Car Accident Settlement?

[mountain_momma_mustache]

Long story short: Was in a major car accident at work last year, spent a night in the hospital and missed two weeks of work. I had zero out of pocket expenses and workers comp paid me back for the sick time I used. Never being in car accident before I thought it was over, but just got a call from the at fault drivers insurance company with a settlement offer of $20,500 with a comp lean of $4,500.
I feel weird making money off of an accident but also do not want to be stupid not get a fair settlement.
How do I find out what a fair settlement would be, can I hire a lawyer to tell me that or would I have to hire them to fulling take on my case? Would the legal fees be worth it?

[Malum Prohibitum]

Contact FireBy35, seriously.  He is an attorney, and your situation is what he does.  He is probably not in your state, but he can probably give you some direction.

You need to look at some issues like hospital liens and such against that settlement.

Important question - are you all better now?

[FL_MM]

Your pain and suffering is worth something even if your injuries have resolved.
There should not be any other liens if WC paid for everything, but it it wouldn’t hurt to touch base with your WC adjuster and make sure all bills were paid and there’s nothing they denied that could turn up as an unpaid bill.
In my experience, an attorney usually takes a third of the settlement plus costs. You have to decide if it’s worth it.
Don’t take the first offer. There is probably a bit more money on the table as claims adjusters have a range and expect to negotiate. If you decide to negotiate on your own, ask them to explain how they came to that amount.

** Just have to say, I am not an attorney. This is not legal advice, just my opinion.

[SKL-HOU]

You can negotiate with them on your own. A lawyer will take 1/3rd of the settlement so at the end of the day you will probably end up at the same spot. So you can maybe tell them you don't want to get a lawyer involved and that you were out of work for 2 weeks, etc (state some of your reasons) and ask for something more. They may accept what you ask for or offer you something in between.

(I am not a lawyer but I have negotiated on my own behalf for an accident -I was not at fault)

[mountain_momma_mustache]

Thanks all for the suggestions.

I feel extremely lucky that I have no injuries still hanging around. (yet anyway)

All the lawyers I have contacted stated they would charge .33 of the final settlement, meaning they would have to reach a settlement of > 31,000 for it to even be worth it.

[I'm a red panda]

Keep in mind if you receive money in a settlement you may have to payback your insurance. Make sure you recieve enough to do that.

I broke my neck (minor) in a car accident. I got nearly nothing for pain and suffering, with a lawyer fighting for me. My $50k in medical bills were paid, but that too was a fight. They did not think my medical costs should be higher than vehicle damage, which was under $1000 (and reimbursed with no issue.)
 Because I had changed jobs, my sick time was not reimbursed.

I'd come up with your medical costs (not out of pocket) and counter at 3x them. They will obviously go lower.

[socaso]

The settlement is their way of writing you off the books and you will sign a document stating you are not going to come after them for more money over this incident. You can try to negotiate more out of them but if it were me I wouldn't hire a lawyer because they have already come to you with an offer. Personally, I consider their offer to be pretty good since you haven't suffered permanent injuries but if you suspect you might have an issue come up in the future related to this accident you could use this as part of your negotiation for more money (i.e., the doctors have told me I may have x issue in the future due to these injuries).

[sisto]

I'm in a similar situation, but my injuries have not yet resolved so I'm still in the waiting mode. Keep in mind that Workman's Comp may have a claim for reimbursement if they paid out for you and the at fault insurance is offering a settlement. I know in my case it has to go through subrogation. So just be sure to check with your work comp adjuster before signing anything with the other insurance.