Car Accident - Questions about Fault and Costs (health insurance, lawyer)

[ecsdude]

Hi I was involved in an accident on the freeway involving 4 cars total (mine included). The other cars were to the lanes left of me, and I was in the 2nd to the right most lane. In my peripheral vision, there appeared to be some unusual activity in the lanes left of me, and seconds after I noticed that I saw that the car immediately in the lane to the left and in front of me started to skid and wound up mostly side ways just about a 1.5 car lengths in front of me in my lane. There was no time to look over my shoulder to see if I could swerve around it, as I had to immediately start braking to try to either stop or soften the impact. I wound up sort of t-boning into that car in my lane. the front-left side of my car took most of the damage and neither that car or my car's air bags deployed. The CHP and ambulance arrived shortly thereafter and identified all parties involved (4 cars) and kept them there. They went around asking who was involved, if everyone is alright/who needs to go on the ambulance, and asking each car what happened. Based on what I could hear as they were talking and walking around the scene, it sounded like the other cars to the lanes in my left had clipped each other, and it resulted in the car the lane immediately left and front of me to either take avoidance actions or lose control, resulting in one end of the car skidding sideways and onto my lane. Since the distance of that was so close to me, there was no real time to look over my shoulder to see if I could swerve right to try to avoid it.. and if I tried to just swerve to avoid it without looking, I could have risked hitting someone else. I only had time at that point to brake as best as I could given the short distance ahead of me that that car wound up in front of me in my lane. Neither of our airbags deployed.

The 2 cars ahead of us that were pulled over and kept on the scene refused the ambulance ride, the woman in the car that I sort of t-boned accepted the ride.. I felt a slight pain in my upper left part of my neck, just below the base of my skull.. i was told it could be a contusion and that it'd be advisable that I go to the hospital and get looked at due to adrenaline rush possibly contributing to me not feeling much else. I was reluctant but after they asked 3-4 times, I decided to chance it and accept the ride. So me and the woman were both in the ambulance.

My questions are:

1) In such a situation, where I am not clear the role of the other 2 cars least damaged, and what their actions were, since they were in my peripheral vision only, but what I am clear about is that the 3rd car, closest to me, turned into my lane in front of me practically sideways without much space in front of me, giving me little time to do much else but brake and hope for the best, who would be at fault?

I keep thinking what I could have done in the little time I had to react when I saw the car in my lane in front of me.. i'd guesstimate it was about 1.5 car lengths in front of me, and we were going at the flow of traffic about 60mph.

2) I have never had an ambulance ride before, and didn't know if my auto or health insurance would cover it. But I learned after the fact that I would in fact get billed for the ambulance trip and checkup in the ER that night. And I learned my auto insurance policy didn't have the extra coverage to cover that, so it would have to be my health insurance. My health insurance is HDHP, so the deductible is about $1350. I'd have to pay that and 10% coinsurance (other 90% would be covered by my health insurance). I started looking up cost for ambulance rides and saw figures like $1000-$2000. I then called my health insurance and they said they do cover ambulance rides and such but my deductible applies and I would have to first dip into my HSA account for the funds, and anything above that would then be covered by my insurance. They also said if I'm found not found at fault, I could try to contact the at-fault driver's insurance to see if I can recover my ambulance ride and ER check-up costs, or the health insurance co could do the legwork for me.

What are the chances of me recovering those costs if one of the other involved parties is found at fault?

Thanks in advance.

[ferretkona]

I suspect the highway patrol will find you 25% at fault. You did hit the car in front of you, they will cite that you did not allow enough room to brake in time.

[chuckmann]

Boy oh boy, hope everyone is all right and everyone is properly insured!

This is definitely one for the insurance companies to work out among themselves and the CHP. You and the other drivers should only be asked for statements.

Was it raining, btw?

If properly insured, your medical will be paid by somebody's auto insurance. Keep all your medical bills and work through your auto carrier.

Dont accept a quick settlement until you are absolutely sure you dont have whiplash or seat belt injuries. You may want to check with a couple of personal injury attorneys as to how long you have to file a personal injury lawsuit, should you have a case.

But let the insurance companies do the heavy lifting to begin with. That's why you pay them the big bucks!

Good luck.

[Tulemutt]

Any competent personal injury lawyer will counsel a client with possible or already evident injuries, that injuries can take even years to manifest. Ignore the lawyer jokes about "ambulance chaser" attorneys. A good trial lawyer is a benefit to not only the injured but to society by demanding responsible justice.

Serious injuries can be misinterpreted by victims at times who think "oh this will just heal up. I'll be fine." Sometimes permanent damage can't be determined for as much as years later. Good attorneys will guide clients to good and very thorough medical diagnostics. And IF there is real damage, they will advise you to NOT hurry into settlement for minimum of two years - generally closer to three years. Because the insurance companies won't take claims of permanent damage seriously until there is that kind of time for medical history to both develop and document itself beyond doubt.

If you Do have unfortunate permanently lasting effects, do NOT hurry the legal settlement process. You WILL be sorry if you do.

Insurance companies are among the most cruel and viciously inhumane of human institutions. Don't give them the slightest opportunity to screw around with you. Don't give ANYBODY ANY statements or information, other than your own lawyer and doctors. Don't let the insurance companies - including your own - badger you into any statement, ever, not approved first by your attorney.

Here is the statute of limitations for California on injury claims.

Statute of Limitations

A statute of limitations is the deadline for filing a lawsuit. Most lawsuits MUST be filed within a certain amount of time. In general, once the statute of limitations on a case “runs out,” the legal claim is not valid any longer.
The period of time during which you can file a lawsuit varies depending on the type of legal claim. Here are the statutes of limitations for some common types of legal disputes:

Personal injury: Two years from the injury. If the injury was not discovered right away, then it is 1 year from the date the injury was discovered.

Oh, and do NOT pick a hustler attorney. They can be as dangerous to your claim as the insurance companies. There are many truly fine, highly ethical attorneys out there. And they often are not the ones with big ads and fancy websites.

Good luck.

Oh and be absolutely 1000% honest yourself at ALL times - but through your attorney. The slightest mis-step, exaggeration, chicanery, gilding the lily, whatever will likely be exposed at some point. These guys are good. If you are caught in any lie or exaggeration, your case will be diminished to rubble at the least. The legitimate will never recover from the damage of a lie told.

[ecsdude]

Originally Posted by ferretkona

I suspect the highway patrol will find you 25% at fault. You did hit the car in front of you, they will cite that you did not allow enough room to brake in time.

Even if the car was not in my lane? It was in the lane to the immediate left of me, and was about 1.5 car lengths away in that lane, then because that car got clipped, the driver's car, either in evasive action or due to loss of control, started to turn its body sideways in front of my lane and so there wasn't enough braking distance in front of me to avoid it when that happened, as the flow of traffic was about 60mph and due to how fast it happened and the lack of buffer since the car suddenly wound up that way in my lane, there was no time to look right and see if I could swerve away from it to avoid it. There was only time to start braking. If I took a chance and just tried to avoid the vehicle by swerving right, I could have risked hitting someone else and I think that would have definitely been my fault because I was the one taking evasive action and hit someone else.

[ferretkona]

Very rare for a report to give 0% fault, they will contribute some blame to you for just being on the road.
I got a 10% fault when I was T-boned at a blind intersection, other driver left 50 feet of skid mark in a 25 zone. Officer said the driver was running over 50mph in a 25 zone. Figure?

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by ferretkona

Very rare for a report to give 0% fault, they will contribute some blame to you for just being on the road.
I got a 10% fault when I was T-boned at a blind intersection, other driver left 50 feet of skid mark in a 25 zone. Officer said the driver was running over 50mph in a 25 zone. Figure?

I don't agree this is true. There are plenty of no-fault reports. Certainly a good attorney will strangle that issue if any neck is showing.