How to Settle Auto Accident Claim With Multiple Parties
Centerline Crash Kills One Person and Injures Others in Lexington, Kentucky
On April 10, 2023, a 63-year-old female was killed due to a head-on collision with another vehicle on Georgetown Road in Lexington, Kentucky. The roadway is a narrow and curvy country road with a 55mph speed limit. It is heavily traveled. There has been no indication of which driver crossed the centerline to cause this accident. After the first accident, there was a second accident between other vehicles arriving at the scene of the first accident and trying to avoid the vehicles in the first accident. A second person received life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital.
How to Settle Auto Accident Claims with Multiple Parties
If you have been injured in a car accident in Kentucky and there are multiple parties that were injured, how can such a case be resolved. The first thing most people need to understand is that your claim is limited by the amount of insurance available to satisfy that claim. There is no magical fund to compensate for the injuries caused by others. If the other party has no insurance and you do not have uninsured motorist coverage, you will receive nothing for your injuries. It is unfortunate, but true.
If you are fortunate enough that the party causing your injuries in a motor vehicle accident has insurance for your claim, what do you do if there are multiple parties that were injured and have claims competing with yours for the same insurance money. Recently I had a case where I represented 6 people injured in the same accident and the total amount of insurance was $25,000.00. Fortunately, all of the people injured were part of the same family and easily agreed on how to split up the insurance money. If you cannot agree with the other parties on how to split up the insurance money, then you will have to litigate the matter and a jury will decide for you. Typically, when there are multiple parties and limited insurance, the limited insurance is split up based upon the value of each claim. The person with the more valuable claim will receive a greater percentage of the limited insurance.
How will Medicare affect your personal injury claim?
Medicare has a right to be reimbursed from your settlement with a third-party (called “subrogation”) that caused your injuries. Medicare’s subrogation rights are very strong under federal law, but they should not prevent you from pursuing your claim against the third-party causing your accident. Your car accident attorney needs to be experienced at resolving Medicare subrogation claims in order to maximize your recovery. The Kentucky Auto Accident Attorney handled a case not long ago where the Medicare lien more than doubled the amount of liability insurance available to the person causing the accident and the client had her case turned down by a previous injury attorney due to the amount of the Medicare lien. Despite the amount of the lien, the Kentucky Auto Accident Attorney was able to obtain a substantial recovery for the client. The Medicare representatives can be difficult to deal with but if your personal injury attorney is knowledgeable about the Medicare laws, you can negotiate with them successfully.
Contact the Troutman Law Office in The Event of An Auto Accident
The circumstances involved in the passing accident as described above, will require the services of an experienced Kentucky auto accident attorney to investigate and locate all available evidence to determine liability and to maximize all insurance benefits available to anyone injured or killed in this auto accident. Matthew Troutman, Kentucky auto accident lawyer, of the Troutman Law Office has been handling auto accident claims, almost exclusively, since 1986 and has the experience and talent to obtain the best result for the victims in the above car accident. It is very likely that the at fault driver will not have enough insurance to fully compensate the victim’s estate and the other injured, and, therefore, it will be important for there to be underinsured motorist benefits available to the victims.
If you need legal assistance due to a motor vehicle accident, contact Kentucky auto accident attorney Matthew Troutman directly at 859-696-0001 or 502-648-9507 and he will meet with you in the hospital, your home or wherever is convenient for you. He will give you direct access through his cell phone and guide you through the difficult process necessary to obtain the best result possible for you in your car accident claim. To learn more about the Troutman Law Office, click here.