A motorcyclist came to my office after suffering a broken leg in a Kentucky motorcycle accident. His surgery alone generated approximately $60,000 in medical bills. Most people assume medical bills like that will consume a large portion of any motorcycle injury settlement. They don’t have to.
The best means of legal advice I can personally give you, Attorney Jim Desmond, on how to recover the most amount for your personal injury claim is: before the car wreck ever happens, make sure you have on your automobile or motorcycle not just no-fault coverage but also added no-fault coverage. Further, do the following:
- Reserve your no-fault coverage AND
- Call me immediately after the wreck.
Applying my legal experience as a car wreck lawyer
I would recommend you have at least a total of $30,000 of no-fault and added no-fault coverage on any motorcycle insurance policy or automobile insurance policy. Why? Because it is one of the best ways to prevent your medical bills from eating up your injury settlement.
How We Prevented Medical Bills from Consuming the Settlement, a Real-Life Example Involving an Injured Motorcyclist
Here’s exactly how Kentucky insurance works, here’s an actual case, here’s the statute, and here’s what I learned after thirty years. Let’s use a real-life example, handled by a law firm, wherein the injured motorcyclist underwent a $60,000 surgery for a broken leg. We let the surgery bill be paid by my client’s health insurance carrier, and in doing so, they paid the hospital $20,000 for the surgery, with the hospital writing off the $40,000 balance because of the contract they have with the health plan. The injured motorcyclist had $30,000 of no-fault coverage on his insurance policy. The health plan said we want the $20,000 back that we paid from your client’s personal injury claim, known as an ERISA health insurance subrogation claim. I agreed that they get their $20,000 back, but pursuant to KRS 304.39-241 and because we RESERVED the no-fault coverage when the case began, we used the client’s no-fault coverage to pay that $20,000 health insurance claim and some of the other bills.
Now, this is the beautiful part that most injured people miss. KRS 304.39-070(4) says the rights of the injured party are primary over and that if the policy limits of an at-fault driver are ever offered, the subrogation lien of the no-fault carrier is extinguished by law; meaning, you and the insurance for the at-fault driver don’t have to pay back the no-fault carrier the amounts they paid. So, in my case, we recovered $100,000, on behalf of the injured motorcycle rider, from the insurance carrier for the at-fault driver, and the only deduction from this settlement was my attorney’s fees and the costs advanced to pursue the claim. In other words, the client walked away with the lion’s share, and his medical bills did not eat up his injury settlement. I think a diagram of this case explains it even better:
Motorcycle wreck
↓
Hospital bills $60,000
↓
Health insurance pays $20,000
↓
Hospital writes off $40,000
↓
PIP reimburses health plan
↓
At-fault carrier pays policy limits
↓
PIP lien extinguished
↓
Client keeps substantially more of settlement
Most people assume that once health insurance pays their medical bills, the health insurance company simply takes that money back out of the settlement. In many Kentucky cases, the analysis is much more complicated. Properly coordinating PIP benefits, health insurance, and reimbursement rights can significantly affect how much of the settlement the injured person ultimately keeps.
So yes, size does matter because when you can give a case personalized attention as soon as the motorcycle or car wreck happens, it is like lining up dominoes that just need a push in the right direction.
Disclaimer: Every case is different. This example is intended to illustrate how Kentucky insurance laws may work under one set of facts. Results depend on the specific facts, available insurance coverage, applicable law, and the injuries involved.
Jim Desmond’s Practical Advice
Put the no-fault and added no-fault insurance on your policy before the wreck happens.
Reserve no-fault immediately after the wreck.
Call me immediately after the wreck so we can use your no-fault and health insurance to pay your medical bills.
Attorney James “Jim” Desmond