Posts Tagged ‘Auto Accident’

Should I Wait To Heal Before Settling After Being a Victim in an Auto Accident?

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

After being a victim in a car accident, there is a “bite” taken out of your life. You will have car damage, bodily injury, and missed time from work. It may seem like a small “bite” to an insurance company, but to you it upsets your natural baseline of the world in which you were living.

The post accident existence for you will consist of physician visits, physical therapy, potentially procedures, and medical bills that continue to rise. The physical and mental injuries sustained in your accident may take years to heal.

Unfortunately you will need to deal with phone calls and estimates to body shops and auto repair centers, as well as dealing with insurance companies. Nobody would call this a fun time, and an experienced personal injury larger can help significantly with all of these issues and your case against the other party. A veteran personal-injury attorney can help recommend when would be the appropriate time to settle your case.

The question is though, do you need to wait until you are healed to seek money or is it appropriate to seek monies earlier? In reality, that is exactly what is in your best interest. Why? The problem is sometimes injuries take a while to surface, such as a long term effect of traumatic brain injury (TBI) or potentially a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because of this, settling too soon with the insurance company may leave additional monies on the table.

If you can be patient during this time frame it will help you to receive a higher settlement for which you will not look back on with regret. It is tough to maintain patience during this time. As a significant “bite” has been taken out of your life. But doing so in receiving a higher settlement will help make you feel more whole again.

This is one of the primary reasons insurance company may be pushing you to settle to quickly. Which you truly want to do is to reach “maximum medical improvement” before settling with them. What exactly does this mean? This is the point where the doctor reports that the maximum healing is complete and you have reached the maximum recovery as much as possible. At that point you have a really good understanding of what your care needs will be in the future and your lifelong limitations.

If you are not healed completely, there are calculations to predict future medical expenses which can be added to all of the medical expenses incurred to date. With all of that calculated, the settlement process can be initiated with more realistic figures. If you are patient enough to allow realistic settlement calculations to be accomplished, then you will have the best chance of making yourself whole again.

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Is A Personal Injury Settlement Taxable?

Monday, December 5th, 2011

If you have been in an auto accident that was not your fault that resulted in medical problems such as fractures, in all likelihood you need to miss work and deal with significant pain and associated suffering. You needed to have Dr. visits, x-rays taken, physical therapy, mental counseling and probable nightmares, with all of it ending up being a very stressful time in your existence.

At some point your case will settle and all of your damages will get reduced to a money figure. Are you then required to pay taxes on that figure? It actually depends on whether or not the settlement received is due to the injuries or for the loss of economic benefit.

The premise is that basically if the monies are being received for the injury then it is not taxable. if however the money received is for loss of economic benefit than it is included in gross income and subject to taxation. If you are out of work and lost wages and part of your injury settlement replaces those amounts, you would have to pay taxes on that because you would’ve been otherwise working and paying taxes anyway. There has been some precedents with case law as to this, put it is not always clearly defined. This article also is not being written by an attorney so this does not constitute definitive legal advice!

The IRS tax code has a section dealing with certain payments for physical personal injuries and their exclusion from gross income. That is Section 104. It is not clear cut as the IRS does not provide clear guidance on the terms “physical injuries or physical sickness”. If the compensation is received for “physical injuries or physical sickness” then that amount is excluded from gross income.

There was an IRS case, LTR 200041022 where the IRS ruled regarding a woman receiving a settlement from her employer relating to unwanted physical contacts. The IRS ruled that the settlement was received not based on account of physical injuries since there was no “observable bodily harm.” Therefore, the woman needed to include the settlement monies in her gross income.

In addition to that case, there is also been a US Supreme Court case regarding tax code 104, Schleier v. Commissioner. in this case the court adopted a two-step requirement that the legal cause of action had to be a tort type action and that the settlement monies received physical sickness were on account of either or personal physical injury.

Since it is not clearly defined, individuals in this situation should talk to a competent tax lawyer to clarify exactly what should be included in gross income or excluded. Since settlements at times end up in the millions of dollars, this should be a definite prerequisite since if calculated incorrectly the IRS may get involved.

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Whatever is This Thing Called Diminished Value?

Friday, June 17th, 2011

Rather simply, Diminished Value is the gap in value between a a motor vehicle which has an accident background and the same vehicle without an accident record. It is also often called “Loss of Market Value”.

Based on the severity of damage to your auto, a Diminished Value claim can be sent in. There are various of factors like the pre-loss condition, year, make, model, the kind of accident the auto was in, the amount of damages the auto suffered and other factors.

Example: If 2 autos are exactly the same year, make and model. They’ve the same mileage, options and are in the same overall condition. The sticker price of both vehicles is $23,000. Vehicle #1 doesn’t have any vehicle accident record and means 2 had sustained $7,500 collision damages, however vehicle repairs were completed by a quality collision repair shop and you can’t see that there was actually any damage. Car values are based on the perception of the purchasing consumer. As is the case with nearly any item of value, the simple fact that a car or truck had been damaged and fixed is going to have an undesirable impact on its value. As a result the vehicle will now be worth $19,000. That is $4,000 of Diminished Value!

Collision Background: The majority of buyers these days utilize a lot of information resources when making a buying decision. Because of the introduction of several Web-based vehicle history reporting companies, just like CARFAX or AutoCheck, it really is easier than ever in the past to check out the history of a car or truck. These businesses utilize more than 20,000 data sources which includes each and every U.S. and Canadian provincial motor vehicle department plus a lot of automobile auctions, fire and law enforcement departments, accident repair companies, fleet management and leasing businesses, and even more. Consequently, consumers are better equipped right now to immediately assess the state and record of the automobile they may consider buying.

Moreover, a good number of car dealerships will just refuse to take trade-ins having a damage record due to damage disclosure laws. Cars or trucks that are damaged and fixed and then approved as trade-ins are often sent to auction for disposal owing to disclosure laws and regulations and liability issues. Almost all leading vehicle auctions need to have an announcement of damage prior to auction.

What’s The Bottom Line: In case you were not necessarily responsible in the car accident, the at-fault party’s insurance provider owes you cash. This is the case in all of the 50 states. Although the insurers might try to tell you they don’t pay for your repaired car Diminished Value Texas claim, when we provide evidence of your loss, they will. Don’t let the insurance company inform you differently.

You should look into whether you have a situation where a diminished value claim would be of some advantage to you – it may be well worth the time you put into looking into this.

Securing A Lawyer For An Automobile Accident Case In California

Monday, August 16th, 2010

It does seem simple enough, doesn’t it? Having some other car owner back their vehicle right into you and denting your SUV so that you can’t open its door, while all that they lose are their own taillights, although locating the bumper may be a tall order. Getting out of your cars, both of you apologize to each other trade insurance data and apologies, and drive off. Imagine your surprise the when after you have waited for them to contact you for quite a while what you get is a mail that orders you to appear in court – you should have been the one suing!

It really looks simple enough, don’t you think? At least it did, except that it doesn’t seem quite so simple right now; and that is how it works with car crashes all over the country – nothing is ever cut and dried. If you aren’t very careful here, you could lose the entire case and be found liable for the repairs to the other person’s car as well as yours, although at one time you presumed you could never be mistaken for the one at fault.

But there are so many of them; who could possibly memorize them all? For a fact, that is not the case; although your lawyer ought to be able to do so. Statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety constantly reveal that the state of California has the highest automobile accident and fatalities rates in the country, closely followed by Texas. With 3,643 death causing car accidents and 4,078 resulting deaths in the former to 3,255 crashes and 3,725 deaths in the latter, there is little question here. For this reason California state highway laws are among the most stringent in the country, and you simply should never try to navigate your own way through them without an auto accident lawyer.

One of the most well known auto accident lawyer outfits in California is Gillin Jacobson Ellis & Larsen, billed as California personal injury attorneys; another is the Henke Law Group, billed as California Auto Accident Lawyers for Northern & Southern California, Serious Injury Attorneys for Car & Motorcycle Accident Cases – Serving Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area, and so on, to mention but a few. And there are more too, which you might have little trouble finding if you took to the internet and spent time surfing with the aid of competent search software and visiting sites like autoaccidentlawyer.com.

It would help to introduce special approaches and ways of operating automobiles so as to lower the death rate caused by accidents, lower the incidence of car accidents, and lower the amount of assets that are damaged in the process; although I daresay someone or something would still have answer for the incidents that still take place nonetheless. If you are liable, you should pay, but not more than you should; and if you are not, you should totally be let go; and you might lose out on your slim chance at having things go your way if your attorney is not by your side when the legal chips fall down in California State.

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Chiropractors In San Diego Blow The Whistle On Big Insurance Companies

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

26% of all drivers were involved in a car accident over the last five years. When it happens to you, you must be prepared. Chiropractors in San Diego are revealing the shocking findings. Knowing what to do after a car accident is almost as important as knowing what to do during one.

If you haven’t noticed by now, money buys policy and makes the laws in this country. The more money big business throws at politicians, the more rules are shifted in their favor. Take New Jersey for example in the following. They actually have a policy called pay for play. It is actually accepted for contractors to be awarded large contracts based on the size of their political contributions to political campaigns.

Insurance companies have been playing a similar game of pay for play for a very long time. The big difference is when contractors in New Jersey are awarded jobs as political favors, it takes money out of the pocket of someone who really deserves it. When insurance companies play this game, the lives of car accident victims are ruined. Here are some shocking statistics. Nearly 43,000 people died in car accidents in 2002, reports the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. There are approximately 6.4 million car accidents each year. There are about 3 million car-related injuries a year and 2 million permanent injuries. About 26% of drivers have been involved in a car crash in the last five years.

Many people are involved in accidents. Almost all Americans will be involved in at least one car accident at some time in their life. So what do insurance companies do with all these accidents and injuries they don’t want to pay for in the long run? Besides political lobbying, they fund research and fight every single claim to go in their favor.

Here’s what Dr. Arthur Croft, one of the world’s leading experts on whiplash and car accident injuries says about the situation: “So it seems quite clear that the playing field is not level. It’s the Fortune 500 against the doctors and their patients, and the score is about 3-1. This juggernaut of non-science has inculcated the legal world by spending literally billions of dollars fighting even relatively insignificant claims. They seem finally to have impressed attorneys that it simply is not worth their effort to pursue such claims. The insurance industry has funded their own research, couched beneath a veneer of science. They send the principles of this work as expert witnesses to refute injury in low-speed impact cases. The companies carefully forbid the publishing of any work that fails to serve their interest, thus denying any fair peer-review from within the scientific community.”

Insurance companies use this information that they created to deny claims and refuse paying for your treatment. The fact of the matter is that low-impact car accident injuries are largely misunderstood in society. Many times injuries and pain are not apparent at the time of the incident. Some injuries are even missed by emergency room technicians.

Another big myth presented by insurance companies is if you don’t have damage to your car than you can’t be injured. This is just not true. The amount of damage to your car doesn’t accurately reflect the amount of injury to the person inside the car or the passengers inside the car. Studies show that injuries can occur at impact speeds of less than five miles per hour. This can occur when there is little or no damage to the car. For example, when race cars crash, they are specifically designed to easily break apart, and the driver usually walks away alive. This is because as the race car breaks apart, the energy is being absorbed by the parts of the car and not by the driver.

The cars of today are built to absorb low speed impacts without significant damage to the bumper. This creates a problem. The problem is that instead of damaging your car, the energy of impact is transmitted to the person in the automobile. This is similar to the energy from one pool ball is transferred to another upon impact. This is simple physics which is completely ignored by profit minded insurance companies. This proves you can actually be injured worse when your car has no damage then when it flies into a million pieces.

Most people don’t realize even though they walk away from a minor car accident “without a scratch” there is a good chance, if left untreated; it is very likely they could develop a more serious problem later in life. This will cause a lot of ache and anguish. So, if you get in a little “fender bender”, how do you know if you are hurt? What must you do? Simply put, whiplash is when your vehicle gets struck and your body moves quicker than your head can react. Your muscles, ligaments, discs, nerves and spinal joints get stretched out and hurt. From time to time some of these neck structures are actually torn. A lot of times these injuries are not felt for hours or days. Other times your body reacts right away. Muscles form a protective cast around the injured area by tightening up and going into spasm. This spasm acts as a protective “cast” so you don’t shift your neck too much and make the injury worse. Spasm also removes the standard curve in your neck and can lead to permanent arthritic changes if left untreated.

Chiropractic care is extremely important for the care of whiplash injuries because it helps restore the spinal curves and normalize motion in the injured area. If these curves are not restored and proper motion is not brought back to the area, there is a chance of chronic neck and back pain.

Studies prove chiropractic works for chronic whiplash Injuries! In 1999, the Journal of Orthopedic Medicine published the results of a study designed to determine if chiropractic care helped chronic whiplash. 100 patients were divided into three groups and treated on average for four months. The authors of the study concluded, “The results from this study provide further evidence that Chiropractic is an effective treatment for chronic whiplash symptoms.”

The important thing to remember is there is a good chance you have been injured in a car accident and should have a complete chiropractic examination, even if there is no damage to your car and you don’t have any immediate pain or symptoms. If you don’t, you may be setting yourself up for constant pain and suffering in the future. If you have been injured in an auto accident in San Diego, visit New Century Spine Centers to get your spine evaluated.

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Reasons For Switching Your Auto Insurance

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

A lot of people are not happy with the customer service from their car insurer or they feel like they are paying too much for their policy. This leads a lot of people to start researching alternative insurers. If you feel you fall into this category it is also worth looking at other factors before deciding on whether you are getting good value. This article will look at some of these points to help you decide if your current insurer is up to scratch.

A lot of the insurance companies out their are in direct competition with each other and, as such, different individuals will often be on different rates. If you are with the same insurance company, and have been for many years, yet not receiving any discount then it may be time to shop around. You will often find yourself getting a better policy with lower rates.

You will find that a lot of companies are only as good as their customer service. A friendly and helpful service is vital. It you find yourself dealing with an unhelpful or un-polite person when applying, you can be sure that their claims service will also be as disappointing.

In the unfortunate event that you have an accident or experience a moving violation, you could find that your insurance premiums have risen quite dramatically. With the advent of the internet competition between the companies is high and so it should be possible to find one that does not charge increases in such circumstances. If your rate has rise, it is a good reason to start looking elsewhere.

Combining your policies can help reduce your premiums a lot. You can do this with a home insurance policy, Multiple car policy or GAP insurance. A lot of money can be easily saved this way. If you current one does not provide additional types of policies then it is quite easy to find one that does.

In the highly competitive car insurance market you should not see big rises in your premiums if you have not committed a violation or have been accident free. If you do, then it is time to switch companies. Insurance companies should be lowering your premium if you have been accident free for a period of time.

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Insurance – Auto Accident

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Welcome to InsuranceAutoAccident.com

It is important to find good auto coverage in case of an accident.  Look no further, with our online quotes you can find affordable plans to met your needs and budget.