Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

There was a recent california case, which I believe has been appealed to the California Supreme Court allowing a defendant to pay only the amount the insurance carrier actually paid. The issue will effect many cases and certainly not settled law. There are reasonable arguments on both sides.

Your pointing out that the insurance company can not take part in the benefits stemming from your paying your own medical insurance premiums is correct, but the defendant's carrier argument is that the sum the hospital lists is artifically inflated so that those who pay cover the losses from those who pay nothing and that the real charge is what the insurance company is paying.

When a plaintiff's attorney is paid the full face amount of a mledical billing, he normally negoiates it down by about 33%, splitting the difference with his client according to the fee agreement. So the insurance company is basically cutting the plaintiff's attorney out.

This is an example of why you need a personal injury attorney to deal with the insurance companies. The insurance company is citing Haniff which allows them to only pay out what MEDI-CAL Pays. This does not apply to private insurance. A recent Supreme Court case specifically excludes private insurance from the Haniff ruling.

You are entitled to other damages besides out of pocket expenses in a PI case. Why don't you give me a call for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x. 1. My firm handles PI cases all over California.