- I'm going to tell you
how long it takes to settle a personal injury case.
I'm gonna share some strategies
that I've used to get the settlement
in the shortest amount of time possible.
I'm talking about car accident, cases, motorcycle
and truck accident cases
and all types of cases
where someone's injured due to someone else's fault.
The other vehicle made a left hand turn
and the Uber driver crashed into him.
Now the Uber driver spent about six days at the hospital
and he had a very large hospital bill.
But the reason why this case took 10 months to settle
is because the other driver
had a very large auto insurance policy,
it was a million dollars.
When there's a very large auto insurance policy in play
and the Uber driver or any injured victims injuries
aren't worth nearly that amount,
it doesn't put pressure on the insurance company to settle
because they're not gonna be liable for any amount
above the policy limits.
They don't have a fear of a jury
awarding more than the policy limits
if the case value is worth a lot less
than the policy limits.
His case was worth a lot less
than the policy limits
because although we had a fracture
of one of the lamina on the vertebrae of one of his spine
and he spent several days at the hospital,
he did not have surgery.
He also had a herniated disc in his spine.
Another reason why this case did not settle
in a lot less than 10 months
was because the Uber driver
ended up getting physical therapy.
Generally speaking, an injured person
doesn't wanna settle his personal injury case
until he or she is finished with the treatment.
The other van's insurance company
paid the $260,000 settlement.
You can see the settlement cheque here.
The reason why the other van's insurance company
paid the settlement
because the van's driver was at fault.
After my lawyer's fees
and paying back the medical bills
that were owed and the Medicaid lien and my attorney costs,
my client received a cheque for $167,982 in his pocket.
Now that does not include the interest
on a loan that he took.
So how could that case have settled
in a lot less than 10 months.
The case could have settled a lot quicker than 10 months
if my client would have had several surgeries to his spine.
So let's say he had a burst fracture in the accident
and then he had a fusion
and that procedure went wrong
and he had an infection and he needed other surgeries.
The value of that case could be worth
more than a million dollars,
but a fracture of one of the lamina of the spine
that does not need surgery is not worth a million dollars.
If you are someone who has a massive loss wage claim
due to a fractured lamina of the spine,
such as LeBron James, a famous basketball player,
soccer player or a brain surgeon
that needs to be able to stand
when he's performing an operation,
perhaps the loss wage claim
and the injury may be worth a million
but for most run of the mill cases,
your average person, a fractured lamina of the spine
is not nearly worth a million dollars
so in this case there was a million dollar policy limit
and the insurance company
did not have pressure to quickly pay.
Let's look at $170,000 settlement
that settled within nine months of the accident.
My client, Zack was a rear end passenger in a rental car
and the rental car slammed into the car in front of it.
Essentially, this was a rear end accident
except that my client was in the car
that did the rear ending.
Now my client ended up having surgery,
a plate and screws put into his upper arm.
And he healed very well.
He did go to the hospital and he spent some time there
but overall, when you looked at the medical records
it said patient is doing very well.
Patient does not have pain.
So those types of cases
are gonna be worth a little bit less.
The fact that the rental car insurance company
had a million or $2 million limit in this case,
did not put pressure on them to quickly settle.
My client's case was worth $170,000
which is obviously a lot less than a million dollars.
So it did not put pressure
on the insurance company to settle.
So after attorney's fees cost
and paying back the very small medical bill in this case
my client got a cheque for $113,260 in his pocket.
So how could my client's case have settled a lot quicker?
The only way that this case would have settled a lot quicker
is if my client would have had significant other injuries
such as if my client had a serious brain injury
or if my client was unfortunately killed in the accident,
those case values are very large.
So when the case value gets larger
than the insurance policy limits
that puts significant pressure
on the insurance company to settle.
They don't want their insured
to then get a judgment against them
and sue them for bad faith
and then the insurance company
may owe above the policy limits.
Also, if my client would have had a broken leg
and a broken knee and maybe a broken foot
all with surgery in addition to his broken arm with surgery
perhaps that would have put pressure
on the insurance company to quickly settle
and pay the million dollar limits.
Let's now look at one of the fastest time periods
I've ever received a large settlement cheque
in a personal injury case.
AllState sent us a cheque
for the hundred thousand dollar driver's policy limits
within eight days of the crash.
My client Ryan was driving a car in Clearwater, Florida
heading straight and another oncoming vehicle
made a left into him.
Ryan T-boned the at fault driver.
The at fault driver was insured by Allstate.
Ryan had a tibial plateau fracture
which is a fracture right below the knee.
Hardware and screws were put into his lower leg bone.
Now the other driver,
only had a hundred thousand dollar
bodily injury liability insurance limit.
A tibial plateau fracture,
a lower leg fracture with surgery
is worth more than a $100,000.
I'm referring to just the pain
and suffering component of the case.
That's not even in addition to medical bills
which even puts it way above that amount.
So Allstate knowing that at only
at a $100,000 policy limit
and that the case value is worth somewhere around
$300,000 plus,
quickly paid the $100,000 within eight days.
Now I did not cash
that $100,000 settlement cheque.
Why not?
Because my client was from Georgia.
He had uninsured motorist insurance
and the Georgia uninsured motorist insurance policy and law
required my client to sue the at fault driver
which typically you don't need to do in Florida
but when you're dealing with that
out of state insurance policy,
you may have to follow that law
or you could potentially lose the uninsured motorists case.
Another reason I didn't deposit Allstate's,
$100,000 settlement cheque
because then we would have wound up in federal court
if and when I filed a lawsuit.
If your only claim is against
an out-of-state uninsured motorist insure
you may wind up in federal court
which can be a lot stricter than state court.
So even though Ryan was on a work trip
in the state of Florida,
he had uninsured motorist insurance on his car in Georgia.
He had a $500,000 limit, which is above
what I thought the full value of the case was,
with Travelers insurance,
who was his uninsured motorist insurer
paid us $200,000 within 16 months of the accident.
Because Travelers uninsured motorist insurance policy limit
was much higher than the $300,000 full value of the case
it did not put pressure on Travelers to quickly pay.
We waited for Ryan to complete his medical treatment
and generally you wanna wait to settle the case
until you're finished with your medical treatment
because we don't know what's gonna happen.
For example, in this case
Ryan developed an allergic reaction
and we never found out what the allergic reaction was due to
but fortunately it resolved.
After my attorney's fees and costs
and paying back the workers' compensation lien
and Ryan paying out of pocket medical bills.
Ryan received the cheque for $187,371 in his pocket.
That's about 62% of the settlement.
Ryan's case could have settled a lot quicker
if Travelers would have had a $200,000
uninsured motorist insurance limit
because that combined with the at fault driver Allstate's,
$100,000 bodily injury limit
would have been equal to the fair value of the case.
That would put pressure on Travelers to pay
because if they don't
and we were to get a judgment above the $300,000
then Ryan could potentially sue them for bad faith.
In this case, Travelers could potentially owe more
than the uninsured motorist insurance limit.
Travelers insurance company is the same company
that's handling all of the accident claims
in the state of Florida.
Let's look at a case where Geico
paid the $100,000
bodily injury liability limits in under four months.
My client Sarah was heading straight down the street,
another car was coming in the oncoming direction
and made a left-hand turn
and Sarah T-boned her
and the airbags deployed in Sarah's car.
Sarah had a broken nose
and she also had a herniated disc
and she had a nerve block injection to a lower back.
An ambulance took Sarah to the hospital
and Sarah like many injured accident victims
asked me how long would my personal injury case
take to settle?
What made Geico pay
it's $100,000
bodily injury liability limits in under four months.
First we had a very heavy impact crash
where the airbags deployed.
Sarah had a broken nose.
She was taken by ambulance to the hospital
and the doctor recommended lower back surgery.
All those conditions put together
created such an effect
that Geico thought the case
may be worth more than a $100,000
and they paid us in less than four months.
Now I pressured the at fault driver's personal attorney
that he hired to pay the $100,000 limits
or otherwise face the possibility
of owing us more than a $100,000.
Now, after my attorney's fees and costs
and paying back Sarah's health insurance company
and out-of-pocket medical bills,
she received the cheque for $56,504,
which is about 56.5% of the total settlement.
How could Sarah's case have settled
in much less than four months?
Let's say a month or so.
If she would have had immediate surgery
Geico likely would have paid the $100,000
for her case.
I'm referring to lower back surgery.
Let's look at a motorcycle accident settlement
that settled within 38 days of the crash.
My client Pat was riding his motorcycle heading straight
and another driver took a stop sign and hit Pat.
Pat broke his collarbone in the accident
and he was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
Travelers insurance company
insured the driver of the car that hit Pat.
The other driver had a $50,000
bodily injury liability limit.
Travelers felt that the case was worth $50,000 or more.
So they paid us the $50,000
within just 38 days of the settlement.
Unfortunately the at-fault driver did not
have any additional insurance
and Pat did not own a car
with stacking uninsured motorist insurance on it.
And Pat also did not have any uninsured motorist insurance
on the motorcycle
and he did not live with any relatives
that had uninsured motorist insurance stacking on their car.
So we were limited to the at fault driver's
$50,000 policy limit.
How could this case have settled in way under 38 days
after the accident?
If Pat would have had emergency surgery
to his broken collarbone,
the case would have likely settled in just a few days,
like 10 days or so.
Let's look at a case where I received a $25,000
settlement cheque in just 31 days after the accident.
Shan Keva was a passenger in a car.
Another car was heading in the opposite direction,
it crashed into the car in front of Shan Keva
which pushed that car into Shan Keva's car.
Shan Keva was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
She had an acetabular fracture
which is a fracture of the hip bone socket.
Now the other driver only had a $10,000 per person
bodily injury liability insurance policy,
Shan Keva's boyfriend was driving the car
that Shan Keva was in
and he had $25,000 of uninsured motorist insurance
with State Farm insurance company.
Now State Farm insurance company
is typically very cheap in soft tissue accident cases.
Here, State Farm paid within 31 days of the accident
because they felt that Shan Keva's case
was worth more than $35,000 or so.
This was a very heavy impact crash.
The media came to the scene and took photos.
Shan Keva had to be hospitalized.
Fortunately she did not need surgery.
However, State Farm did pay the $25,000 within 31 days.
We also made a claim
against the at fault driver's insurance,
unfortunately he only had $10,000 of bodily injury coverage
and she needed to split that with the driver of the car
that she was in.
He got 2000, Shan Keva got the 8,000
and the person in the car in front of Shan Keva
was unfortunately killed in the crash
and they got the remaining $10,000.
How could this case have settled
in a lot less than 31 days after the accident?
The case would have settled a lot sooner
if Shan Keva would have had surgery
to her hip socket fracture
or if she would have had a fractured femur,
that's the bone between the knee and the hip
or a fractured tubular fibula,
State Farm likely would've paid in less than 31 days.
The common theme that we've seen is
when someone is badly injured
and someone else is at fault
and the insurance limits are low
in relation to the extent of the injury,
it puts pressure on the insurance company to pay faster.
On the other hand, even if someone is badly hurt
but the insurance policy limits are worth much more
than the value of the injury
it does not put pressure on the insurance company to pay.
Most auto accident cases and other personal injury cases,
slip and falls and all types of accidents
do not result in serious injuries.
This means it doesn't put much pressure
on the insurance company to quickly pay.
It's very important not to miss out
on any available bodily injury liability insurance coverage.
Let me give you an example.
In one case
my client was driving straight through an intersection.
She had a green light and another driver ran a red light.
She went to the emergency room and got treatment.
She broke her wrist and needed surgery.
She had a plate and screws put in there
and she had some lower back pain.
USAA insured the other driver and I sent them a request
for their insurance disclosure information under oath.
USAA responded and told me their driver only
had a $100,000 of bodily injury liability insurance.
It was only when I pressed USAA and the other driver
on what they were doing at the time of the crash
is when a couple months or so later
USAA told me that their driver was working
at the time of the crash.
And there was a million dollar additional insurance policy.
Had I not asked USAA
what their driver was doing
and asked for a written statement under oath
they would have likely never told me
about the additional million dollars of insurance coverage.
So this case resulted in a $200,000 settlement
instead of a $100,000 settlement.
So it's important to do a thorough investigation
to make sure that you find out
all the insurance coverage available.
You don't wanna be like that client there,
potentially almost have missed out
on a $100,000 of coverage
without an attorney.
If my client did not have an attorney in this case
there's no way she would have discovered
that there was more insurance
and gotten a $100,000 extra
in settlement money.
Now sometimes people call me
and they ask me if hiring a lawyer
will delay their personal injury settlement.
It's actually the opposite.
If you have a personal injury lawyer,
in addition to likely getting the settlement money faster,
due to them getting all your medical records files,
taking any witness statements,
getting the 911 calls, et cetera,
being able to settle your case faster.
There's also some major advantages
such as your health insurance company or medical payments,
coverage insurer may have to reduce the amount
of their payback claim
from the settlement by your attorney's fees and costs
that can result in a significant savings.
For example, in Ryan's case,
the workers' comp insure wanted
over $85,000 back from the settlement.
We ended up using Ryan's PIP to pay off that lien.
And we only have to pay them
around $3,000 from the settlement.
If you wanna learn more
about how to maximize the value of your personal injury case
in the shortest time possible,
watch this video here.
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