll probably get more accurate, state-specific information from that attorney than from a general message board like this one.</p>
<p>I truly am sorry for your dad and your family. Being injured like that is life changing, and has such significant impacts on everyone else in the family. Sending good thoughts for healing and recovery. </p>
<p>I hope Psychmomma comes back to add to this. I can just share my experience. The driver that hit us had the minimal insurance. I was the passenger in car. My friend’s car was totaled, and we were both taken to ER. The driver at fault had $20,000 policy, which was used up that night. My friend, the driver, has a good policy that is paying for my medical bills. In the unlikely event that we go over the maximum of his policy’s coverage, then my insurance takes over. </p>
<p>When I had the deposition, attorney for friend’s insurance first grilled me, then a lawyer from my insurance company. I think depo was almost 4 hours. </p>
<p>The damage to your FA (father) is far more severe. </p>
<p>Your attorney should also be looking at other potential defendants if this woman’s assets and insurance are insufficient. Were there any other contributing factors to the accident? Did her car malfunction? What’s her driving history? Should her physician have notified the state that she should no longer have a driver’s license? In some states, physicians have this responsibility if the patient has some mental or physical disability that prevents them from driving safely. </p>
<p>States should require that driver’s carry better auto insurance than the minimal $20,000 limits. </p>
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<p>I agree that required insurance should be much higher, but states are bound by what the electorate wants. It just fits with everything that is done…a lot of cosmetics that sound good, but which don’t really provide the protection from catastrophe that is most important. </p>
<p>She had a lot more coverage than $20k but still. The police did blood test her, we are confirming that those tests showed nothing. The car was very new so we surmise that she got confused over new or different controls. She was very old. A bystander had to intervene and physically stop her from continuing to hit the gas. I have no idea if her family had tried to take away her keys and if so, I hope they can’t sleep at night from the guilt. (Sorry, maybe I should be posting on the Get it off your chest thread). </p>
<p>Is your health insurance company going to demand to be repaid from any settlement money (subrogation)?</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like you are talking about suing for pain and suffering, but for actual damages caused by the accident, and the extra costs incurred to take care of your father, what has already been spent and what is ahead. If it depletes the estate of the person who caused it, that’s her family’s problem. They should have taken the keys sooner.</p>
<p>One of my offspring had an injury from an accident where a friend was driving. We did not want to give the driver or his family any additional grief, but per advice we did hire a personal injury attorney, to get a decent settlement from the insurance company. The attorney got 30% of fees, and our of our portion, medical costs were paid, (which is where I learned the meaning of subrogation) and then the remainder was for my offspring. The attorney did a great deal of work preparing the case, dealing with all the various entities needing payment, ambulance, physicians, anesthesiology, hospitals. Then it settled prior to court. </p>
<p>surfcity, this sounds like a family nightmare. Wishing you the best. </p>
<p>@momofJandL the health insurance will not subrogate that we know of. Medicare does put a lien on any settlement, but I do not believe anything has been paid thru Medicare, it’s all been covered under their regular health insurance. And yes, the attorney is working on a contingency basis.</p>
<p>It is a nightmare and I appreciate everyone’s good thoughts. I am keenly aware that many of us are going through similar health nightmares due to other things like strokes or falls, so I am trying not to have a “why me” or “why dad” attitude about this. One look at the Parents Caring for the Parent thread is very sobering.</p>
<p>Just thought I’d post an update. The at fault driver’s insurance has agreed to cut a check for her full covered liability amount. Now our insurer needs to “accept” this offer. Before they accept, they apparently do their own due diligence on the driver’s assets, as much as they can. I guess if they determine she is sitting on $1 mil in cash or something they are going to urge us to sue her personally.</p>
<p>Assuming my folks’ insurance accepts this check, then our next step is to file for additional funds under my folks Under Insured Motorist coverage. Again, the insurance company is not going to release that $ if they think the driver has boatloads of assets.</p>
<p>I have double checked my personal insurance to make sure that I have UIM coverage (plus an umbrella policy). But it is so surprising to me that one could potentially be up the creek in expenses if they are hit by an underinsured driver when it is totally not their fault. I naively thought that if I am 100% without fault, then I would never have to bear the costs of an accident personally. </p>
<p>I am glad that the at fault driver’s insurer is ready to offer their full policy limits and hope that your dad heals as much as possible. Money can help buy the care your dad needs now and in the future. So sorry about all that your dad and family is suffering in this situation.</p>
<p>Just curious, how do they investigate how much the driver has?</p>
<p>They can request, but not demand a list of assets. At least that was the case when my son-in-law was at fault while driving a car that my husband owned. </p>
<p>In our case, SIL was at fault (turned left in front of an oncoming car which may have been driven too fast) and was pushed into a third vehicle). Driver of the third car sued my insurance and us personally for pain and suffering over our limit of 100K, although she refused to share medical records. Our insurer usually settles out of court but refused to settle this one because it seemed too hinky. </p>
<p>Instead of reporting our assets, we sent a copy of our bankruptcy filing, which happened soon after the accident and just in case, had named all involved in the accident. There really is a bright side to everything!</p>
<p>Are people honest and list everything they own when they are about to be sued?</p>
<p>They can also have the court order a deposition, where the persons are required to testify under oath and answer questions, which can include all relevant assets, particularly if collection and assets are the issue at hand. Garnishment proceedings can be undertaken against any current or future assets that the person who caused the harm owns, though there is some protection of certain assets.</p>
<p>This is yet another reason to be adequately and properly insured, so that anyone we injure can have the funds needed for care and we can still have the assets we need to live.</p>
<p>I can see a court order will do the trick. Can you get the court order it if you are merely investigating to see if a lawsuit will have a merit and not yet suing?</p>
<p>HImom your post brings up the question that nags me. You say its important to be adequately insured for those two reasons. I agree, ethically, I want to be insured. But in my folks situation, this at fault driver is not feeling any financial pain as far as I can tell. With the possible exception of her insurance company jacking up her rates. </p>
<p>So if you have substantial assets, like lots of cash or a second home etc I guess you still need umbrella coverage to protect them. But if you don’t have much beyond a modest house and retirement savings, what incentive is there to heavily insure?</p>
<p>My lawyer has told me that suing her personally can be a long process, with discovery etc taking lots of time, so if she does not appear to have lots of assets it’s not worth it. </p>
<p>As to the question of how to determine her assets, I guess you can do property searches, I know about how much her residence costs due to my knowledge of that market. I am concerned that she could have transferred assets to children or something. Not sure how much info you can get without a court order. Her insurance company has to disclose what they know, of course. </p>
<p>You’re going through a really painful and difficult situation and I hope there’s a resolution that makes things comfortable for your parents. I have a friend whose husband suffered TBI as the result of a car accident. My friend decided that she’d leave the legal stuff to her lawyer and spend her time figuring out how best to go forward with her life and how to help her husband and her kids go forward. Get a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs–make sure it’s someone you trust and try to leave the legal research and negotiating with the people who do this for a living, who don’t have emotional involvement, and who will get money if they can get you money. </p>