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Are we entitled to more?
My wife and I were in accident last week. I was driving but the accident wasn’t my fault. We filed the claim and our medical bills with the other persons insurance. The company totaled my parents car(which I was driving)
Asked on March 16, 2012 under Accident Law, Oklahoma
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Your parents have a property damage claim for the loss of their car to be filed with the at-fault party's insurance carrier.
You and your wife have separate personal injury claims. When each of you completes your medical treatment and is released by the doctor or is declared by the doctor to be permanent and stationary which means having reached a point in medical treatment where no further improvement is anticipated, you and your wife should obtain your medical bills, medical reports and documentation of any wage loss. Your personal injury claims filed with the at-fault party's insurance carrier should include these items. Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement. Compensation for wage loss is straight reimbursement. The medical reports will document the nature and extent of your injuries and will be used to determine compensation for pain and suffering, which is an amount in addition to the medical bills. If the case is settled with the at-fault party's insurance carrier, NO lawsuit is filed. If you and/or your wife are dissatisfied with settlement offers from the at-fault party's insurance carrier, reject the settlement offers and file the lawsuit for negligence against the at-fault party. If the case is NOT settled with the insurance carrier, the lawsuit for negligence will need to be filed against the at-fault party prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or you will lose your rights forever in the matter.
If the case is settled with the insurance company and you and your wife, NO lawsuit is filed. If the case is settled with the insurance company with you, but not your wife, only your wife would file a lawsuit for negligence against the at-fault party. If the case is settled with the insurance company and your wife, but not with you, only you would file a lawsuit against the at-fault party for negligence. If the case is not settled with the insurance company with you and your wife, both of you would be plaintiffs in a single lawsuit for negligence filed against the at-fault party.
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