Tuesday, March 07, 2006

It's now been a year and a half since Margaret and I were in a car accident on the coast. A car ran into us on Hwy 101. I don't know if the minivan was going too fast or just not paying attention (the fact that there were three kids in the car lends itself to the theory that the dad was turned around yelling, "Don't MAKE me turn this van around"), but he crossed the center line and would have hit us head on had I not swerved off the road. As it was, he still t-boned us, whipped our car completely around, and he almost went over the cliff into the Pacific. Both cars were totaled. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but our rear axle was ripped free from the car. The only reason it was still there is the crumpled mass of the car body kept it from going anywhere. We weathered it relatively well--our injuries actually came from the airbags. (Although I'd rather have the injuries that we did rather than a face plant into the windshield!) My arm got kicked back and I elbowed the door hard enough to break the plastic, and Margaret was looking at the oncoming car when the airbag when off and her head was pushed around too far. I still have problems with my elbow in cold weather and Margaret has to wear a night guard for her jaw. We still haven't settled with the insurance company, as my orthopedist said that I would be as healed as much as I'm ever going to by March 2006 and now that that's here, I realize that it's probably something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life. I'm dreading working with the insurance agent, because I have no idea how much to ask for. What is a healthy, functioning elbow and jaw worth? Plus, being Americans, we want to get as much as possible--a house in Tuscany would definitely make dealing with the pain in my elbow bearable! Any thoughts out there, Internets? How much should I ask for?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You need to call around to some sleazy injury lawyers and tell them you are shopping around for someone to represent you and you are looking for someone who will get you the most money and ask their opinion on what they think you could get out of it, that way you will have a ballpark figure on where you need to start and you can do it yourself without having to pay a lawyer 40%...