Should I hire an Attorney before I speak with homeowners insurance?

Question

My seven year old daughter was burned at a New Years Eve party by fireworks on twenty percent of her body. We spent 27 days in the Shriners Childrens Burn unit in Cincinatti Ohio and our lives as we once knew them have completely changed. I was told by an attorney not to speak with the insurance company, but I am afraid to hire the attorney because he will get a third of the money. We have received numerous bills and granted our medical insurance is paying 80% but were left paying the other 20% and she is going to need medical care for the rest of her life. Also my med insurance will only handle 60 physical therapy treatments and she is doctor ordered 3 to 5 a week and has lost alot of range of motion in her left arm that she almost lost due the injuries. Can I trust the homeowners insurance and is thier best intrest the care of my daughter or should I hire the attorney that is really eager to jump in & take over? Any Advice? I feel as if they are passing the liability on my husband???

Answer 1

based upon your status,I believe you should find something useful here.

http://insurance.online-assistant.info

Answer 2

Get the attorney.  They don't work for free and this one smells a slam dunk.

Your daughter suffered a bona fide terrible injury.  (Unlike a lot of frivilous lawsuits.)

The insurance company wants to talk settlement, like right away.  They don't want any pictures of a 7 year old girl burned over 20% of her body seen by a jury.

Even if the attorney takes 1/3 of a $6 million settlement, that is still likely better than you would do yourself.

Answer 3

Your daughters injury claim should not be affected by the fact that your husband helped to light the fireworks.  Even if you were guilty of not properly supervising your child - I don't think they would deny the claim.  The injury claim belongs to your daughter and she is too young to be guilty of negligence.

I would talk to the insurance company and try to work directly with them. They will want to get an interview from all the witnesses that were there.

You don't need a lawyer on this one.

From a liability standpoint -- it's largely a no brainer. That's why the lawyer is so eager-- it's a big claim (probably policy limits) and he would not have to work that hard to get it. I would expect the insurance company to do the right thing. (At least the 2 companies I've worked for doing homeowners liability would).

At least, give them the chance to do the right thing. You can always hire a lawyer later.

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope she gets better soon.

**not legal advice...just my opinion based on the very limited information provided **

Answer 4

Insurance companies get a bad rap. You didn't give many details about how your daughter sustained her injuries and who is at fault here. But if the insurance company's client is at fault, most will agree on a fair settlement to make the problem go away. If you can come to a fair agreement with the insurance company, you'll get 100% of the settlement and not have to pay 33-40% to a lawyer. If the other party is clearly at fault, give the insurance company a chance to settle with you. If you don't like their settlement, you can always hire a lawyer. If fault is at question here, you'll probably need a lawyer with no guarantee that you'll win.

Answer 5

I'm not clear here:  did this happen at your home or someone else's?  Who's insurance company are you speaking of, yours or someone else's?

Answer 6

Attorney...get one.

Answer 7

OK as you already know you have a very serious situation here.  There are some important questions that have to be answered.

The first question is what are the facts of the accident. Who did what? Was this a professional fireworks display or did it happen at somebodies house? If you care to edit your posting and provide this info we can give you better help.

The second one is who is responsible for the injuries? If your husband has any liability/fault for the injuries that will make things much more complex. Depending on the state where the injury happened if your husband carries any liability/fault then your daughter may not have the right to make a claim against a family member.

You really need to determine if the people setting off the fireworks will accept any responsibility for the injuries.

Even though I am an insurance adjuster and seldom agree with injury lawyers, I would agree to a certain extent with them. Talking to the insurance company is OK, but at this point I would not provide a recorded statement to them.

The insurance company has a huge duty to protect their policyholder so if their policyholder is more than 50% at-fault for the injuries the company will do everything to settle without a lawsuit. Lawsuits involving little girls are a lose/lose for insurance companies. Trust me on this as I have had my rear-end handed to me on in court on a claim involving a 9 yr girl in MN.

I would suggest asking the insurance company to put their position in writing to you so you know where they stand. IF they accept more than 50% of the liability then ask them for a copy of the "dec" sheet showing what the policy limits are.If the other party is an individual ask if the adjuster if the individual has an umbrella policy.

When I handle cases like this and my policyholder is at-fault I always tell the injured people to work with me and let me make an offer when I have the documentation to do so. Then if they don't like my offer then they should go get a lawyer.

If the other side accepts the majority of the liability and with the severity of the injuries they may offer you there policy limits, if so you don't want to give 1/3 of that to a lawyer unless you absolutely have to. If they do make an offer of their policy limits then you should hire a lawyer on a hourly basis to review the offer, the rights of your medical insurance and to see if you have any policies that may extend coverage to your daughter. You may also want to consider putting part of any settlement into an annuity to help pay for future medical bills.

I hope your daughter fully recovers as I hate to see children get hurt this severely.

Good Luck

Answer 8

Don't trust the insurance company,  They're best interest is themselves , they're out to pay as little as possible. See a lawyer. ASAP

Answer 9

First of all - I'm so sorry about your daughter.  Why don't you get the advice of several attorneys?  It sounds like you do need an attorney - but why not interview several and go with the one you get the best feeling from?  An "eager" attorney may not be the best.  Sorry to be stereo-typed, but what I've heard is that you always want a short, Jewish attorney with a big chip on his shoulder........