What can a Kentucky auto accident victim do to increase their chances of a successful outcome to their Kentucky car accident injury case? Why is it that some Kentucky car wreck cases are settled for more money than others? Why are some car accident victims seen as more credible than others? Does the insurance company just like Louisville car accident victims more than those from Lexington?

One of the biggest reasons why I see Kentucky car accident cases fail is lack of documentation.  The most important thing a Kentucky accident victim can do is document everything that happens in their accident case. From the moment you are in an automobile accident you should take pictures and make notes of everything that happened. The same thing applies to truck accidents and bicycle accidents.

If you’re in a car accident, you should take pictures of the vehicles as they are on the roadway at the time the accident occurs.  This could be important in determining liability or who caused the accident. 

You should also take pictures of the damage to your car and the damage to the car that hit you.  Many times there is very little damage to your car, yet the car that hit you has thousands of dollars worth of damage.  This is important evidence that your personal injury attorney can use in negotiating a settlement with the insurance company or arguing your accident case to a jury.

It is also important to keep a diary. You should write down everything that happens in the case so that you can remember it later when you need to.  Should you have to give a deposition or testify at trial it might be three or four years after the automobile accident. You may forget many of the details of the accident, your treatment and how you were affected.  You must have a way to refresh your memory as to how the accident painfully affected your life. It is also a great help to your personal injury attorney.

If you think back to even last Christmas and try to remember everything that happened, you’re not going to give an exact play-by-play of every gift that everyone received that day. This is the same thing that will happen as time passes after your auto-accident.  You will not remember everything. 

The point to all this is you need to document! This will increase the chances of you getting a good and fair recovery in your Kentucky auto accident case. Give yourself a fighting chance against the insurance company by documenting everything that happens in your Kentucky car accident case.

The insurance adjuster wants to take a recorded statement from you, the victim of a Kentucky car accident. You have been injured through no fault of your own. You are hurting. All you want is to go to the doctor, have your medical bills paid and to get your car fixed. Now the insurance company wants to take your statement and grill you like a suspect in a television crime show. You didn’t do anything wrong.

 Kentucky automobile accident victims come into my office and tell me that they have been called by the insurance adjuster. Most accident victims give a statement because they feel that they have to.  This is not the case.  You do not have to talk to the insurance adjuster from the at-fault insurance company if you don’t want to. In most circumstances it is advisable not to speak with them until you have spoken to an experienced personal injury attorney. You have the right to refuse.

Insurance adjusters take statements on an almost daily basis. They have an agenda or purpose behind what they are doing.  They are not trying to find out exactly what happened in the case, although that is part of the purpose. They are also trying to get information from you they can later use to defeat your car accident claim. The insurance company is trying to limit the amount that they are going to have to pay you for your injury claim. 

Eventually in most situations you will give a statement to the insurance company. You should do it only after you have been prepared by your attorney. This will help to put you on a level playing field with the insurance adjuster. Once you know what your rights are and what the insurance company’s agenda is for this statement you will be better equipped to protect your rights. You will be able to give a statement that will be beneficial to your Kentucky accident claim.

Wait to give your statement. There is no rush. Make sure that you’re not on pain medications Make sure that you’re not still recovering from injuries. You should not be in extreme pain when you give a statement.  You don’t want to give a statement right after an accident when your adrenaline is still high and you don’t know exactly what your injuries are.  Wait; time is not of the essence as the insurance adjuster makes you feel. Give yourself a chance to recover and be educated so that you know what the statement is really about. By doing this it is less likely that you will say anything that will damage your accident case.

Should Kentucky car accident victims use their personal health insurance to pay their medical bills for the treatment they receive for injuries they sustained in an automobile accident?  This is a question frequently asked by clients.

·         Do I Give my health insurance card to my doctors?

·         Why should my car insurance pay for my medical bills from an automobile accident that wasn’t my fault?

·         Isn’t it the at-fault cars’ insurance company that should have to pay?

In other words should they use their health insurance to pay for their treatment from a car accident?  The answer is no and yes. Why No? Your first and primary insurance in a car accident in Kentucky is your Personal Injury Protection or PIP benefits.  Your own car insurance will pay the first $10,000.00 of medical bills for treatment from a car accident under most circumstances. 

The “yes” comes after this $10,000.00 amount is fully paid or exhausted. You can then use your health insurance. Your health insurance will pay the medical bills from this point on.  The confusing part and what some consider the bad part about this is there’s something called subrogation. Ninety percent of all health insurance plans require you to reimburse the health insurance carrier for anything they pay toward the treatment of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Federal ERISA laws cover this area. It is a very specialized area of law and would require pages to fully explain. Your health insurance company generally entitled to reimbursement, and they can recover what was paid out under most circumstances.

If there is a requirement to pay your health insurance company why should use your health insurance to pay the bills from your car wreck case? The answer is twofold. One is to make sure that you get the treatment you need. The second is that they pay at a reduced rate, which ultimately saves you money. Realize that you will have to reimburse them out of the proceeds of your accident case, but only what is paid.

There are some good points for the Kentucky accident victim. When a health insurance company pays a bill they will pay the provider the agreed upon price for any treatment. In other words, they will pay only a portion of the charge. You only have to reimburse the health insurance company what they have paid, not the total amount of the bill. Usually this amount will be discounted even further at the time of payment by you.

You are also responsible to pay any co-pays or deductibles to the health care provider, unless you can work out other arrangements with your doctor. You will eventually be reimbursed but that may be several months or even years later when your accident case is settled.

The bottom line is you should use your health insurance to pay your medical bills once your PIP benefits have been exhausted. Your health insurance is secondary insurance. This allows you to get the treatment you need without being hassled by bill collectors for payment.

         Bicycle accidents and pedestrian accidents that happen in Kentucky pose different questions and different answers for the accident victims. Bicycle accident victims and pedestrian accident victims come into my office after being hit by a car and have suffered serious injuries. They wonder if they have a case. They’ve been hurt and they want to recover for their injuries.

        What happens if the car that hit them did not have insurance? Can the bicyclist or pedestrian be compensated for injuries they suffered in the accident through no fault of their own? There can be a recovery even if that person didn’t have insurance or they don’t have assets sufficient to pay for the injuries that they caused by their negligent actions.

As a personal injury attorney, I will look at the insurance policy of the person on the bicycle or the pedestrian to see if they have what is called your uninsured motorist coverage (UIM). This is coverage on your own car. UIM will pay for your pain and suffering in a pedestrian or bicycle accident if for some reason the car that hit you did not have insurance. Most people have no idea that their own car insurance will give those benefits under this situation.

You need to make sure that you have this coverage on your own car insurance policy, make sure that if you are hurt in an accident like this that you will be covered!

Your PIP will also pay for the first $10,000.00 of your medical bills. This happens even though you were no where close to your car.

I had a client a few years ago that was on a moped and on her way to work. She was injured by a car that ran her off the road and then took off. We never found the car and have no idea who the person was that hit her. She had very serious injuries. Her leg was broke and required two surgeries, pins and rods were inserted. There was a year of recovery. We were able to get a recovery for her by looking to the UIM on her car. This was from her own car insurance company, even though she was not driving that car at the time and she was on a moped.

You need to look seriously toward your insurance company in these situations. Give your personal injury attorney something to work with. If you are not sure if you have this coverage call your insurance agent and ask. For more information on Uninsured Motorist Coverage follow this link to get a free copy of my book “What You Don’t Know About Buying Car Insurance Can Hurt You.”

Many Kentucky accident victims have suffered serious and life changing injuries from an automobile accidents, truck accidents or motorcycle accident. They come into my office looking for answers. They are concerned about the fact that they only have $10,000.00 in medical benefits available to them from their PIP Benefits (Personal Injury Protection) in their car insurance policy.  If you’ve been in an accident and have a serious injury and are in need of surgery this may not be enough to cover the medical bills for treatment you receive for injuries suffered in the accident. It’s a real concern if you don’t have health insurance. 

         After an accident your options are limited if you don’t have health insurance. Unfortunately you can’t go back in time. You are forced to go to a free clinic or find a doctor who will agree to treat you or perform surgery on a promise to pay later. This just doesn’t happen very often.

You really must take action right now before you are even in a serious automobile accident in Kentucky. You must do something long before you even think about contacting a car accident attorney. One thing that you must do is ask your insurance agent to increase your PIP benefits.  These additional benefits are called Added Reparations Benefits.  You can increase your benefits to $20,000.00 per accident, $40,000.00 per accident, $50,000.00 and even more with many insurance companies. 

You might think, well if I’m getting five times the benefits, I don’t want to pay five times the amount, but in many circumstances your premium will go up a relatively insignificant amount compared to the increased benefits you are getting.  One of the most important things you can do right now to protect yourself and your family is contact your insurance agent and request additional medical benefits on your auto insurance policy.  I would suggest that you call your insurance agent today to ask him how to go about this.  You’ll be amazed at how little it will really cost you and the peace of mind you will have knowing you have protected your family should you be in a serous car accident.

We all know that the dangers of texting and driving. It is obvious.  In Kentucky we now have a simulator which demonstrates the dangers of texting and driving. The simulator can be requested from the Office of Highway Safety and is free to the schools.  It has not been used in Jefferson County but I hope our schools will take advantage of the program.  This new program has been developed to demonstrate the problems and many dangers of texting and driving to high school students.  This is presented for no charge by the Kentucky office of Highway Safety. 

Individuals are strapped into an arcade-type racing game.  The simulator has a seat equipped with a seatbelt, a gas pedal and a brake pedal.  There is also a steering wheel and a gearshift. You have three screens in front of you that gives the operator an 180?degree view of a roadway. The driver is requested to operate or drive normally. They are then handed a cell phone and asked to send a text message while they can continue to drive the simulator. 

When they are handed the cell phone it usually sends the car swerving into another lane.  Drivers are allowed to watch a replay of their simulation. When students are shown the simulation replay they see themselves swerving when they thought they were actually driving okay.  Distracted driving has become the leading cause of crashes among 16 to 21 years old.  Texting and driving is a big, big part of this.  

            The US Department of Transportation has banned all federal employees from texting and driving on federal-issued or personal phones while in vehicles owned by the federal government or in vehicles being used on federal business.  This includes the military.  Although the federal government may be the most recent, the National Safety Council indicates that hundreds of private companies and organizations have banned the use of cell phones while driving to reduce accidents at work. 

This needs to be the law in Kentucky and should be the number one priority at the next Kentucky legislative session.  The word is getting out in Kentucky partly thanks to Nicole Meredith, who is a teen.  She wrecked her car on the Gene Snyder last summer when she was texting a friend.  As she was texting she went off the road and totaled her car.  Miraculously she walked away from the crash without injuries.  Meredith has told her story in Frankfort to help kickoff the Transportation Department’s distracted driving campaign.  Hopefully there will be more than just a campaign and soon no text messaging behind the wheel will be the law in Kentucky.  

The statistics are one of the many compelling reasons to make this ban the law in Kentucky.  Some of these statistics are:

·        Distraction from the use of a cell phone while driving delays driver-reaction time

·        Use of cell phone reduces brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.

·        80 percent of all crashes are related to driver inattention.  The use of a handheld device increases the likelihood of a crash four times.

·        In 2008 nearly 6,000 people died in crashes involving an inattentive or distracted driver.

·        Research shows that the youth are the worst offenders.

Believe it or not there were 53,000 distracted driving-related crashes last year in Kentucky.  Link Kentucky kicks off campaign to cut down on distracted driving.  Governor Steve Beshear is considering a policy that would limit distracted driving for all state employees.  Do we really need to have to tell them that it’s time to make this the law?  I hope Kentucky follows suit with Colorado. Their new law dictating how you use your cell phone while driving takes effect December 1, 2009.  After this date no one under the age of 18 will be allowed to talk on a phone while driving.  Everyone will be banned from texting while driving.   

Let’s hope Kentucky is next and a ban on text messaging while driving will be law in Kentucky in the near future. This will help to precent car accidents on our Kentucky roads.

Kentucky is a PIP state for automobile accidents. PIP is short for Personal Injury Protection. You may also hear these benefits referred to as Basic Reparation Benefits or No-Fault Benefits. I am not going into great details hear as to how these benefits work. Here is the nut shell. You have $10,000.00 of benefits that will pay your first $10,000.00 of medical bills and or lost wages.

Those of you that know me have heard me say that this is simply not enough for most accidents. I urge everyone to I run into (just figuratively) to purchase additional benefits called Added Reparation Benefits. For a small increase in your premium you can dramatically increase the coverage that is available to you.

With all of the talk about health care reform I have been looking at what is going on north of the border in Canada. In Ontario government is making plans to reduce their medical rehabilitation benefit from $100,000.00 to $50,000.00 for non- catastrophically injured people.  This is part their no-fault benefits. While I am urging people to increase their benefits in Kentucky the Canadian government is forcing everyone to take a reduction in these benefits. This will significantly alter the quality of care victims of automobile accidents will receive.

Interestingly enough it will increase the attorney fee collected. I am sure that most Personal Injury lawyers in Ontario don’t care about this change because of this.

I ran across an interview done by Brenda Hollingsworth, an Ottawa personal injury attorney, which was a breath of fresh air. Brenda is speaking out against the decrease in medical rehabilitation benefits that will be available to seriously injured car accident victims starting in the summer of 2010. In the video, Brenda talked about how injured car accident victims will run out of their Ontario rehabilitation funds long before the ten-years they are supposed to last. The 50% reductions in benefits will have catastrophic affects on many families.  

Brenda believes this change will increase the number of lawsuits required because injured people will have to sue the drivers who hit them to ensure they can pay for physiotherapy, medication and other medical needs.

I salute Brenda for standing up for the victims of auto accidents. In Kentucky we already have a low amount of PIP benefits that is required. Do yourself a favor and call your insurance agent and raise your coverage today!

Just when you think you have heard everything you read a story about the death of a two year old that just turns your stomach. It makes you think how could this happen?

The Rasansky Law Firm out of Dallas, Texas has filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the mother of a 2-year-old girl who choked to death at The Woodbridge Day School, a northeast Dallas daycare center, one year ago. The wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the daycare worker had no first aid training and the daycare owned by Neyse and Robert Hall, knew it. According to the lawsuit, employees at the Woodbridge Day School did not notice when 2-year old Isabella Estep started choking on a small rock. The child then collapsed inside the school. Despite employees being all around the unconscious child, five to 10 minutes passed before anyone noticed something was wrong. Tragically, Isabella passed away after being transported to a local hospital.

Now here is where it gets worse. It is alleged that the owners of the daycare sold the daycare a short time after the death. This was in an effort to prevent a report to the Texas licensing board according to the lawsuit. Jeff Rasansky said. “They have not been truthful about their role in this child’s death, and they have taken steps to prevent parents of other children from ever learning about their involvement.”

This is a tragedy that sounds like it could have been prevented on several levels. Those being hiring and training. Also, what procedures were in place for monitoring a two year old? Why was the child put in an area without a care giver where he had access to small rocks?  My sympathies go out to the family. I hope they get the answers they deserve. My daughters were in day cares from the time they were infants so my wife could work. You place your trust and leave our most valued possession with them. It is very sad when a daycare does not live up to the trust you put in them.

We will follow this case as it progresses with hope of preventing this sort of tragedy from happening in Kentucky.  

Driving my daughter to school this morning we saw a car cut through three lanes of traffic to make a right turn. She looked at me and said “What that car did wasn’t very safe”.  With that simple statement it hit me; she would be going to get her driving permit in less than two weeks. My youngest daughter would be let loose on the Kentucky roads and will be driving. UGH!!!! (To quote Charlie Brown).

As a father and an accident attorney I started thinking about how dangerous the roads are and that they were not a very safe place for my little girl.  All of the horrible facts concerning automobile accidents, the fatal accident scenes that I had worked as a prosecutor and the many cases I have handled started running through my mind.

• Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers.

• Teenagers in the United States account for 10% of the population and 12% of the car accidents. It is worse for the 15-24 year old age group. This group makes up  approximately 14% of the U.S. population and for almost 30% of the cost of motor vehicle accident injuries.

• Newly licensed teen drivers have a higher crash rate their first year of driving than any  other year.

Why is this the case? Inexperience plain and simple.

• Most teen drivers will underestimate the seriousness of a dangerous situation.

• Teen driver have a hard time recognizing the presence of a hazardous situation.

• Teen drivers will break the speed limit more often than any other age group.

• Drunk drivers are bad, but teenaged drunk drivers are even more likely to cause a car  accident.

• Inexperienced drivers cause more accidents.

• The use of cell phones increase the risk of car accidents.

• Teen drivers have a much more difficult time adjusting to night driving.

What am I suppose to do? What do parents need to do to protect these new drivers? I do not want to obsess and just wait around for a late night phone call. How can we help reduce and prevent motor vehicle accident s involving teenagers? A good place to start is driver’s education and parent involvement. Sign up for a driver education class. Take the time to teach your kid how to be a safe driver. These steps may prevent injuries and even death.
injury accident

Kentucky is a state that has a Graduated Drivers License (GDL) program. These programs have been shown to reduce fatal and injury accidents involving new teenage drivers by up to 40%! GDLs delay full licensing of teens and restrict them from driving in higher risk situations. The goal of these programs is to reduce the number of car accidents involving our young drivers.

During the permit driving phase a new driver must be certified by their parent to have at least 60 hours of practice time behind the wheel. This is the minimum. The more they practice the better driver they will ultimately be. Also, any permit driver that receives a ticket and a violation during the 180 day permit phase has to start over. It will be another 180 days before they are eligible for their license.

Maybe things aren’t as bad as I think they are. Maybe I am acting like Eyore. But then I think back to daughter number one who is now an excellent driver. During her first year of driving she totaled two cars. Thankfully she walked away both times uninjured. Can I prevent daughter number two from a similar fate? No, but I believe I can increase her odds of success.

Should I have sign a safe driving contract? I think I will. Hopefully this will help make her aware of the many dangerous there are on the road and the responsibility one has when they are behind the wheel. Kentucky had on of the highest rates of teen car accidents in the nation in 2006. Teens made up 6% of our population and caused a whopping 20% of the accidents.

GDL programs are aimed at reducing these accidents after the permit phase and these driver’s are on the road without an experienced driver in the car. Night time driving is restricted between midnight and 6:00 A.M., except in emergency situations. I may be stricter myself, but this is a great law. Also the number of unrelated passengers under the age of 20 are restricted to one. Another great idea, because statistics show that the risk of an accident increases with the number of passengers. I guess it all comes down to paying attention to what you are doing and not multi-tasking.

Wish me luck over the next months. It is an exciting and scary time. My goal is to teach my daughter responsible driving. To be someone who makes are roads safer. To be an example of a good driver. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Utah has recently upped the ante. They have passed by far the toughest law in the United States against the growing epidemic of texting and driving. Get caught texting and driving in Utah and you are looking at prison time of up to 15 years if you cause a death and a fine of up to $10,000.00. If they are merely caught texting and driving the punishment is up to 3 months jail and up to a $750.00 fine. A far cry from the absolutely nothing that is on the books in Kentucky.

I believe it is time for the Kentucky legislature to take this issue under serious consideration and pass a tough law. I have way too many clients that have been injured due to a distracted driver. Whether they are texting, dialing a number on a cell phone or picking something up off of the floor it is dangerous. The consequences are severe and can change the direction of the accident victim’s life.

Utah’s new law became affective in May of this year. The penalties for texting are comparable to those of drunk driving if someone is killed in the accident. If you are texting while driving in Utah your actions are considered reckless. Choosing to text and drive is considered to be the same thing as choosing to get behind the wheel drunk.

This law is the harshest response to multi-tasking behind the wheel and is sure to be a topic of discussion at the National Summit for Distracted Driving this fall. Some studies show that talking on a cell phone while driving is as dangerous as driving with a blood alcohol level of .08, which is the legal limit in Kentucky.

There could be some problems with proving the conduct of texting and obtaining a criminal conviction under the Utah law. How do you prove someone was texting and driving? There is no test to prove that you were texting like there is for drunk driving. A breathalyzer makes the prosecutions’ job fairly easy.  A witness could be easily discredited. They only see the action. It could be texting or it could be dialing a phone number. Maybe the best evidence will be statements of the offender. Any statements can be used if they are made spontaneously. This coupled with the phone would be sufficient proof, but how do the police get access to the phone before the text messages are erased? Maybe a warrant, but this takes time.

I wonder whether the texting activity is the same as dialing a phone. It is the same action. It takes the same level of concentration. Should the Utah law be expanded? Should a distinction be made?

The Utah law also presumes the driver knows the risk of texting and driving. This is important because it goes a step further than many other such laws where it must be proven that the driver is aware of the risks associated with the activity before engaging in that activity.

What will Kentucky do? I really don’t have a clue. I believe penalties need to be put in place to deter this very dangerous activity. It is at an epidemic level. You will see people looking to their cell phones as you drive to and from work. This inattention causes accidents. Personally I believe that criminal penalties that include prison time for causing a death are appropriate. This will save lives, prevent auotomobile accidents and make our Kentucky roads much safer.