Dad hit by shooting street racers. how much in terms of a settlement?

Question

Ok my dad was innocently driving to pick up his vitamins, when 2 street racers hit my dad and tottalled his car and knocked my dad unconcious and serious injuries. one guy drove away and wasnt caught for another 2 weeks. the other guy 19 years old/driving stolen car/no insurance/no full licence was yelling at my dad while unconcious (according to wittnesses) and he then fled on foot where firefighters actually chased him until police arrested him. It turns out they were actually shooting at eachother during the incident. the guy who fled got arrested and he HAS insurance. our lawyer is working on suing them. My dad was in the hospital for about a week, fractured his foot, broke 3 ribs, and sadly suffered a brain injury and has blood in his brain and the doctor says he will lose some of his memory withing the next 3 months. hes going to rehab everyday. and cant work or do anything. Our van was worth around $4000. My question is, what can we expect in terms of a settlement? I just want a ballpark figure of how much we might get for all thats happend, like a ballpark figure. some people tell me around $15000, some are even saying up to $300000? btw the charged laid against them include failure to remain at the scene of an accident, eluding police, resisting arrest,street racing and a whole bunch of other charges that the police wont tell us yet. so please can somebody just give us a ballpark figure on how much money we may get? our lawyer is taking %25.also they have changed my dads life forever because he cant work now he isnt active anymore and has caused pain and suffering for him and my family

Answer 1

The question worth asking is not what the court will award your father ... but what he can realistically expect to collect from the street racer.

That would probably be the maximum coverage on race boy's insurance policy, probably not enough to cover the hospital stay, never mind the pain and suffering, etc!

Sorry to hear about your father ... but realistically the punks that did this will never pay a dime out of their own pockets, and you will be stuck with whatever the max payout on race boy's insurance is.

Answer 2

If the insurance company's decide to settle out of court they will make an offer and then it's up to your family whether or not to accept it.  If they don't make an offer, be prepared to fight it all the way and then it's up to a judge and/or jury.  If you are sueing the indivudals that are responisble it would be up to a judge and/or a jury but getting paid from these individual's may be harder.

Answer 3

By mixing questions of criminal charges and civil damages, you're muddling the issue.

First off, the criminal charges will hold them liable for possible criminal punishment (like jail) - the authorities will probably take your dad's injuries into consideration, but strictly speaking they don't have to.  And a criminal plea bargain may include restitution but does not have to.  Some of the charges (likely reckless endangerment) will be factually related to the injuries your father suffered, others less so (fleeing the scene of an accident) and others completely irrelevant (resistining arrest).  The police charges may not be the ones that are ultimately faced in court - prosecutors have to choose their charges according to what they think they can sell to a jury (beyond reasonable doubt) while the police standard is necessarily lower (probable cause) which gives them more leeway.  You can find out what charges they face in court - criminal records are public records.

How much you can obtain in a settlement - estimates will avry because lawyers will try and determine how innocent your father's driving (and not his destination) really was, how reliable the witnesses were, whether your father had any preceding injuries or conditions substantially relating to the injuries he suffered, to what extent the injuries were the result of the accident (sounds easy - it;s not!!) how healthy he was in general, what his health was worth, how much pain and suffering really amounts to - just too many questions to answer.  You can get all kinds of different estimates from different people for so many reasons, not the least of which is...that anybody can be "some people" without having to have the right answer.  If you've already got a lawyer, why are you even asking for that kind of estimate from anybody else?

One thing you should keep in mind - even with insurance, the likelihood you will see that money in the short term is extremely low.  Litigation between you and the others, between the drivers, possible codefendants (doctors - maybe it was their negligence; cops, maybe they screwed up; maybe the hospital ER, they may have misdiagnozed that hematoma) not saying that's the case, only that defendants can interpose any number of seemingly unconnected parties and keep this thing going for years.  Your lawyer gets a cut of the winnings if he works that arrangement out with you, and if the insurer can refuse a claim for the other guy, then you're dependent on what he has - if you win a great judgement, it's pretty much worth the paper his bankruptcy ruling was printed on.

Answer 4

Sorry to hear about your dad but honestly it will probably be years before you see any money. Insurance company's will fight all the way.. Good luck