Legal Question in Personal Injury in Idaho

To Settle or Hire an Attorney?

You are in ID, You need to consult an attorney familiar with ID law.

Even if you do not decide to employ an attorney to help you, I stongly suggest you take the file to a reputable local PI attorney and get a local opinion concerning what you should do. When you say "specialist," if that is in orthopeadic and not a chiropractor, you really need to talk to an attorney.

Liability is clear. The defendant caused your 18 year old daughter to declerate from 50 or 40 miles per hour into the windshield. There are lots of injuries that are not immediately apparent until the back has had an opportunity to heal from the tears swelling. This happened in Dec of 1997, only 2 months ago. Unless you are desperate for the cash, there is no urgent need to settle right now.

Most states have a 2 year statute of limitation on suits for personal injury. Some are a short as 1 year. If ID has the shortest, you have at least until Thanksgiving to decide to sue or not sue. However, a local ID attoney can give you the exact statute.

Unless, it was clear to me that your daughter was not hurt (just banged up some), they had paid for the totaled car or offered to pay for the totaled car and their settlement offer was reasonalbe, (if we represented you) we would not allow you to settle your case 2 months after the accident.I can assure you, if your daughter is injured and you settle in Feb or March 1998, you have been LOW BALLED.

Go consult with a local attorney who TRIES local cases and get his or her opinion. Those initial opinions are usually free.

Good Luck.

Yes, too early to settle new and possible exacerbation claims

Attorney Woods gave you good info. To early to settle.Call either the local bar association or even the local newspaper to find out who one of the top personal injury (PI) attorneys is.Your daughter's medical injuries have not yet been resolved. If she had a degenerative condition prior to the accident and the accident aggravated the pre-existing condition, her damages are even greater.

The atty should also look at the lap and seat belts she wore. Did they contribute in any way to the accident?

Of course, the most important thing is that she get proper medical care. A PI atty will have a medical care professional look over the medical records. Did she have a C-scan? an MRI? After all, it had to have been her head which went through the windshield first? Find that atty. In fact, you can speak to several if necessary to get "another opinion." Good luck and I hope your daughter's recovery is an easy one.

consulting with a personal injury lawyer

By all means please consult with an experiencedpersonal injury lawyer in your state. Go to my website for lots of info about claim, insurance companies andhow you can go about choosing a good personal injurylawyer for your case

hire an attorney now

The insurance company is out for themselves not for your interests.Consulting a Personl Injury attorney should be the first thing you do before talking to the insurance company again. They will try to settlefor the least amount of money that they can. Additionally, it is way too early to determine the extent of injury to your daughter and you could be jeopardizing her future health by not consultingan attorney.