I am a car wreck and motorcycle attorney that has been practicing only motor vehicle law for over the last twenty years. As such, I want to move quickly when filing an injury claim from motorcycle accident as my client, the injured motorcycle rider, has had his or her property damaged, incurred medical bills for a motorcycle crash that was not their fault and most likely, is now missing work; creating a claim for their lost wages and making it hard to meet their financial obligations of their household. Very simply, if you have been in a motorcycle crash ever, you undergo a lot of financial hardship because of someone else’s fault and as a good injury lawyer, my job is to minimize that hardship the best I can and the quickest I can.
I created an entire series of pages explaining how I handle motorcycle accident claims. There are several other pages you may want to review prior to reading further:
- Understanding Kentucky Motorcycle Accident Claims
- The Purpose of a Letter of Representation in a Motorcycle Accident Claim
- Reserving No-Fault Benefits After a Motorcycle Wreck
- Getting Motorcycle Crash Medical Records and Bills
Filing For Policy Limits
When I am the injury attorney for someone severely injured in a motorcycle accident, I do my best to have my client’s initial medical records and hospital bills within the first thirty days following the motorcycle wreck. This is because the client’s medical records and bills represent the basis for my client’s personal injury claim. Once I have them, I send those medical bills and records to the insurance carriers with a letter demanding their policy limits. What do I mean by “policy limits”? The policy limits are the most amount of insurance they have on the at-fault driver. Essentially, policy limits are the maximum amount of insurance, purchased by the at-fault driver, before the motorcycle wreck occurred, whether it is through one or multiple insurance policies. I demand the limits because I want it to recover, for my injured client’s personal injury claim, all the insurance available on the at-fault driver. By doing so, my client may also have a claim for underinsured motorist benefits against his own motorcycle insurance policy, and maybe even his own car insurance policy, the underinsured motorist carrier.
Before going any further, I want to stress the importance of sending medical records and bills, when substantial or when surgery is involved, to an insurance carrier as soon as possible. This is because between the police report, my demand letter and my client’s medical records/bills, I have just voluntarily given the insurance company everything they need to evaluate the value, and merits, of my client’s personal injury without a lawsuit. Further, it is such a clear case of fault and substantial damages, they should be trying to settle my client’s personal injury claim in an expedited manner. Why? Because this is what the big law firms get wrong! They fail to understand that the injured motorcycle rider is facing a lot of financial hardship from a wreck that was not their fault. So, an essential part of being a good injury lawyer is to move your client’s injury claim along as quickly as possible, without sacrificing any money you can recover for your injured client, to help minimize that hardship. This is especially true when there is a limited amount of insurance to pay for a client’s pain and suffering claim.
Click here to listen to my podcast episode focusing on determining fault.
Next Step
Read the next page topic about splitting policy limits, when there are more than one person involved in the motorcycle accident.
