My friend is in a world of hurt...what should she do?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I've know her for a few years, she's different than most, super sweet, waaaaay too nice and trusting and naive, easily taken advantage of and then wonders why, definitely ADHD (her head moves around like a birds as every new thing catches her eye while you are talking with her) and she's always getting into trouble...not illegal trouble, but Murphy follows her around with a vengeance.

3 years ago she moved to Alaska with a deadbeat (naturally) guy that soon left her, took her life savings ($22K) with him and she's been stuck there ever since, though I'm trying to get her to move back to Boston (her family is here).

here's her latest situation and I'm very worried about her. I left her email to me exactly as she typed it to give you a sense of her mindset.

What advice can I give her? What should she do?

Car accident happened 19 December 2009 downtown 5th and Gambell around 11am. I was stopped at a red light and the person behind me couldn't stop and hit me from behind. His front end was damaged badly and his truck hit my spare tire on my jeep. They replaced the back gate on my jeep and the accident caused the rear defrost to pop off (they fixed that) The person who hit me insurance company said the man was at fault and they'd take care of my medical costs and have my jeep fixed. Hospital stated I had a strained neck, back and torso. Been in care since January, medical bills around $18,000.00. The medical bills consist of numerous chircopractic visits, acupuncture, hospitals testing and emergency visits. State Farm said they'd settle for $3,000.00 and pay my medical costs. Still dealing with thoracic muscle spasms, thoracic pain, not being able to sleep due to pain, stress, broken tooth due to stress and lack of sleep. Every day the pain level is a 6 on the 1-10 scale, affecting my sleep and only getting about 3-4 hours a sleep each night. About a month ago I started to notice that when bent over, reached for something in the cupboards or lay down/get out of bed it felt like i was spinning around in circles and I got to the point where I wanted to get sick but didn't. This is now happening every day at least 3xs a day. I saw the nuero-chirco and he did a few tests on me and thinks I need to go for some further testing to an onotoralyst-nuerologist (bad spelling). The problem is where they have the testing they want a letter from State Farm or the attorney stating that payment will be sent within 30 days. I'm seeing the nuero doc for another test tomorrow because I told them what the nuero testing docs payment policy was and we will see from there. A major problem is that no doctors here will take 3rd party billing and State Farm Insurance won't pay until I'm fully recovered. So, I'm running around in circles and if i want to see another doctor I have to pay FULLY for it out of my own pocket. I wake up every morning feeling like I've been hit by a train.

I hope this helps, let me know what else you think would be helpful.

-C

[Zeke]

Sorry to say, but she definitely needs an attorney at this point. No out of pocket needed.

My wife is picking out an attorney today and her accident was not nearly as severe. These ins cos are nothing but P'sOS. Once you have an attorney, the ins co will not call you again. This is what we're shooting for.

[vash]

call a lawyer..and "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!"

she needs to stop talking to anyone except her attorney ASAP.

[Racerbvd]

Lawyer her up.. Someone from her family needs to visit her, or you do..

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

yes, this is correct. medical expenses above the insurance will be included in the settlement, as well as reimbursement for any loss of enjoyment, pain, suffering. She may want to keep a diary of the problems she encounters.atty needed. state farm sucks

[m21sniper]

How can anyone NOT know she needs a lawyer?

[Rot 911]

The typical tactic with an insurance company is to try to get you to settle quickly so they can avoid paying for any long term treatment. Then when you refuse to settle quickly, they refuse to pay anything short term. So client gets stuck between needing more treatment and needing money.

Get a good personal injury attorney now.

[Zeke]

Well, Shaun, show her this thread.

And send her a big bouquet of flowers from all of us. I'm sure we can chip in.

[Schumi]

The obvious route of action has been stated...

But to better get an idea of this, may we ask how old this girl is?

[pete3799]

Lawyer definitely.
We are going through the same thing with our daughter who was injured in a car accident.
Ins. co. said "thats it we won't pay any more"
Our lawyer said "oh yes they will"

[Superman]

Originally Posted by milt

Sorry to say, but she definitely needs an attorney at this point. No out of pocket needed.

My wife is picking out an attorney today and her accident was not nearly as severe. These ins cos are nothing but P'sOS. Once you have an attorney, the ins co will not call you again. This is what we're shooting for.

Exactly. She needs to gather up the paperwork and hand the entire file over to an attorney, and say "Sick 'em...."

[M.D. Holloway]

any pics?

[red-beard]

[Superman]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

The typical tactic with an insurance company is to try to get you to settle quickly so they can avoid paying for any long term treatment. Then when you refuse to settle quickly, they refuse to pay anything short term. So client gets stuck between needing more treatment and needing money.

Get a good personal injury attorney now.

Gotta love those reliable, service-oriented, high-quality private, commercial corporations. They're certainly.......reliable.

[Crowbob]

I'm thinking her problems are not just physical. Loses 22K to a deadbeat, then $18,000 so far for "strained" back, neck, torso. She says she dizzy now. Her life has been one crisis after another. She has demonstrated poor judgement, is labled with "ADHD" and finally discovers she is now running around in circles. Pics would definitely help but often, no one ever really finds a cause for these somatic complaints, it's never their fault, they blindly follow doctors' advice, eventully to have surgery which invariably doesn't work. Yep, lawyer's gonna help-NOT. She used a lot of words to say "Please! Rescue me!" After all she's way too sweet, naive, trusting. Pics, please.

[Leland Pate]

Originally Posted by Superman

Gotta love those reliable, service-oriented, high-quality private, commercial corporations. They're certainly.......reliable.

I know, right!?

It's a damn good thing we haven't allowed these types to use the legislature to make their services an essential, and now REQUIRED, part of daily life, huh!

[red-beard]

17 posts and still not pictures....

[porsche4life]

I don't hold much hope james....

[MRM]

Obviously she needs a lawyer ASAP. She should not contact the insurance company until she has one and if they call her she should say that she's in the process of getting a lawyer and can't talk to them until she choses on. The insurance company is acting in its own self interest and knows the rules. She doesn't So if she deals with them alone she will get the short end of the stick. If she wants to get an even shake she needs a personal injury specialist.

The question is how to select a good lawyer. Consumers of legal services have no way of evaluating how good a lawyer is until after the case is done.

The best way to select a lawyer is by word of mouth. People who have had a good experience. The second best way is to select certified civil trial specialists. Here is a link to three in Alaska.

Find trial lawyers & trial attorneys, civil lawyers & criminal lawyers for your law suits

Any one of them should be fine. She needs an experienced lawyer who specializes in personal injury. Repeat SPECIALIZES in personal injury. Not "I can do" personal injury, not "I do personal injury" she wants someone who does it almost exclusively. If the three guys on the link don't specialize in PI, they will be able to refer someone who does who is in her area.

Good luck.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Superman

Gotta love those reliable, service-oriented, high-quality private, commercial corporations. They're certainly.......reliable.

They wouldn't have to be that way if it weren't for all those lying, blood sucking scam artists always looking to hit the insurance lottery. And that's just the lawyers. The victims are even worse!