Archives for 2020

Kentucky Motorcycle Accident Lawsuit

Episode 10: Louisville personal injury attorney Jim Desmond has spent years representing people injured in motorcycle accidents. This episode continues the discussion on motorcycle accidents from Episode 9. He’ll now discuss issues related to filing a Kentucky motorcycle accident lawsuit.

What Are the Next Steps at the Hospital?

If you don’t have health insurance, ask to speak with the financial counselors at the hospital. They may be able to help you find sources of coverage. It’s important that you’re able to treated. More importantly, you’ll be able to get the negotiated rates between the hospital and the insurance company.

Jim Desmond will begin looking for any/all sources of insurance coverage, including underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage to help his clients. Motorcycle wrecks usually involve extensive injuries, so the medical bills and lost wages are going to be substantial.

Motorcycle wreck cases test the experience and knowledge of most attorneys. Attorneys want to protect their clients from overwhelming financial burdens, even when the collision wasn’t their fault.

When a Lawsuit Needs to be Filed

Ideally, your case will be negotiated to a fair settlement. If that can’t be reached, it may be necessary to file a lawsuit. This is going to extend the timeline of getting your case resolved and financial reimbursement.

As the lawsuit proceeds, the process of discovery will begin. The depositions will then be scheduled. A mediation is usually scheduled. It’s another chance for the two sides to reach a settlement.

Statute of Limitations

In Kentucky, you have 2 years from the date of the accident, or 2 years from the date of the last no-fault payment (i.e. PIP) to file your lawsuit. If you miss go beyond this window of time, you can’t file. With a motorcycle accident, there is often no PIP coverage involved, so the extra time may not be available to file the lawsuit. For this reason, you need to make sure you understand the timeline.

Policy Limit Offers with Motorcycle Accidents

If you have a carrier offering the policy limits for the at-fault driver, it may cause trouble for you when pursuing the underinsured claim. There are important processes that must be followed. Again, it’s another reason you should hire an attorney.

What Happens if They Appeal the Verdict?

Again, a trial will significantly increase the time it will take to get your case resolved. An insurance company has the right to withhold any payments until the case is resolved. Even if the verdict has been rendered, if the other side decides to appeal the decision, additional time has just been added to the timeline. It’s a risk inherent in taking a case to trial.

For more information about Louisville Personal Injury Attorney Jim Desmond, visit www.AttorneyDesmond.com.

Important Disclaimers:

The information provided on this podcast is for general informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an attorney-client relationship. You should seek the advice of an attorney for guidance related to your specific situation. I am only licensed in Kentucky and Indiana, so the general advice provided may not apply outside of those states.

This podcast maybe freely shared, but may not be the modified or edited in any way. This is an attorney advertisement. Principal office is located in Louisville, KY. Co-host Jim Ray is a non-attorney spokesperson.

Motorcycle Accidents and Insurance Issues

Episode 9: Louisville personal injury attorney Jim Desmond has spent years representing people injured in motorcycle accidents. This episode focuses on why these cases are complicated and what motorcyclists can do before they take their bikes out of the garage for spring and summer.

The risks to a motorcyclist is significantly higher because the likelihood that the injuries will be far more serious. The medical bills and related expenses can be overwhelming. An attorney needs to quickly determine any and all available sources of insurance coverage. It’s extremely important for motorcyclists to understand motorcycle accidents and insurance coverage.

Kentucky has a state minimum level of insurance of $25,000. This may be only be a fraction of the actual expenses. It’s extremely important for a motorcyclist to carry a significant amount of Uninsured Motorist and Under Insured Motorist coverage (UM/UIM). These coverages are there to protect the motorcyclist, in the event the at-fault driver either doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance. UM/UIM will add to the available funds to help the injured motorcyclist.

Your motorcycle isn’t adequately covered by your standard automobile insurance policy. Unlike Kentucky automobile insurance, no-fault coverage on your motorcycle doesn’t exist unless you specifically purchase it. A standard car insurance policy provides no-fault coverage (also called personal injury protection or PIP coverage). This lack of coverage creates another financial gap for motorcyclist. PIP coverage is generally $10,000. Without specific PIP coverage, the motorcyclist may be unable to recover the first $10,000 of medical expenses. For injured motorcyclists, this can be a difficult conversation about motorcycle accidents and insurance.

Pedestrian PIP only covers a pedestrian the who may be hit by a motorcyclist. It does not apply to the motorcyclist.

If a motorcycle wreck has occurred, it’s important that the evidence is preserved. Pictures are extremely important. It’s important to photograph cuts and bruises that may heal by the time the case goes to trial. The location of the vehicles is significant in reconstructing what may have occurred at the time of the collision. The victim may not be able to take the photos, but family members may be able to, if they arrive at the scene.

It’s important to remember to download the photos from your cell phone to a laptop or other storage device. Phones can be damaged or lost. The important photos could be lost.

It’s incredibly important to avoid posting statements and/or photos to social media while your case is being handled. It’s very easy to make comments which could later be taken out of context. This often can be extremely damaging to an injured victim’s case. This includes the family and friends of the injured motorcyclist.

Get the Police Report

This important document will list the people involved and their insurance companies. It also often indicates which driver appears to be at fault. The website www.BuyCrash.com is a trusted, easy resource. It’s very inexpensive and can be done quickly. The information on the report is helpful when opening the motorcycle accident claim.

Your own health insurance may need to be used to cover your medical expenses, especially if you didn’t purchase the additional PIP coverage as part of your motorcycle insurance. The advantage to using your healthcare is that you are able to get medical treatment even before the case is resolved. If your health insurance pays your medical bills, they have the right to file a lien against any settlement or jury verdict you recover from the at-fault driver. Medicare and Medicaid have the same rights to attach a lien to your settlement or verdict.

Jim Desmond will continue this discussion about motorcycle accidents and insurance issues in Episode 10, launching in 2 weeks.

For more information about Louisville Personal Injury Attorney Jim Desmond, visit www.AttorneyDesmond.com.

Important Disclaimers:

More on Car Wrecks Involving Workers’ Comp Claims

Episode 8: In Part 2 of this conversation, Louisville automobile accident attorney Jim Desmond continues his discussion with Louisville workers’ compensation attorney Scott Scheynost about how a collision might involve both an auto accident claim and a workers’ comp claim.

There are more options if a workers’ compensation is involved in your automobile accident case. Rather than simply having to rely on the at-fault drivers’ insurance policy (and potentially your own UM/UIM coverage), Kentucky’s workers’ comp system provides more benefits.

What if a Work-Related Accident Results in Death?

Jim and Scott describe a previous case involving a work-related fatality. Workers’ compensation benefits are often tied to the amount of money you were earning, prior to the accident. However, under the current workers’ comp system, there’s a significant lump sum death benefit amount that’s paid directly to the deceased worker’s estate. The current amount is approximately $85,000. This amount is not related to your earnings.

Your dependents may also be able to receive benefits, based on the amount of money you were making.

How Do Workers’ Comp Attorney’s Fees Differ from Personal Injury Attorney’s Fees?

While a typical personal injury lawyer may charge a 1/3 fee (33%) or more of any financial award in an automobile case, under Kentucky’s workers’ compensation law, workers’ comp lawyer fees are limited to 20%, up to a maximum of $18,000.

Can worker’s comp benefits be disputed?

There may be a valid argument that an employee may have decided to deviate from his/her work-related travel. Generally, minor deviations during the day may still be covered. For instance, stopping off at a restaurant for lunch, pulling into a rest area to use the restroom. It really depends on how far the driver went for a non-work-related activity.

If the workers’ compensation is successful in arguing the employee made enough of a deviation that the accident is not covered, the employee still has the option of pursuing a normal auto accident claim. Remember, if it is work-related, the claim will be handled as a workers’ compensation claim. That system is considered “primary.”

Are Independent Contractors Covered by the Employer if They’re in an Accident?

The employer’s control over the laborer or independent contractor, may legally require the employer’s workers’ compensation coverage to pay benefits. The more say a company has in the activities, tools, etc., the higher the amount of control over the activities of that individual. In this case, the law may actually consider the independent contractor to be eligible for workers’ comp.

If the employer doesn’t have workers’ compensation coverage, the government has a fund to cover these situations, if someone qualifies. This is the Kentucky Uninsured Employers Fund.

A personal injury attorney can handle the property damage and a auto accident claim for pain and suffering. The workers’ compensation attorney will handle the medical expenses claim. There’s also a possibility that both can use a permanent impairment as part of the multiple claims. If your attorneys can work together, you may have multiple options for recovering compensation for the issues related to the collision.

Can Company Executives File for Benefits if Injured Traveling for Business?

For more highly-compensated employees (e.g. managers or executives) who are injured while traveling for business, their medical expenses could be covered, but there is still a limit on the Temporary Total Disability (TTD) payments, because they are capped at 2/3 or your average weekly income. There’s also a cap on the dollar amount of your TTD (currently it’s approximately $900).

If the individual is traveling outside of Kentucky, Kentucky workers’ comp coverage should still apply, in addition to potential automobile accident coverage (e.g. UM/UIM), if they were driving. It’s also possible that local coverage may apply, enabling the individual to choose which system to use.

For more information about Louisville Personal Injury Attorney Jim Desmond, visit www.AttorneyDesmond.com.

For more information about Louisville Worker’s Compensation Attorney Scott Scheynost, visit http://www.scheynostlaw.com/.

Important Disclaimers:

LMPD May Not Show Up for Your Wreck

LMPD indicated yesterday that they will not be responding to non-injury car wreck and/or hit and run accidents. So, stop and think about the fact that when a car accident happens, you potentially have four claims immediately: 1) a claim for the damage to your vehicle; 2) a claim for the loss of use of your vehicle while it is being repaired or because it was a total loss; 3) a claim for any medical bills stemming from any injuries sustained in the car wreck and; 4) a claim for your pain and suffering. Even though LMPD may not show up, you should be proactive.

For the moment, just concentrate on 1 & 2 and realize that without a police report, YOU have the burden on obtaining detailed information so that you can get your car fixed! As a result, let’s discuss what steps YOU need to take as a consumer should you be in a car accident.

If there is not going to be a police report, the biggest change is realizing that the burden of getting detailed information about the car accident will fall to you! So, remember the old phrase that a picture is worth 1,000 words! The easiest way to gather information is to pull out your smart phone and go crazy by capturing the information through photographs.

What kind of information do you need?

Where did the car wreck happen? Insurance carriers will want street names, cross-streets. You should note any landmarks that might be useful later on. Make a note as to which direction both drivers were traveling and on what street. Take photographs of the street signs.
Take photographs of the location of the vehicles and the damaged area of each vehicle. Take a picture of the license plate of the other vehicle. For a Kentucky plate, we can run the license plate through the County Clerk and find out the insurance information for the last time that vehicle was registered.
You are going to want the name, phone number and address of the other driver(s). You can find liability insurance for a car wreck on the driver of a vehicle or on the vehicle itself. As a result, you will want to know 4) does the other driver own the car they were operating? If not, get the name, address and phone number of the vehicle’s owner.

Be Proactive at the Crash Scene, Because LMPD May Not Show Up.

Get the name and policy number of the other driver’s insurance carrier. When I call a claim into an insurance company, the first issue is can we locate an insurance policy on the at-fault driver. As a result, the more information I have, the better. So, take a picture of the at-fault driver’s license plate, insurance card, the vin number of the vehicle and the make and model of the vehicle. Correct, some of this may be overkill and you may not need to take all these steps. However, realize that without a police report, your personal injury claim against the at-fault driver will turn into an uninsured motorist claim against your own insurance carrier unless we know who hit you and who they are insured with. On that note, recall that Kentucky uninsured motorist coverage does not cover your vehicle; you need collision coverage for the property damage claim. So again, the lessen is go overboard on getting the information while you can so you can get your car repaired.
For a hit and run accident, remember the law does not want me to hit a tree and then have a personal injury claim because I said someone ran me off the road. As a result, the law essentially requires contact between the two vehicles. Now, because LMPD may not show up, you need to create documentation. So, if you are involved in a hit and run car wreck and can’t get a police report, take a bunch of photographs. Take photographs of the damage to your car and the accident scene while at the scene of the wreck.
Look for surveillance video that may have captured the car wreck at the surrounding businesses. It has become a regular part of my legal practice to look for videos of the car wreck. Why? Because when someone tries to argue my client was at fault for the car wreck, it is the best way to prove otherwise.
Insurance carriers are going to be more likely to ask you to give a recorded statement if there is not a police report. Insurance companies have to investigate a claim, even property damage, and a recorded statement is one way to do that. While I am not a fan of recorded statements, they do seem more necessary when there is no police report. As a result, my advice to you is to remember what you hear on television, “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a Court of law.” So, don’t minimize your injuries and don’t guess at facts you don’t know. Usually, I like my clients to give the recorded statement to their own insurance carrier and then get that insurance carrier to share the statement with the at-fault driver’s carrier. Also, more importantly, if you did your job and collected a bunch of photographs, get those photographs to both insurance carriers. It may prevent the need for a recorded statement.

For additional information, you can listen to my podcast episode on What to Do after a Car Wreck. It provides some additional tips for your consideration.

I hope this article provides you with with some valuable information you and your loved ones my need, during the next few weeks and/or months, especially because LMPD may not show up. If you need to speak with me, you can call my cell phone at (502) 609-7657. Please drive safely.

Personal Injury and the Corona Virus

As a personal injury lawyer, I did not expect to have to comment on the coronavirus. However, several phone calls I recently received have made a couple of points worth mentioning.
1)    I am still open and doing business. If you have a legal question about a car accident, I am still answering my cell phone and will continue to do so.
2)    Many aspects of a personal injury claim can be handled electronically if that makes you more comfortable.
3)    Yes, I am happy to come to you to meet with you or we can handle most of the initial sign up over the phone.
4)    If a doctor’s office is closed because of the virus, we can find you another one where you can continue your treatment. I know of some doctors who will even come to you.
5)    Most importantly, from what I am hearing about the virus, I expect the U.S. economy is going to suffer a downturn.  Because of this downturn, there is a strong likelihood that more drivers will not have car insurance or will lower their liability coverage in an effort to save money. As a result, it is all the more important that you realize that the other driver may not have enough insurance coverage to pay the medical bills from your car wreck or any of your other out of pocket expenses.
6)    As a result, the need to have at least $100,000 per person of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, on your own automobile insurance, is all the more important.

Year: 2020

Archives for 2020