The following is a question I was asked on WAVE Listens about being hit by a cars that presented invalid insurance cards at the accident scene. I explain the ways you can go about recovering your out of pocket expense for fixing the damage to your carfrom a Kentucky car accident.

Q. In the span of about 11 months, I was hit by two different people and they presented fake insurance cards or invalid insurance cards at the scene and come to find out I had my insurance company both times take care of my car, paid my deductible through them, and now I find out that the insurance was not valid at the time of the wreck so I am out two deductibles.

A. There are several things that you can do, Mindy. It depends on whether or not these accidents have been within the last year.  There is a one-year statute of limitations on a criminal charge of no insurance where you can go down to the courthouse and take out a warrant for a no-insurance charge.  Once that warrant is issued the police will pick up or they will notify the individual of the court date.  When the individual comes to court they’ll bring you in, you bring in proof that you were in the accident, things such as the accident report, you bring in proof that your car was fixed and that you were out the deductible and any other out-of-pocket expenses.  When that individual is convicted or pleads guilty to that, one of the things the court will do is order restitution to be paid which is the money that you are out.  It will not be something that would pay, be paid immediately.  Usually it’s $100.00 a month or something like that, but that is the best way for you to get your money back.  It would be a separate charge on each one of these individuals.

Another way to do that would be to take a civil small claims action out against each one of those individuals but, in this case you’re going to have a filing fee.  Once you get the judgment against them, then you have to worry about collecting which often, is often more difficult than getting the judgment because tracking down bank accounts, where they work, and that sort of thing is extremely difficult.  I found that it’s a very big hammer to know that you’re, you could go to jail for 90 days if you don’t pay back the individuals so, I would take out these no insurance warrants.

Would it be too much to ask for zero accidents on our Kentucky roadways as we kick off 2012?  Unfortunately, five motorists have already died in four separate crashes on Kentucky roadways during the New Years’ holiday period, which began at 6 p.m. on December 30, 2011 and ended January 2, 2012 at 11:59 p.m.

The accidents involved motor vehicles in which two of the victims were not wearing seat belts.  Single-fatality crashes happened in Jefferson and Perry counties.  There was also a single fatality crash in Harlan which involved the suspected use of alcohol.  A double-fatality crash occurred in Owen County.

The Kentucky Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) preliminary statistics indicate that 715 people had lost their lives on Kentucky roadways through December 31, 2011.  The following shows the fatality statistics for 2011.

• · 570 motor vehicle fatalities ( 289 victims were not wearing seat belts)
• · 61 motorcycle crashes fatalities (34 victims were not wearing helmets)
• · 25 ATV crashes ( 21 victims were not wearing helmets)
• · 53 pedestrian crashes
• · 2 bicycle fatalities
• · 2 scooter crashes
• · 2 horse-drawn vehicle crashes

There have been a total of 121 fatalities in these motor vehicle accidents which involved the suspected use of alcohol.  This is 45 less fatalities than reported for the same period in 2010.  As a personal injury attorney, I am hopeful that the decline in fatalities will continue throughout the year.  Let us all do our part in keeping our Kentucky roadways safe.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been prompted to review the safety of steroid injections into the epidural space near the spinal cord. These injections are used by Pain Management Doctors to relieve back and neck pain. There have been reports of severe and unexpected complications, including paralysis and death.  The chief of pain medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, James Rathmell, states the procedure is safe and only in a very rare event is there harsh complications caused by the shots.

Rollie Parrish is one of the rare cases to have suffered a stroke during the procedure. He was treated by a steroid shot to his neck to ease chronic pain in a hospital in Nederland, Texas.  Now, he’s nearly blind and in a wheelchair.  Another case involved Luciano Rolando who has received a shot of Kenalog in the lower back. Within hours of the injection, he experienced pain in his legs and loss of sensation when urinating.  And it’s not only them.  In a survey of physicians reported in the Journal Spine, there were 78 cases where patients who got shots in the neck, known as the cervical area of the upper spine, suffered serious injuries. There were 13 deaths.  Physicians were alarmed of these reported cases.

Interestingly, epidural injections were estimated to be as much as $300 billion a year industry!  As a Kentucky Personal Injury Attorney I know that epidural injections relieve pain and makes life better for the victims of car accidents.  Unfortunately, not all recipients are aware of the risks.  Ask your doctor what the risks are if you receive an epidural injection.  This way you can make an informed decision as to whether this treatment is best for you.

According to a recent report the United States could save 2,000 lives a year if all 50 states established comprehensive programs of phased-in privileges for young drivers. A report from the Allstate Foundation and the National Safety Council stated that an estimated 20 lives can be saved in Kentucky from the implementation of a more comprehension graduated driver licensing law.

Auto accidents are the leading cause of death among teens. Every State has a form of GDL, which rewards novice drivers with additional driving privileges as they gain experience and maturity. John Ulczycki of the National Safety Council and other experts say that the most effective GDL programs contain seven components.

The seven components are:

1. Minimum age 16 for a learner’s permit;
2. Six months before unsupervised driving;
3. Minimum 30 hours supervised driving during learner’s stage;
4. Intermediate licensing at 16 ½ minimum;
5. Intermediate nighttime driving restriction beginning no later than 10 p.m.;
6. No more than one non-family passenger for intermediate license holders;
7. Minimum age 17 for a full license

New York and Delaware are the only states that have programs with all seven components. In Kentucky, the GDL program includes:

a) A six month learning permit at age 16 that requires adult supervision;

b) A restriction on driving after midnight during the permit level;

c) A six point limit on traffic violations to age 18, with a penalty of license suspension; and

d) A four hour driving education class. Under the current National Highway Traffic Safety

Kentucky’s program no longer meets the minimum requirements for a full GDL program with seven components recommended by the National Safety Council.

This is an issue that Kentucky Lawmakers should consider. As a Kentucky Personal Injury Attorney and a father of a teenage daughter, I am concerned about the number of car crashes involving teen drivers. I agree that more lives and more money will be saved if GDL programs in Kentucky will be strengthened.  This is enhancements to the current law should defiantly be considered by Kentucky Law makers.

Kentucky accident victims should never hide the fact that they have prior injuries! They should not fail to disclose any fact for that matter. Their personal injury attorney should know everything there is to know about them, even more than their own mother. Dishonesty can destroy a case in a number of ways.  When your attorney and doctor know what’s going on, what your history is, they can react to it.  A plan that’s best for your car accident case can be developed.  If you hide an old injury from your doctor or attorney, it creates a lot of problems in the handling of your accident case and the outcome of the case.

One of the most common things accident victims do is fail to tell their attorney and their doctor about a prior accident that they were in. Along the same line is not telling them about being treated for a similar injury even if it was not from an accident.  At the very least this hurts your case.  First, because the doctor doesn’t know about the prior treatment, he’s not going be able to treat you properly.  The tests needed to properly evaluate your injury will not be ordered. Prior medical records will not be reviewed.

Also, should your accident case go to court and the insurance defense attorney asks your doctor the question, “Did you know about the accident that happened in 2002?”, and he says “No, my patient never told me about that”, it makes the doctor look like he wasn’t thorough. And even worse it makes it makes it look like you were being dishonest.  That you are a liar. The theory would be if you were dishonest about that, are you dishonest about something else that’s going in the case.

The insurance company will eventually have access to all of your medical records. They are going to discover if you have previously complained about neck pain or were in an auto accident 10 years ago. If a Kentucky accident victim tells their doctor and attorney this information at the beginning of the case it will have very little affect on the outcome of your case. On the other hand, if the insurance company finds it on their own it can significantly lower the amount you will receive in compensation. Honesty is the best policy!

The Insurance industry has been trusted for many years. It protects us all from tragedies, at least so we think.  Do we always get what we think we are paying for? Insurance companies are required by law to work in good faith with their customers. Unfortunately, its weak regulation and delays in handing claims have ordered this trust.

Russ Roberts, a New Mexico-based management consultant and former business professor at Northwestern University who studied the insurance industry’s evolution from a service business to a profit-driven machine said that, “Claims has been converted into money-making process.” The change started when consulting giant Mckinsey & Company sold Allstate and other leading insurance a new system where a computer-driven method produced purposefully low offers to claimants in auto accidents.

There have been cases of complaints where consumers suffered financial hardships because of delayed payment of insurance claims. Studies have shown that insurance companies delay claims to help save millions of dollars. Some claimants who file cases against insurance companies will never see the end of their case because of death, other injury or lack of interest. Some insurance company purposely delay claims as tactic to manipulate or evade legal insurance claim settlements and to increase their own profit.

As of November 28, 2011, the NAIC had received 11,503 delay-related complaints this year. How can you keep yourself from being taken advantage of by insurance companies if you have been injured in a Kentucky car accident? You are the one injured you have experienced a loss.  You deserve to be compensated under the insurance policy.  Knowing your rights and the law is the first step to making sure you are not taken advantage of.  My book “7 Potholes That Can Wreck Your Kentucky Accident Case” was written to give Kentucky car accident victims thorough understanding of the claims process in a car accident case.  Order your complementary copy today so you can level the playing field and not be taken advantage of by the insurance industry.

A blog posted by John Patzakis on the eDiscovery Law and Tech blog really caught my attention. The article discussed a case where an attorney and his client were both sanctioned for removing posts from the clients Facebook account. “A Virginia state judge ordered lawyer Matthew Murray to pay $522,000 for instructing his client to remove photos from his Facebook profile, and for his client to pay an additional $180,000 for obeying the instructions. According to the final order in Lester v. Allied Concrete Company.

Murray instructed his client to remove several photos on his Facebook account due to fear that they might prejudice his wrongful death case brought after his spouses’ fatal automobile accident. The instructions were made through Murray’s assistant. The assistant’s email to the client, Isaiah Lester, stated that, “We do not want blow ups of other pics at trial, so please, please clean up your Facebook and MySpace!” According to local press reports, Murray quit his job as managing partner of the largest personal firm in Virginia and he no longer practice law.

Facebook has now been widely used by lawyers, investigators, insurance company and even the police. Some information may serve as grounds for discovering cases of deceit that might win a case. An intentional hiding, altering or destroying of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding is considered spoliation of evidence. Parties who engage in spoliation may face legal consequences. In the situation of Murray, the case he handled costs him a large amount of money and ended his career.

As a personal injury attorney, everyone should be extremely careful as to what they post on social media sites. Their posts may do more harm than good. Once a post is made it is there forever!  Even if it is later removed there are ways to bring those posts back.  Education is the key to the proper use of Facebook.  I have told many accident victims who have came to me for their Kentucky accident case to never post anything that you would not be comfortable with their mother reading in the paper.  I guess that dates me, but you get the point.

You have been in a serious car accident.  You are in pain.  You don’t know what to do.  You don’t know how your medical bills will be paid.  You don’t know how your car is going to be fixed.  Should you call an attorney?  Or maybe you should call an injury help line.  Consider this when you make your decision.

I read an interesting article in the Bloomberg News about 1-800-ASK-GARY, a “referral network” that advertises heavily in Louisville, Kentucky for car accident cases.

The article talks about three individuals who were injured in car accidents that called 1-800-ASK-GARY, which is a medical referral service they saw advertised on television.  All were referred to a clinic owned by Gary Kompothecras, Physicians Group.  Two of his three were referred to a law firm that was part of the group, Winters & Yonker.

The highlights of the stories of Jennifer Malina, Kathleen Weston and Sharon Langford include:

• Medical bills that were reduced to about half.
• Treatment for areas where there was no pain complaints.
• Confidential complaints to the Florida Bar Association.
• Non-use of available health insurance.
• A flight from Kentucky to Florida for surgery.

Investigation

There are 50 Physician’s Group clinics specializing in treatment in car-crash medicine. The ASK-GARY services is one of Florida’s 72 registered referral networks with hotlines such as 1-800-411-PAIN, 1-800-NeedHelp and 1-305-NO-FAULT. These networks also operate in other states such as Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas.

According to Captain Steven Smith, Florida’s Insurance Fraud Unit is conducting a criminal probe of accident-referral services. Smith told the Florida Bar Association that the State investigators are trying to determine whether clinics or lawyers make unlawful payments for referrals and whether patients are being treated for non-existing injuries. The FBI wants to find out if lawyers are directing treatment based on how much insurance coverage patients have.

According to Steven Butron, attorney for the clinics, Physician’s Group complies with all “laws, regulations and rules of ethics”. Kompothecras said in a statement, “We have always held strict adherence to the highest quality of care. We have served thousands of patients with no malpractice claims to date”.

Existing Views

Every accident victim has the ability to seek the lawyers and medical care of their choice. It will be interesting to see the results of the investigation by the Florida Bar of these referral hotlines.  It is important to choose the doctor and lawyer that are best for YOU if you are the victim of a car accident.

There has been a crack down on runners for attorneys in Kentucky.  The runners law prohibits the direct solicitation of car accident victims by attorneys for 30 days following the car accident.  Most injured car crash victims are looking for someone to trust by calling a referral line.  They make a phone call to be referred to a medical facility and a car accident lawyer that is best for their situation and circumstances.  What they don’t know is that there may only be one medical facility on the referral list.  They are being sent there no matter what their injury is.  A broken arm, whiplash or a head injury may all be referred to the same place.  The advertisement should tell the public this!  I would like to know what you think. Should this be information that is easily available to a caller of an injury help line?

Do you remember the ZZ Top song “Arrested While Driving While Blind”? It referred to driving while so drunk that you couldn’t see.  Today’s version might include a verse about texting and driving and how it makes you blind to the road. Controlling a motor vehicle requires 100% of one’s attention at ALL times! If you do anything that draws your attention away from driving it puts you and others at risk of death. Distracted driving remains a problem on Kentucky roads even though we know its risks and dangers. According to car safety experts, 40% of car accidents are caused by distracted driving. I know this is hard to believe, but distracted driving is more dangerous than drunk driving.

The most common distraction for drivers is the use of cell phones while behind the wheel.  In Kentucky, 192 collisions were reported in 2010 due to use of cell phones for talking or texting while driving. Despite the implementation of a texting ban in Kentucky and other States nationwide, there are still people using their cell phones and there are still reported cases of car accidents caused by texting while driving.

The Study made by the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University found out that brain power used while driving decreases by 40% when a driver listens to conversation or music. Driving while doing other things is just like driving blind. Watch this video produced by Cindy Speaker and you can really see the danger that distracted driving can cause you and the people around you.

As a personal injury attorney, it troubles me to see reports of victims, especially teens, involved in car crashes caused by distracted driving. Do people not realize that once they move attention away from driving, they are putting their own lives and the lives of innocent people at a huge danger? Texting can wait or unimportant text messages can ruin lives. A call and a text can wait until you have reached your destination. Don’t cause a serious car accident by Driving While Blind.

Texting Ban Laws have been implemented in many States in an effort to eliminate the use of cell phone while driving and cut down on serious automobile accidents. Distracted driving has become the leading cause of auto accidents among teens. Each state uses different methods of enforcement of their law.  There are even additional regulations in some local jurisdictions. The use of hand held devices while driving are prohibited by all drivers in 9 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. 30 states and the District of Columbia restrict novice drivers from using cell phones.  The use of a cell phone while driving a school bus is prohibited in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Recently, the National Safety Council congratulated the Pennsylvania General Assembly for the passage of Senate Bill 314 which makes sending text message while driving a violation for all drivers. Pennsylvania has become the 35^th State to outlaw text messaging while behind the wheel for all drivers. The law will take effect 120 days after it is signed. It has been estimated by NSC that because of S.B. 314, at least 12 lives will be saved each year and about 1,200 injuries requiring medical attention will be prevented in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania enforcement provision is key which permits police to pull over a driver for the violation alone. The fine will be $50.  Many states make texting while driving a secondary offense, which means their police can not pull the offender over unless there is another violation associated with it.

In an annual meeting in South Carolina, Horry Country Councilman urged legislators to pass a ban on texting and other cell phone use while driving in South Carolina. Some meeting participants support the idea while others did not. According to the legislators, such bill has been introduced but has not gone anywhere.

In Kentucky, about 150 tickets have been written in the first six months of active enforcement of distracted driving law. The texting ban by all drivers was implemented in July 2010 and police began writing tickets in January 2011. The law also bans use of all personal communications devices by drivers under 18. Distracted driving citations are $25 for first offense and then $50 plus court costs.

As a Kentucky Accident Attorney, I believe that more lives will be saved with the enforcement of texting ban, the campaign to stop distracted driving and increasing awareness of distracted driving.  It must start with allowing police to enforce the law.  To do this we must ban all cell phone use behind the wheel unless it is totally hands free.  This would allow police to pull over offenders and write tickets to anyone who is using a cell phone while driving.  A texting violation can be defended by simply stating “I was making a phone call”.  Texting bans are a start but we need to go further and ban all non hands free use of a cell phone while driving a car.