Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in California

I had gottn into a car accident almost 2 years ago. My car was completely totaled. I was brod sighted and it was completely the other parties fault, we both had car insurance. I went and got an attorney because I am young and this was my first car and i didnt know what to do. My medical bills totaled around 10,000 dollars all together. My attorney advised me to have medical (my health insurance) pay the medical bills, yet this wasnt my fault. It sounded kinda fishy when he told me NOT to tell medical i have an attorney and that you dont think the other party that hit you has insurance. So i called and had medical billed and they paied off my bills, but sense medical paied them the total of my bills when from 10,000 to not even 3,000 dollars because of a new law, he told me. The value of my case went down dramaticaly. I asked him why did you tell me to have medical pay my bills and he denys that he ever told me to do that, my mom was in the room when he was adviseing me to have medical pay them. Here I am almost 2 years later and i only got around 7k back for pain and suffering, thats not even as much as the value of my car that was totaled. This has ruined my life I lost my job I have permanent medical problems and I didnt even get enough back to go buy another car of the same value as the one that was totaled. My attorney tried commiting medical fraud i believe he thought medical would pay my bills and then he wouldnt have to pay off so much when we settled but it didnt work that way due to a new law that was passed. Also after that happend he didnt even wana work on the case. He got very defensive anytime i asked him why medical was even billed when it was the other parties responsibility.


Asked on 9/26/11, 4:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Joe Marman Law Office of Joseph Marman

Good questions. However your attorney is completely correct. Often is is best to have your own insurance pay your medical bills, so you can pocket more money. I would have advised you to do the same. The new law is case law, called Howell v. Hamilton meets and you can only tell the jury the amount of medical bils that was paid. If you avoided paying with MediCal, you would have had bad credit rating since you were not paying your medical bills. Did you want that? You could have had your automobile Med Pay pay it, but the result is about the same.

Life (after the disastrous George Bush years now favors major corporations and screws the little people). That is because people still vote republican. Gotta stop that or America will get worse.

Your attorneye is correct. Go ask other attorneys. LIfe sucks because of Republican influence on legislation and the courts, get used to it or Vote Democratic.

Read more
Answered on 9/26/11, 7:48 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Civil Rights Law questions and answers in California