Need letter-writing advice/ Insurance Issue - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

MS Fowler · #1 12-18-2007, 06:47 PM

My wife was involved in an accident 2 years ago. She was sitting still and was hit by the other party. He was insured with MAIF--a MD state fund to insure the uninsurable ( neat idea huh?)
So her lawyer has been "handling" this for 2 years. He says he can't even get MAIF to return phone calls.
Now he says we should write a letter of complaint to the Insurance Commissioner---an idea I had a year ago, but refrained as a lawyer was involved.
Seems like MAIF's SOP is to delay and deny, and even after a Court tells them to pay, they delay some more. The longer they hold onto the money, the better for them.
It seems to me ( not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV), that all this silliness would stop almost instanly if the Court made them pay large penalties for their delaying tactics. As soon as they lost money; their SOP would change.

OK, having gotten that off my chest, how should we write the letter? What tone should we take? I don't think we should lecture the Commisioner's office, but how do we get justice in this matter?

Medical bills remain unpaid as this is an insurance issue, and now we are getting threats about the unpaid medical bills.
Any help is appreciated,
Thanks

Jim B. · #2 12-18-2007, 07:48 PM

Not enough information here.

Has your lawyer been "negotiating" all this time?

If there is no liability issues, (other party is totally at fault), why has there not been a Court judgment - at which time you could enforce it by seizing bank accounts, and other assets?

I have no idea of the procedure in that state, but you are correct that people who owe money can sit on it and collect interest on it, instead of paying it.

Without knowing more and what your lawyer did, maybe it was not enough and you need a different lawyer, one who is a real pit bull.

Something sounds not right here

If the attorney hasn't filed a lawsuit, yet, perhaps it is time for him to do so.

IF the attorney let the statute of limitations, (for bodily injury, in California it is one year from the date of injury) run out, and no lawsuit had been filed, in my opinion, if he was hired by you and he let this happen, then you have NO legal recourse, you can NOT file a lawsuit anymore, you are totally out of luck, and the lawyer you hired has COMMITTED MALPRACTICE.

If that happened, you need to contact another lawyer, and see if in fact he has, and if so, file a lawsuit against your first lawyer for malpractice.

Letting the statute of limitations run out, by the way, is the most common act of legal malpractice that there is.

The insurance sounds like either "pool insurance" (ultra high risk drivers obtaining "assigned risk" insurance from a "pool" of insurers who are forced by the state to insure bad risk drivers, if they want to be allowed to stay in business, but usually only insure for minimum state policy limits),

or,

some kind of "no fault" insurance policy.

I can't be sure given the dearth of information provided by you, here, so far

Pete Geither · #3 12-18-2007, 08:36 PM

Yep,,, sounds like you need another lawyer.

MS Fowler · #4 12-19-2007, 06:35 AM

The lawyer has spent the time "trying" to get information from MAIF. The person he needs to talk with is conveniently away from her desk, on vacation etc. He seems to forget about this case for months ata time, until my wife calls him, and IF he returns the call, he has little to say.

Jim B. · #5 12-19-2007, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

The lawyer has spent the time "trying" to get information from MAIF. The person he needs to talk with is conveniently away from her desk, on vacation etc. He seems to forget about this case for months ata time, until my wife calls him, and IF he returns the call, he has little to say.

2 minutes on the internet suggests to me that as late as 2004 in Maryland the statute of limitations for a negligent tort was 3 years, so there still MAY be time to file the lawsuit against the MAIF before the statute of runs out.

Nothing you said suggests any reason the statute of limitations was "tolled"
(clock stopped running)

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/limitations_by_state/Maryland.html#3

But you need to consult another lawyer PRONTO, who knows what the situation is, and be prepared to ditch the lawyer you had. He has dropped the ball big time, and clearly is as iinterested in your case as much as the bottom of his own shoes.

It is now time for you to not ask about this on a Mercedes Benz discussion group site, but rather in the office of an excellent Personal Injury Lawyer in the state of Maryland.

It is time for you to substitute counsel.

If the statute of limitations has run, sue the old lawyer.

THAT will wake him up. Not to mention his malpractice insurer, and the local Bar Association where he works, too.

TX76513 · #6 12-19-2007, 08:08 AM

Get another lawyer, you have retained one that has graduated in the bottom 10% instead of the top. It's incredible to believe your counsel is asking you to write a letter.

Carleton Hughes · #7 12-19-2007, 08:34 AM

Tell you what...You send me the facts at hand,names and dates,etc,etc...And I'll draft you the most perfect missive that will have these hooples quaking in their Rockports....I do on occasion employ my stultifyingly multifarious verbiage for certain attorneys who are,well,quite useful to know

I do love drafting F.U.letters.

Jim B. · #8 12-19-2007, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carleton Hughes

Tell you what...You send me the facts at hand,names and dates,etc,etc...And I'll draft you the most perfect missive that will have these hooples quaking in their Rockports....I do on occasion employ my stultifyingly multifarious verbiage for certain attorneys who are,well,quite useful to know

I do love drafting F.U.letters.

Post your rough draft here, first, please, Mr Hughes.

Carleton Hughes · #9 12-19-2007, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim B.

Post your rough draft here, first, please, Mr Hughes.

Just the Fax m'am

Mistress · #10 12-19-2007, 11:23 AM

I couldn't write my way out of a paper bag.

MS Fowler · #11 12-19-2007, 06:19 PM

OK, guys, Thanks for all the replies!!

Now, Mrs MS wants to reply, so here she is......

Thank you to all of the lawyers who responded to my husband's cry for legal help. This has been a nightmare and you haven't heard most of what has happened. I was "first" hit on March 15, 2005 while I was sitting perfectly still at a red light. The teenie bopper who hit me said her kid was throwing toys out of the back window and she turned around and "just didn't stop". That created my first minor injury to my right thumb, which was smashed into the steering column. She had State Farm and they paid for my brief doctor visits and the damage to my car. By the way, she was driving the exact same car as I was, right down to the color. I submitted this information to Mr. Miller, my whinning, lazy lawyer. On Arpil 7, 2005, I was sitting in the front seat of my girlfriend's 1986 Mercedes station wagon. My thumb was in a small fiberglass like spint because the ortho guy said it was sprained. I was dealing well because the splint was small.

While I was sitting perfectly still in the passenger seat of the Mercedes my girlfriend decided not to try a right turn on red because oncoming traffic looked heavy. However, another late teen-early twenty's guy thought because the car before ours turned right, we were going to follow. So, wham, right into the back of the station wagon. We had two little ones in the back seat of the Mercedes in car seats and the little boy started screaming his head off. I jumped out and threw the door open to make sure he wasn't hurt and then took off after this fool like a screaming maniac. He smashed in the tailgate and broke tail lights. I did not notice at the time that the impact of my thumb and splint which was in the door handle (my girlfriend drives like an idiot) was broken from the impact. I was still too busy screaming at this kid. So, he had no insurance card, just his driver's license and phone number. In retrospect we should have called the police, because he said he had some place to go, jumped into the car and left the scene. He didn't want us to call the insurance company because he wanted to pay out of his pocket. I laughed, because I thought, "you just hit a Mercedes station wagon son". He has no idea how much damage he did.

This time I got whiplash because it hadn't been but 3 weeks since the first accident. So, I called the ortho guy and my totally useless lawyer and told him I had been hit in another accident. I went for neck x-rays and just had some neck pain for about a week. The issue was my thumb, which was then popped up, not dislocated but would not lay flat. So, we went into the bigger cast and waited. In the days to follow my totally useless lawyer took a picture of the Mercedes and said he would work on it. Our friend's insurance paid the first $2500.00 and that was it. In June the ortho guy said I needed surgery or the joint was going to stick up like that forever. So, I missed a whole summer of working because of a cast post surgery. By then we knew that this kid had MAIF which means no one else will insure him. The rates are through the roof. So, I had surgery on June 28, 2005 and then physical therapy. The bad part was that he put a metal plate in my thumb, so I have no use of my thumb at all. I cannot button shirts, thread a needle, play my piano, write for long periods of time and there are many other handicaps from this.

SO, my totally useless lawyer (have I mentioned that about him thus far?) sits and waits for a totally useless insurance company to come to him. One day I called and left a message for him about something totally unrelated to MAIF, yet his secretary (also useless) told him I had called MAIF to complain. He called me and reamed me out. I finally screamed back at him, asking him what the hell (excuse me) he was talking about. I suggested he should fire that secretary. So, I call him every month, he does a three way phone call so I can hear that he cannot get MAIF on the phone. Yesterday he really pissed me off when he told me to write to the commissioner. Then I told him I had a few things to say to him and he told me had to go. I told him "no you don't, you are going to listen to me". I told him I was tired of being the one making all of the phone calls, that he was my advocate in these cases and he didn't have the decency to even pick up the phone. He told me he needed to go. I told him he didn't and I continued to tell him exactly what I thought of him. I was to call his para today to get the address of the commissioner. Over my dead body, she can call me. Anyway, I had a hair appointment.......I really did but I could have called her.

I am paying this man to do nothing for me. I have $9000.00 in outstanding medical bills. I missed a whole summer of work because I had no right thumb. All this man does is whine about not being able to get MAIF on the phone.

Let me say that I worked in the medical field for 18 years and gave it up 4 years ago because I was sick of doctors. But, I spent much of my time typing letters in accident cases for lawyers who were defending patients who were injured at work and in auto accidents. I am very well trained in the medical field, but know little about lawyers....except for my useless one. I do not know how to get rid of him without him wanting money. He has my volumn of bills in his office.

We do know one delay is that MAIF is trying to connect this to a thumb injury I had in 1983 when I fell roller skating. I pulled a ligament out of the thumb and had a new one put in from someplace in my arm. Same ortho, so he knows my history. One was a ligament injury 25 years ago and this one was a bone injury. I had no history of thumb pain prior to this guy hitting us so hard that my cast broke. My ortho has testified in writing that the old injury has nothing to do with this bone injury.

So, how do I get rid of this jerk and get someone who can help settle this. He has not filed in court, just makes phone calls. GUYS, PLEASE HELP. I will not make my husband sell his Mercedes to pay medical bills from someone else's actions. Frankly, I like the way I look when I ride it in, especially after today and my hair is blonde again. Thank you to anyone who can help me with this disaster, which will be 3 years old in March. He did file right away, so I am not worried about the limitations yet. Should I be? HELP!! The uselss one is name is Robert Miller on Main Street in Bel Air, Maryland. His phone is 410-879-8009.

Jim B. · #12 12-19-2007, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

OK, guys, Thanks for all the replies!!.....

The bad part was that he put a metal plate in my thumb, so I have no use of my thumb at all. I cannot button shirts, thread a needle, play my piano, write for long periods of time and there are many other handicaps from this.

I am paying this man to do nothing for me. I have $9000.00 in outstanding medical bills. I missed a whole summer of work because I had no right thumb. All this man does is whine about not being able to get MAIF on the phone.

We do know one delay is that MAIF is trying to connect this to a thumb injury I had in 1983 when I fell roller skating. I pulled a ligament out of the thumb and had a new one put in from someplace in my arm. Same ortho, so he knows my history. One was a ligament injury 25 years ago and this one was a bone injury. I had no history of thumb pain prior to this guy hitting us so hard that my cast broke. My ortho has testified in writing that the old injury has nothing to do with this bone injury.

So, how do I get rid of this jerk and get someone who can help settle this. He has not filed in court, just makes phone calls. GUYS, PLEASE HELP. I will not make my husband sell his Mercedes to pay medical bills from someone else's actions. Frankly, I like the way I look when I ride it in, especially after today and my hair is blonde again. Thank you to anyone who can help me with this disaster, which will be 3 years old in March. He did file right away, so I am not worried about the limitations yet. Should I be? HELP!! The uselss one is name is Robert Miller on Main Street in Bel Air, Maryland. His phone is 410-879-8009.

Your two quotes conflict; you said "he did NOT file in Court", and then you said "he did file right away". Did he, or did he not, actually file a lawsuit in Court yet? Is there a civil complaint? Do you have a conformed copy of the compaint?

Have you completely settled the FIRST case yet? (full and final settlement from State Farm - everything paid?) Or not? Has a second lawsuit been filed in Court on the State Farm case? Should one be?

Is the lawyer you have now (Miller) only representing you in the SECOND case?

That threshold question should be known, as if he DID not, then the statute of limations will run out in March 2008 IF it is true in that state (I assume the wreck happened in MD.) that the statute of limitations is 3 years for this kind of injury. I don't know for sure.

If the guy did NOT file a lawsuit yet, it needs to get done ASAP.

You have stated you have $9000 in actual medical bills, lost wages fo a summer, permanent loss of use of the digit, there will be future loss of wages, pain and suffering, and all kinds of $$$$ damages. You have the right to sue for these.

It sounds like State Farm and MAIF know VERY well about them, but maybe they just don't want to pay. Check and see about "contingency fee lawyers" when you shop for a new one. They take the case and only charge you if they win.
(usually the fee out here is often around 33% of your $$$ recovery if they get it BEFORE a triial in court, and about 50% if they have to go into Court to get it.

You could get quite a lot out of these two accidents, if they handled right by good legal counsel.

You need to get recommendations for a GOOD personal injury lawyer, hire him IMMEDIATELY to preceed with the case, - or both cases - ( I understand there could be two separate injuries here?)

Ask the NEW lawyer if the statute of limitations has run. If the answer is YES, then you probably have a malpractice case on your hands against the original lawyer, and you need to talk to a really good attorney that is a malpractice law specialist, and ask him if there is a winnable case against him.

If you don't know the names of good malpractice law attorneys, ask your local Bar Association (ABA) to recommend one. You are close enough to Washington DC that there must be some good ones around.

From what you have said, the policyholder of the high risk driver (teenager) this MAIF or whatever it is, knows VERY WELL about your injuries (thumb problem especially) and itsounds to me that they are also doing all they can to delay obsfucate and hope it all goes away.

If you are looking at lifetime functional loss of your thumb, (can't use it for anything anymore?) this fact could possibly mean serious damages that they
would have to pay. They are absolutely liable, as the policyholder slammed into the rear of the car you were in, and they know it, they just want to get out of paying or pay as little as possible, and diminish what they have to pay by mentioning a preexisting injury to the thumb. (They might say, it was already ruined by the previous wreck, and therefore won't have to pay for very much of it.)

It would appear the lawyer you picked might be one of these lawyers who claims he does "everything", like those mechanics that say "we specialize in all domestic and foreign cars" and probably is an expert in nothing.

You need to interview another lawyer, find yourself a good one to take over the case, and hire that one. I would think the new lawyer will be able to get the old lawyer (Miller) to hand over all his notes, case files, and filed court papers and correspondence to the new lawyer. I think all of that (attorney's work product) IS is your property after all, don't you?

In sum: Has the first case settled and you signed off a full release to State Farm yet?

If not you have TWO cases open not one. You might need lawyers for both

1. Find out if the statute of limitations has run. (if it has, interview a good malpractice law specialist who is an attorney, and hire him if malpractice has been committed - it has, if the attorney Miller let the statute run out.)

2. Find a GOOD personal injury lawyer, and hire him for one, or both, cases, as necessary.

DO IT NOW, without delay. It is possible from what you said that you have a lifelong dimunition of use of that thumb, and each defense lawyer for the person who caused the two accidents will try and blame the other guy, or you childhood injury for your present injury , to get out of paying damages for it.

It sounds messy. A really good personal injury lawyer lawyer would know what to do

Disclaimer: This is NOT legal advice. Just a Mercedesshop forum person and Benz owner's opinion, is all.

bstreep · #13 12-20-2007, 12:06 AM

Just a simple observation here. I'm sorry for your friend, but you were in your friend's car. Your beef is with HER insurance company. Not the guy who hit y'all. It's NOT your job to figure out who was at fault. In your case, it's your friend's insurance company that needs to pay you, then go after the other guy.

And yes, get a new lawyer. NOW.

P.S. I don't care where you are, ALWAYS call the police. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS. If the other driver leaves, tell the police it was a hit and run.

Jim B. · #14 12-20-2007, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bstreep

Just a simple observation here. I'm sorry for your friend, but you were in your friend's car. Your beef is with HER insurance company. Not the guy who hit y'all. It's NOT your job to figure out who was at fault. In your case, it's your friend's insurance company that needs to pay you, then go after the other guy.

And yes, get a new lawyer. NOW.

P.S. I don't care where you are, ALWAYS call the police. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS. If the other driver leaves, tell the police it was a hit and run.

Are you sure about that?

In Maryland, (example below), as elsewhere,

http://www.kramerslaw.com/step2.htm

Things can get complicated, sometimes. I would think the claim is actually against the tortfeasor, ie, the driver of the OTHER car, that hit the car in which she was riding in as a passenger.

Is it a no fault insurance state? Would custom be to collect from insurance of the car the passenger was in, and let them subrogate, as you have suggested, or would it be to sue the driver of the car who hit them in the rear, after negotiating directly first, with that driver's carrier (MAIF group)?

I really don't know. But theoretically at least the passenger could be paid from both sources.

A good lawyer is needed here for this car accident victim.

These things can get complicated:

For example:

"Two drivers were heading towards the same intersection in their cars, on different streets. The first driver was was speeding over the posted limit; the second was in violation of a statute that stated you shall not drive while intoxicated, but was driving under the posted limit.

However, there had been a terrible storm a few hours previously, that had downed power lines and caused terrible emergencies, one of which was a malfunction in the traffic light grids, which caused a disruption in the signal lights, such that the traffic signals at this particular intersection were BOTH lit green, for each direction, at the same time.

Moreover, the City KNEW about this, for three hours, but had done nothing.

Then: BAM!!!! Huge car crash at the intersection!!!

Discuss legal liabilities". (This was actually a question in the California bar examination many many years ago)!!!

bstreep · #15 12-20-2007, 12:44 AM

Am I sure? Nope. I live in Texas. We are NOT a "no fault" state.

In this case, however, she was a passenger in an insured vehicle. It's not up to her to prove who was or was not at fault - especially when the alleged person at fault left the scene. It's not the responsiblity of the PASSENGER to determine who was or was not at fault. She was injured, file a claim against the friend's insurance company.