The Joel Bieber Firm

My six-year-old niece had the whole family excited about her upcoming performance. She had been practicing for weeks. She’s one that embraces performances in front of people. Last week, some of the family even traveled a couple of hours for the promised excitement.

Soon, word rippled down the family grapevine; She had fallen and had scraped her knee and wouldn’t be able to perform. All that practice and excitement now led to all of us feeling bad for her.

I’m sure she felt the knee scrape but the true “wound” was the hurt of disappointment. As for the family, we know that she will face life’s bumps and bruises, but you just wish there was a way to help her avoid them.

Early in the week, I was returning a phone call to an adjuster. I had mailed a settlement package about 30 days earlier; The package included pictures of my client’s car; her medical bills and records, and my client’s description of how the accident made her feel.

My client is almost 80 years old. She said what many of my clients tell me,”I’ve never been through something like this”. When we were discussing the fair market value of what her claim should settle for, I specifically wanted to know how she was doing from injuries, and anything else that she could tell me, when describing how this crash had effected her.

Her desciption about her injuries and recovery coincided with her medical records. She initially had pain and muscle spasms and she felt that the doctors and physical therapist had really helped. Now, she told me that “I feel much better”.

My client then went on to tell me what really had bothered her. At the scene of the crash, she was pretty shook up. The person that hit her had never said he was sorry or even checked on her. She still had vivid memories of how the accident “had scared her and how it happened so fast”.

Within a couple of days from the crash, the adjuster called her and wanted to take a recorded statement from her. She’d never had to do one of those. She was proud of the fact that she got around by driving herself and really didn’t like it when she was without a car. Fortunately, they finally got it fixed and got it back to her. She told me that she felt that she needed to “be more careful” while driving.

I finally got the insurance adjuster on the phone. He went on to recite that they knew that their insured was at fault. (Of course, he had pled guilty of failing to yield at his traffic hearing). The adjuster said that he had reviewed the records, noticed that my client had gotten better and that they were willing to pay her medical bills and throw on “a little bit more to settle it”.

The law recognizes several forms of damages. Medical bills is only one form of damage. The adjuster was acting like most adjusters and just processing. He probably had put the details of the accident in his company’s software package and the computer had told him a range of what to pay. That range didn’t recognize the fear of being in the crash; the worry of not getting better; or what it felt like to lose a bit of independence in not having your car to drive.

My niece did get hurt from her fall. But, her real loss was not being able to perform after all that practice and the anticipation build-up to that night.

Only part of the injuries from a car accident are from the physical hurt. Many Insurance adjusters that I talk to, try to only focus on medical bills and treatment. To me, it’s really the effects of the crash. Just like the performance damages of not performing, for my niece. And no, my client’s claim is not going to settle “for a little above her medical bills”. When I gave my reasons to the adjuster,  he said that “he and his supervisor will take another look at it”.

In light of that, I thought that pic o’ day should be about responsibility:

Please click the Facebook “Share” button below this post to let others know you enjoyed reading it. Thanks!