Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Your questions are impossible to answer without additional information.The first concern is the statute of limitations.The two year anniversary is rapidly approaching.To protect the statute you must do one of two things 1.file a lawsuit against the driver or 2 demand underinsured motorist arbitration against your company which is accomplished by sending a certified letter return receipt requested. If neither one of these is accomplished by March16, 2010 you will not have a case which is substantial.I would need much more information to evaluate you case.if you wish to speak to me my office number is 916-448-8831

You are in my physical and legal area of practice, personal injury, insurance and medical issues. I practice all over So Cal so including Palm Springs and surrounding areas and I am VERY familiar with this type of injury as I also sustained the same. 1st - you are smart as you had 1 mil in UIM coverage - amazing! Most people think it is nothing and buy the minimum which gets them nothing. I am sure that most replies you have gotten have been to contact the attorney/ firm so they can suck you into represention. This is annoying to me, and I, as an attorney member of this site I have complained to no avail - so I reply to people who obviously have an issue and can write a comprehensible question!. I think this is not a correct way of doing business. It amounts to nothing but a way to advertise your business and suck you into talk to whomever bothers to answer a free question. That is not my point - although I would not refuse to talk to you further.

As to your question - and my answer is based on personal AND professional experience - I have been handling this type of case for nearly 20 years - my CA bar licence is 158491 so you can check the CA State Bar site about me. Let me know if anyone else has bothered to give you this info? There are many things that any attorney would need to know given the limited info you provided as NO ONE can guess or speculate as to the actual reply to your questions. If they do they are likely fooling you into contacting them instead of replying.

SO here is the correct reply to your questions as posted - there is not enough detail to tell you with any type of accuracy the correct response(s) - all that can be done is to guess. Most personal injury attorneys will go to the ends of the earth to get you signed up - so beware of any reply that indicates anything other than this, or includes no substance.

The ONLY reply that is appropriate to your questions is to inform you how UIM coverage works - to this I will reply. UIM is based partially on state law and your insurance contract - it is a hybrid and very complicated. You must have settled or obtained a judment for the maximum coverage of the other party's insurance and your OWN insurance (other than UIM coverage) to be able to make a claim on you UIM coverage - I do not know if you, or the party that hit you, have any other insurance that would apply, so I can't say whether you have met this requirement or not. There is also the requirement that you collect the maximum available on ALL coverages that would apply - many of which you may not be aware of and most people are not. SO you must look to all your insurance coverages to see if you have met this requirement AND look to the other parties insurance to determine whether you have collectd all you can. There are also provisions in your policy that indicate the rules and procedure for presenting and the handling of a UIM claim - you must be aware of these. Typically, you must make a formal demand for arbitration witin 2 years of the date of accident to protect your rights. I say "typically" as I do not know what the coverage you have nor can I see the policy, so do not rely on this. Also, as you probably are aware, your $15 K settlement or judgement, which ever it as, and whatever other insurance would have been available (if any) woud be deducted from your UIM coverage - so that is $1 mil - $15k and any other amount you could collect from other sources. This is an important point FYI - very important as some policies will not honor the UIM demand if you have not recovered from all available sources (tip - look to your HO insurance - Umbrella Insurance - disability insurance - AFLAC - AMEX - ANYTHING you have that has an insurance component to it).

I guess you probably see the problems now involved with these generic questions - anyone claiming to have the "answers" is full of........." You can fill in the blank! We are also under a standard of care that scares the hell out of most lawyers - we are assumed to be "perfect" and to supply you with incorrect info on the internet - despite the limited liability agreement on this site, lawyers won't reply unless paid or to get you hooked in as a client - period. I am sure you have gotten a billion replies already that say something to the effect of - Wow - sounds like you have a great case please contact me directly etc........ again a hook.

I am not rejecting your question even though unpaid, I have my reasons for spending time to reply. I think the public is so unaware of the system and this is a sham to gain clients based on advertising a "free" question to be answered.

I will tell you based on my personal opinion and legal experience though, and based on the limited information in your questiion, that it appears your injury was very serious and you probably have not been compensated to the full amount you are entitled. I can also tell you from my own personal as well as legal experience that such an injury will likely cause you ongoing problems by way of everything from traumatic arthritis to pain when the weather turns. No one can tell right now, but future medical costs are part of your damages you are entitled to be compensated for them. A 5% loss of motion is only one indicator of the seriousness of the injury - particularly with a knee injury. I have two blown knees - and I mean gonners. Ligaments torn, streched, ripped up cartilage that floats around causing intermitent pain to the point I can't even walk - not to mention I taught skiing for over 20 years with these conditions - but the pain comes and goes. AND I have 100% range of motion in both knees! I am out of space it appears, but if you want more info email me back. Your biggest issue now though is the staute of limitations and contract provisions of your UIM coverage FYI - I won't guess - I will just tell you that is the only assessment I can make with the info provided. If I do not hear from you - good luck and I will be thinking about your situation.

Regards,

Marcia S. Wertenberger, Esq.

I forgot you can't reply to me on this sytem - I can be reached at [email protected]

Regards,

Marcia S. Wertenberger, Esq.