Q: What is a reasonable settlement amount?
In may of 2015 i was in a car accident that was no fault of my own. An 18 year old ran a stop sign and totalled my car. My knee was injured, and my neck sprained. Also i began having problems with my arms which the doctor determined to be carpal tunnel syndrome. The documents sent to my lawyer from my doctor say that i may have had it already and that it was worsened by the accident. He had no way to know if it was pre existing or not. The adjuster and my lawyer are now negotiating. The lawyer told me to keep going to the doctor and do what i had to in order to feel better and heal. Now I have 27500.00 in medical bills due to the accident and the lawyer now says they dont know if the insurance company is going to pay for the carpal tunnel or not. They asked the insurance company to max tender. They say they have an offer they believe to be the max without going to trial but its not the drivers policy limits. i dont want to be blindsided. What is a reasonable settlement offer?
A:
First do you have underinsurance? Big problem in carpal tunnel is amount of likely pre-existing changes. (Don't respond on this site as it's public). If you can go for undeirnsurance without collecting 100% of driver's policy things are more flexible.
A lot also depends on damage to vehicles, what words doctors use in discussing your condition, whether the medical providers will reduce their bills, or have to by statute, who pays what, and last issue is the knee. Not seeing your follow up discussed,but that can be siginificant. This long after, if you are having changes in your knee from the wreck they should be showing up.
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