Following an accident in which a vehicle is totaled, the owner of the totaled vehicle is entitled to the fair market value (FMV) of the vehicle at the time of the crash. In other words, if your vehicle had a FMV of $5,000 at the time of the crash, $5,000 is all you can recover no matter the amount... View More

This statute (O.C.G. A. § 33-24-41.1) addressed instances when there are two insurance policies which apply to the same claim. It allows for a claimant (i.e., the injured person who is asserting the claim) to recover the policy limits from the primary policy and then pursue a second policy. The... View More

Indemnification clauses (also known as hold harmless agreements) are standard in every release signed by a personal injury claimant. In fact, it would be shocking if the insurance company failed to include such a clause in the release.

In terms of of the court action, I assume you are... View More

Determination of liability and fault is fact specific-----and a trier of fact will determine the facts and make a liiability ruling, if you get that far. Before getting there, others (you, the other driver, insurance company adjusters, lawyers, etc) will make liability determinations based on the... View More

Addendum - To be more responsive to the point you ask about regarding SOLs, I have not seen situations where statutes of limitations were used on the issue of relevance/irrelevance of prior injuries. It's usually a case-by-case analysis, depending on the quality of the medical opinion... View More

A Georgia attorney could advise best, but your question remains open for a week. Until you're able to consult with a local attorney on any state-specific rules, the GENERAL approach applied nationwide in the type of situation you describe is that the plaintiff relies on the opinion of a... View More

It is possible for an insurance adjuster to reference previous injuries in their evaluation of a claim no matter how old the previous injuries are. However, there are steps that a skilled plaintiffs lawyer can take to combat their attempt. First, prior to filing a lawsuit, you or your attorney... View More

A Georgia attorney could advise best, but your question remains open for two weeks. Yes, you could. There are attorneys who handle defense matters who work independently. But the more important question may be why your carrier is declining to offer you defense counsel. They probably provided a... View More

I am sorry to hear about your girlfriend and the driver. In an accident that serious, you really should hire an attorney. You will need to get the driver's insurance information from the police report. You will then need to submit all medical records to the insurance company. You need to make... View More

A Georgia attorney could advise best, but your question remains open for a week. Clients are free to change attorneys, and attorneys are free to withdraw from representing clients (with several exceptions). If you do change attorneys, it's possible your attorney could assert a lien for the... View More

A Georgia attorney could advise best, but you posted last week. You mention needing legal assistance. One option is for you to reach out to law firms to try to set up a free initial consult. In terms of your question of how much you could potentially recover, more information is needed about your... View More

It sounds like State Farm would like to exercise control over the payment to medical providers. Their practice of doing things this way COULD be over concerns that some claimants might negotiate with medical providers to reduce their bills - and if a doctor feels shortchanged, they'd pursue... View More

If there is no lien, I have never heard of an insurance company insisting on paying the medical bills and the pain and suffering separately. In fact, one would think the insurance company would not want deal with the hassle of paying individual medical care providers. Simply issuing one check to... View More

Yes, providing your social security number is typical. The reason that insurance companies ask for your social security number is they want to confirm whether Medicare/CMS paid any of your medical bills. If the answer is yes, Medicare/CMS has a lien which, if left unpaid, can result in the... View More

A Georgia attorney would need to advise on your question about SOLs, but your question remains open for two weeks. On your second question about claiming damages once settlement has been reached, it could depend on how the other side or their insurance carrier drafts the release. Most insurance... View More

Definitionally speaking, general damages are those which the law presumes to flow from any tortious (i.e., wrongful) act. There is no formula in calculating them. Ultimately, general damages (frequently referred to pain and suffering) are determined by the enlightened consciousness of fair and... View More

Car wreck damages are complicated, and this sounds like a serious wreck. Frankly, you should not be trying to handle it on your own. When I used to work for insurance companies, I saw them bamboozle people like you all the time (i.e. people without a good lawyer). Get an attorney. Get one... View More

A Georgia attorney could advise best, but your question remains open for three weeks, and it's likely you already consulted with local attorneys by now. Definitions could be specific to a given jurisdiction, but a fixed object is often understood to mean something fixed to its surroundings -... View More

Michael is correct. If your attorney has already sent a demand to the insurance company for the drunk driver, and they paid, then you can seek money from your own UM/UIM (underinsured motorist) coverage. This is insurance that you can buy (before an accident) to provide you with extra money if the... View More

In order to recover more than the available insurance coverage, a lawsuit will need to be filed against the DUI driver. Lawsuits are expensive and take time to make their way through the courts. Ultimately, the litigation will end with a trial wherein you may recover more than the available... View More