Re: [DML] Advice needed: Unfortunate occurrance

["Ed Garbade" <edgarbade@xxxx>]

Aaron,
I'm sorry to hear of your accident. What I gather from your note is that 
you are OK and that is the most important thing. That said there is two 
major points I feel you MUST keep in mind.

First, insurance companies are in business to make money. One way they do 
this is by keeping claim payouts down. Bottom line is know what you are 
signing, keep good records, take pictures, and call on the expert vendors if 
it appears the company is trying to short change you. You know what is 
right for your car and if the insurance company is doing something wrong, 
that is when you need the lawyer.

Second, NEVER sign a release for the insurance company to get your medical 
records without a lawyer's advice. I had what I considered a minor accident 
and being the good guy decided to handle it myself. They sent me a release 
and I signed.

A couple months later my left side (mostly neck) started hurting and I 
started dropping things. Went to the doctor and bottom line was I had a 
problem causing a minimum of 5% disability unquestionably related to the 
accident and a total disability of 15+% most of which was likely related to 
the accident.

Because I had signed the release, the insurance company dug up my medical 
records back to my teens (I'm 41 and was in a accident when I was 16 I 
believe). They got their experts to relate every incident in my whole life 
(twisted knee, torn cartilage, strained back, ?) to that disability. I even 
had a doctor, acknowledged as a medical expert by the insurance company, to 
testify that the other injuries couldn?t have caused the damage shown in my 
MRIs. To make a long story short, my lawyer gave up and I got $5k.

Ed
10541


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