There is nothing worse then being injured in a Kentucky car accident. You are in pain. You look for a lawyer to guide you and help you deal with the insurance company. You want to get a fair settlement and the best legal advice. Your lawyer sends you to a doctor for treatment. They even arrange for you to fly to another state for surgery. You settle your case and get your settlement money, after your attorney and doctors are paid. This is the way it suppose to go, isn’t it? I would say yes unless you are Sharon Langford.         

We have all seen the billboards and the television commercials about the “aggressive attorneys” formally “Winters, Yonkers and Rousselle” now “Winters and Yonkers”.  Whether you are a fan of this type of legal advertising or not, you have to admit that it works because everyone in Louisville, Kentucky knows the name of this Florida based law firm.  The firm has recently been sued in Jefferson Circuit Court by a former client, Sharon Langford.

            Ms. Langford was injured in a car accident in June of 2008.  She alleges that she was not told that her personal health insurance would potentially pay for her medical bills after her PIP benefits were exhausted. PIP benefits are also known as No-Fault Benefits or Personal Injury Protection. She was referred to a medical care clinic called First Physicians Rehabilitation Inc. by the law firm according to the lawsuit. She was told they would take care of injuries suffered in a car accident.  It is reported that the medical facility did not accept health insurance only PIP car insurance. 

Later when Langford needed surgery the firm flew her to another clinic in Florida.  In the lawsuit Langford states that she discovered later that both clinics were owned by Gary Kompothecras, a chiropractor, who also owns the Hepley advertisement referral service 1?800?ASK?GARY.  Langford also alleges in her lawsuit that the relationship between the law firm and the clinic cost her money.  Her attorney, Sam Carl, states that medical bills paid after PIP totaled over $64,000.00.  Health insurance would have paid a portion of this leaving additional money to Langford after settlement of the lawsuit. You can read the courier journal article that I linked above with further details. 

The question that comes to mind is whether or not the referrals to and between the medical clinic and the law office should be disclosed to clients.  It is alleged that this is a requirement.  I would argue that a client should be referred to the best doctor available and not a doctor that is only referring business to the law firm.  I often refer clients to doctors. Those clients would otherwise have no idea where to go.  I give them the name of several doctors based on their needs.  Many family doctors do not want to handle lawsuits or auto accident suits nor do they understand how to bill car insurance for payment for their medical services. 

The question always comes down to what is best for the client.  Any relationship between a doctor and a lawyer should be disclosed to the client. I will watch with interest Sam Carl’s case to see what direction it does go.  It’s safe to say it should be educational for Kentucky auto accident victims and give them the knowledge they need to ask questions of their attorneys as to the relationship between the attorney and the doctor.

One of the worst things an accident victim can do is fake an injury or exaggerate the injuries they did receive.  Unfortunately this is a practice many do in hopes of getting a better settlement.  Because of these practices the insurance industry has long resorted to video surveillance to catch these culprits.  Some critics feel that these practices have gone too far when the insurance video tapes truly disabled people and using the videos against them. The sad part is these “scam artists” make the process a nightmare for those Kentucky accident victims that were truly injured in an auto accident.

I recently read about a case in point, Jack “Rocky” Whitten. Mr. Whitten suffers from several residual symptoms as a result of a broken neck from a fall.  He has vision problems, memory issues and is often in excruciating pain.  Mr. Whitten fortunately had purchased disability insurance ten years ago that would pay him 60 % of his salary if he ever became disabled. After his fall three doctors declared him permanently disabled and he began receiving benefits in 2003.

Last year a representative from Hartford Insurance Company visited Mr. Whitten and his wife and questioned his limitations. The claims adjuster then pulled out a video that showed Mr. Whitten getting out of a van, looking at a magazine, and eating chips and salsa.  Maybe you are reacting like I did and are saying “So what?” Shortly after this visit the Whitten’s received a letter from Hartford explaining that his benefits would be cut off based on the video and a report from a doctor hired by Hartford –who had never examined Mr. Whitten- that claimed he, was able to work based on the video. After a phone call from national television show Good Morning America Mr. Whitten’s benefits were restored. Hartford believes this claim has been handled fairly and strongly.

This process a doctor looking at records and not examining the patient is called a “Peer Review”. It is a common practice in cases and is frequently used in Kentucky car accident cases to review medical payments submitted under PIP. The medical care is often found to be unnecessary or unrelated to the car wreck by the peer review doctor. The insurance company will deny payment based on this “paper review’. This forces the accident victim to litigate their case against the car that caused the accident and their own insurance company. The process is very frustrating to those accident victims who have legitimate injuries. Many times those unrepresented by an attorney will stop treating which is detrimental to their claim and recovery.

Insurance companies have been using video surveillance tactics for years. I have seen this in Kentucky cases. I have watched videos of accident victims painting houses and dancing. In our new internet world insurance companies have also become cybersleuths. The internet has an abundance of information that is available to them by looking at Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, etc. Don’t give them  a reason to deny your claim. Be careful. As we can see from Mr. Whitten, even the most innocent action will be misinterpreted.

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!

Last weekend I was helping the Bon Air Neighborhood Association plant trees along the Bardstown Road Corridor between the Showcase Cinema and Hikes Lane. The purpose of this project is to raise awareness of the perils of pedestrians and bicyclists as they travel Bardstown Road.  The tree planting was in memory of a friend of the Bon Air Neighborhood Association, Jen Futrell. Jen was riding her bicycle home from work last year when she was struck by a van and killed.

While I was digging holes and planting trees there was two automobile accidents that occurred within fifty yards of me.  The first accident was a rear-end collision.  A car did not stop and plowed into the back end of another car.  The front hood was crushed and the bumper was torn off the car that was hit.  It was a hard impact.  Other than looking over and watching the cars and the police arrive, I did not pay much attention to this accident.  Everything seemed to run its course.

After at-fault car in the first accident left the scene, he pulled to the left to make a left-hand turn. He was apparently reading something while driving (which goes to a completely different point) and rear-ended another car.  Yes you heard me right, the same car that was in the first accident had just been involved in a second accident within minutes of the police leaving the accident scene.  The damage to the car in the second accident was minimal.  The impact pushed the bumper in. It then popped back out. Only a slight crack that was visible.

What grabbed my attention in this accident is that the driver of the impact vehicle got out of his car and was very animated.  The woman from the car that had been hit also got out of her car. I heard the voices get louder and louder. He was begging her not to call the police, not to call the insurance company, as there was no damage to the car.  There was a young boy in the back seat so I decided to go over to make sure everybody was okay.  I immediately noticed that the woman was visibly upset. She wanted to call the police but was afraid to. She was being intimidated by the animations of the first man. I could tell that she was scared and didn’t know what to do.

This got me thinking that many, many people do not know what to do if they are in a Kentucky automobile accident.  I advised the woman to get back into her car so that she could sit with her son, calm him down and to call the police.  The driver of the car that hit her became angry with me for getting involved. This was an obvious clue he was up to no good.  I asked him to provide his insurance card so that they could exchange information. It was at that time I noticed that he had a no insurance citation, which was obviously from the first accident.  He did not have insurance and although this was a minor accident, I  know from my experience that minor accidents have the possibility of leading to serious injuries. The woman’s boyfriend showed up and I left because I felt things were under control.

Now for the reason I am telling you this story. When you are involved in an accident there are several things that you need to remember. Failure to take these steps may make it difficult to proceed with a claim at a later time.

• Stop! The law requires anyone to stop that has been involved in an accident.  If you do not stop, you could be charged with leaving the scene of the accident, which is a criminal charge.  If possible and the accident is minor always pull over to the road get out of traffic so that you are safe.

• You should always assist anybody that is injured and call 911.  Do not move anybody that is seriously injured.

• Everyone should always report the accident.  Call the police department.  This is something that this woman almost did not do.  If she woke up the next morning with neck or back pain, it would be much more difficult to file a claim and get a satisfactory settlement.

• You should always exchange information.  You want to make sure that the other driver has insurance.  Get his driver’s license number, his address, the vehicle license plate number, make, model, year and VIN number of the car.  Do not count on the other person to give this to you as they may not give you the correct information.

• No matter how minor the accident you should see a doctor and get checked out to make sure that there are no hidden injuries.  Many times, you are so upset from the accident your adrenaline is flowing that you do not know you are hurt.  Get checked out just to make sure.  Your PIP insurance will pay for this.

• Watch what you say.  Always tell the truth but do not be too quick to assume what happened.  Just tell the facts to the police.

• If you don’t know what your options are talk to a lawyer so that he/she can advise you.

I hope these tips help.  If you need any additional information I provide a free down loadable pamphlet on what to do if you are in an automobile accident.  Alternatively, you may email me at mike@mikeschaferlaw.com and I will mail you a copy of the pamphlet. I hope you are never in a car accident and have to use this information, but if you are you will now know what to do.

I received a phone call yesterday from a potential client that I just shook my head after I hung up the phone. I was asked this question:

How do I get my $10,000.00? I was in a car wreck yesterday
and I need my money.

This question disturbed me so I inquired further and asked how the accident happened and what the injuries were. The reply was that there was no injury they just wanted their car wreck money.    I get a similar question from someone just about every week. The motive is usually not as clearly for money. It is usually just a lack of understanding of the Kentucky PIP statute and how it actually applies to a Kentucky car accident.

There are bus ads and television commercials you see everyday telling you that if you have been in a car accident you are entitled to $10,000.00. These ads are not lies but they do not tell you the whole truth. They make you believe that there is this magical pot of money waiting for you if you have been involved in a Kentucky car accident.

There is $10,000.00 of benefits available but it is not just because you have been in a car accident. They are there if you have been hurt! Not just because you were in a wreck. A car accident is not hitting the lottery. It is not a way to pay off your bills and put your kids through college. There is not a client I represent who wouldn’t give the money back if they could only be the way they were before the accident.

There are several names for this $10,000.00. It is called:

• PIP Benefits

• No-Fault Benefits

• Basic Reparation Benefits

• Added Reparation Benefits (If you are lucky and have a good insurance agent that has advised you of the availability of these in Kentucky)

The Kentucky No-Fault Statute was enacted by our legislature to make sure that motor vehicle accident victims would receive the medical care they need without being hassled by the insurance company of the car that hit them. I will not go into all of the different benefits here, as I  have written many blogs and a book that thoroughly covers this subject. Basically you are entitled to have your first $10,000.00 of medical bills and or loss wages paid(at a maximum of $200.00 per week). This is money to ensure you get the treatment and care that you need paid by your own insurance company. It doesn’t matter whether the accident was your fault or not. You can still go to the doctor. It is not a windfall, it is a method to ensure accident victims get the treatment and medical care they need.

The next time you see one of the commercials offering $10,000.00 for your car accident you can say I know what that money is really for. There is no give away or lottery. This is money to make sure the injured accident victim gets the medical treatment they need.

Just say NO when your insurance agent asks you if you would like to save a few dollars on your car insurance and offers you a PIP deductible. Saving money sounds like a great idea, but the few dollars you save may cost you $1,000.00 if you are in an automobile accident in Kentucky.(PIP is also referred to as No-Fault Benefits or Basic Reparations Benefit).

Most people have no idea what it means to have a deductible on the PIP coverage of their Kentucky automobile insurance policy. Unfortunately, most insurance agents do not adequately explain the consequences or what you are giving up by having a PIP deductible. Instead the agents’ focus is on the amount of money that you will save off of your premium, which is usually only a few dollars a month.

This is a great deal for the insurance company. The amount of money the premium decreases may be only $40.00 per year. Yet if you are in a serious car accident and seek medical treatment the insurance company will save $1,000.00.

Now here is where it gets really interesting. That $1,000.00 is the amount that your insurance company, or as we refer to them the PIP carrier, can not collect back from the at-fault insurance company. Any bills paid that are over $1,000.00 the PIP carrier will be reimbursed for by the at-fault insurance company. So you pay your insurance company a premium for the PIP policy and when it is all said and done they are out of pocket a grand total of zero. Not a bad racket to be in on.

The PIP deductible is as bad deal for you as it is a good deal for the insurance company. If you are in an auto accident in Kentucky, are injured and have to seek medical attention you are responsible for the first $1,000.00 in medical bills out of your pocket. This is because you elected to save $40.00 a year. It would take 25 years for you to be accident free to come out even. The odds are not in your favor.

Plus medical providers will want to be paid. Do you really need the added stress of dealing with bill collectors while you are recovering from injuries from the car accident? I think not.

In some cases deductibles are a good idea. On your health insurance it can save you a ton of money if you are healthy and are an infrequent visitor to the doctor. It is also beneficial on your auto collision coverage. Once again it can save you money. But never should you have a PIP deductible. It only benefits the insurance company and hurts your pocket book and possibly your medical treatment.

It is spring time and bicycles, scooters and walkers are everywhere. Unfortunately there are going to be accidents. One of the questions that people have is who is going to pay for my medical bills and injuries if I am in an accident where I am hit by a car while on a bike, scooter or walking down the street. There are several insurance policies to look toward for payment.

First, let’s look at payment of medical bills. Personal Injury Protection or PIP applies. You first look to the insurance of the car that hit you for PIP benefits that insurance will pay for up to $10,000.00 of medical bills and loss wages. If the car that hit you does not have insurance you would look to your personal car insurance policy. I know you weren’t driving your car, but the PIP Benefits will still apply and pay your medical bills. It is secondary to the at-fault car. Your insurance company will attempt to collect the money they pay for medical bills back from the person that hit you if they choose. If you do not own a car and do not have car insurance you will submit your bills to your health insurance. If you do not have health insurance you may be eligible for the Kentucky Assigned Claims Plan.

Now what about pain and suffering? Do you have a case for personal injuries if you are hit while on a bike, scooter or walking? YES! You will sue the person that hit you. If they have insurance you will deal with their insurance company. If they do not have insurance you would look to their personal assets. Should they have no assets do not give up. You should look to your own car insurance and your uninsured motorist coverage. Even though you were not in your car this coverage may be available to you and pay you for your pain and suffering for your injuries. You need to contact an attorney who is familiar with these claims so he can take a look at your policy. Depending on the policy language you may still be able to recover damages. The point is, don’t give up. Look at all available coverage to make sure you are compensated.