My brother rear ended a vehicle, he was at fault. No dispute there. The accident report states he was doing 20 mph when he struck the front vehicle in the rear. My brother's car was smashed in pretty good in the front as he was driving a small Kia. The other party was in a medium sized SUV, or Toyota forerunner. The Toyota's bumper was smashed in fairly good, but not too much. The Toyota had 3 occupants all of which are now claiming semi-serious injuries. Most of which are the "gray" are types like head and neck, etc. I'm not saying they are totaling lying, but perhaps stretching things a bit. How close do insurance companies look at vehicle damage before assessing injury liability. Will the fact only their bumper was broke and a 20 mph impact with much larger vehicle be in our favor? Or is it really possible to suffer such sever injury from a crash like this?
2007-03-02 12:47:41 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Insurance & Registration
My brother was rear-ended a few years ago, and he was stopped, and turning his head at the moment. He was off for weeks with stretched ligaments, muscles, and tendons. A sudden impact can do all kinds of damage that isn't visible.
2007-03-02 13:07:13 · answer #1 · answered by Fred C 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's possible but very unlikely. The good news is this....jury verdicts for these types of cases, called Minor Impact Soft Tissue (MIST), are very very small if any. Your brother needs to specifically ask his insurance if they are treating this as a MIST claim.
Insurance companies are ALWAYS on the look out for MIST cases b/c they're a bunch a crap claims....there's no mechanism for injury and there's SOO much scientific evidence out there from doctors, engineers, etc.... In order for a plaintiff to prevail in a MIST case....well, I have yet to see it happen. Juries love it when the vehicle photos are blown up to the size of a football field and see very minimal, if any, damage and the guy claims to have all these "serious" injuries.
But they are also looking to see what the person's health was PRIOR to the injury. If there is a pre-existing condition, that's a whole nother story. For example, if someone recently had back surgery and was in an accident....it changes the position of the claim.
The insurance company can ask for an IME, an independent medical exam, to verify the injury or refute it.....and depending on the outcome of the IME generally determines their course of action. And when people have an IME done, the doctor isn't just looking at them when they are being examined...they're watching them as they walk out to their car to leave.
2007-03-02 17:51:30 · answer #2 · answered by bundysmom 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was in a car accident about 5 years ago. There were 4 of us in a Mazda Protégé and we were hit by a Chevy Cavalier (I think). We couldn't have been hit anymore than 20 or 30 MPH and we were stopped for a stop light.
Some funny things happen, even at low speeds
My brother and I were in the back seat and two of our friends were in the front seat. From the back seat, it felt like we got hit HARD!! It was about as hard as I have ever been hit by anything. Both of us in the back seat were hurt. I was quite disorientated afterward and began trying to kick the windows out to get out of the car (and the only problem was that the door was locked). Our friends in the front seat hardly felt a thing.
When I looked at the outside of the car, I expected some real serious damage but there was only some minor bumper damage (I think there was a few scratches and a few puncture holes in the bumper.
Everyone walked away. My brother had a slight head injury. I on the other hand broke up all the cartilage in my shoulder that resulted in inflamed tendons. I ended up needing surgery and went through a total of 6 months of physical therapy. I'm only made it to about 90% of what I used to be.
The accident looked very minor to me. If I were driving by, I'd never imagine anyone was hurt.
I was accused of milking the system by the other person's insurance company. From the accident to going under the knife was about 2.5 years for me. I knew something was wrong after the accident, but I thought I was just sore from the hit. It wasn't like I jumped out and my arm didn't work. I went to several specialists, had MRIs and PT, but the problem wouldn't go away. It wasn't until I underwent a semi-invasive MRI procedure called an arthrogram (I think) that they figured out the problem (talk about painful...imagine a needle shoved in roughly above your nipple to the inside of the shoulder socket...I think the needle was at least 12 inches long if not longer). Once the problem was found, the doctor cut out the broken cartilage, then the tendon swelling went down, and after about 2 years after the surgery, I was pretty much pain free.
A minor fender bender and I spent over 4 years in pain and had about $40K in medical bills.
Minor accidents can cause some pretty bad damage. Like I said, the accident I got hurt in, the people in front barely felt anything. Medical bills add up quick and I would be prepared to get sued (especially if the people your brother hit are d*cks).
The good news for you is that the lawsuit doesn’t affect you much at all. You weren’t there and you didn’t hit them. Just let your insurance company fight it out for you. Being on the other end of the lawsuit is very stressful and frustrating as you are fighting the insurance companies and people crawl out of the woodwork to testify against you. So even if you get sued, just relax and roll with it. Other than your rates going up a little, it probably won’t affect you at all.
Good Luck with everything!!
2007-03-02 15:34:11 · answer #3 · answered by Slider728 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Where are you from, is it no fault insurance or does your brother's company pay it all ? No matter , yes the occupants could be hurt it does not take much to get what they call a strained/sprained back, or whiplash especially when hit from the rear. They will not be able to stretch any thing as the insurance company needs a report from Doctor or Chiropractor explaining the injury and what their course of treatment is.
2007-03-02 12:59:03 · answer #4 · answered by jumps62 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
absolutely, when a moron(your family member) hits you and you dont even get the chance to see it coming, no time to brace yourself you will get whiplash, one of my buddies rear ended me at about 15 mph but since i was not expecting it like i would if i were hitting someone, i was really hurt, needed a neck brace for weeks, since he was my buddy i payed my own expenses(which totaled in the 5 digit area) to sum this up:
a low speed crash is nothing if you see it coming, if not you'll be hurt. the end. no arguing allowed.
2007-03-02 12:55:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋