They finally did it, they killed my Tacoma

I would think twice about getting a lawyer involved if I were you. My wife was involved in a collision with a lady that pulled out in front of her, violating my wife's right of way. My wife was injured and the other driver's insurance agreed to pay for the repairs of our vehicle, but denied to pay any medical claims. Our health insurance would not cover the medical bills either, because we were in litigation with the insurance company. We hired a lawyer who told us to pay all medical bills "out of pocket" and we would be reimbursed when the case was settled. We sued the insurance company in superior court and it took three years for our case to come onto the court's docket. One week before our case was scheduled for trial, the insurance company called offered to settle for $100k (what the other driver was covered for). After three years of paying medical bills out of pocket, we were willing to settle for any amount. We settled, and the insurance company sent the settlement check directly to our lawyer's office, who immediately took 33 1/3% right off the top. He then paid all the still outstanding bills, hospital costs, doctor's bills, medical tests and procedures, rental car, medical equipment, and transportation costs, all out of our share of the settlement monies. When he was done paying for everything, there was barely enough money left over to buy a "Happy Meal". I will never lawyer up again in a civil case again.

 

Could have at least requested field tests.

PRetty much agree with all of this, though I'd submit that at least reckless driving and possible inebriated driving should be a priority regardless. JMO of course.

Not ideal for sure. It took about that long for my wife's to get filed and close before a reasonable offer was made. In her case she felt it was fair versus trying to go for more than the policy limit..which is no guarantee unless the person has the means (be it actual money or assets) to extract judgment.

 

this happened to me as well. got a lawyer involved with an estate payout. lawyer took half and then called up the government asking if there was any other debt we forgot to pay. I got $0 instead of $25k had I just shut up and cashed the check.

on a related note, GEICO called up and offered $15k for the truck. I said yes.