Our client, a 21 year old woman, was riding in a 1988 Jeep Cherokee with a friend in Bandon, Oregon. Her friend ran a red light and hit a truck before veering across the lines dividing the lanes and hit a Dodge Durango head-on. Our client, who was severely injured, had to be cut from the crumpled Jeep and was rushed to the emergency room at the Coos Bay hospital in an ambulance.
Our client’s horrific accident was hard on her whole family. Not only was it traumatic, but they also had no health insurance, making the medical bills involved in her care extremely stressful. Our client’s Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage had already been exhausted at its $15,000 limit. When her neurologist ordered a MRI of her back and recommended epidural injections to help her recover, her mom contacted our Eugene, Oregon office to get the help of an experienced auto accident attorney.
Because she had no health insurance, I immediately opened a second PIP claim through her mom’s car insurance to tide the family over until another solution could be found. The second PIP claim expired after paying a month’s worth of medical bills. Then, we got our client on the Oregon Health Plan so she could continue her important medical treatments while we worked through the insurance claims.
Our client’s friend, the driver of the Jeep, had only $25,000 in liability coverage, and the medical bills in question totaled over $47,600. The combined PIP liens totaled $23,539, meaning that the PIP carriers would take that much of the $25,000 to recover their costs and leaving our client in a very bad spot. I contacted both PIP carriers and explained the situation. After speaking with me, they waived their liens. Our client’s mom had gotten a job with health benefits, which took over paying our client’s medical bills. I also got them to reduce their lien, after which we were able to use the insurance liability coverage to pay the Oregon Health Plan and the outstanding co-pay balances to the medical providers, with some left over for our client’s pain and suffering. In the end, our client received monetary compensation for her pain and suffering which otherwise would have been used to pay medical bills only.
This case is a perfect example of how an experience auto accident attorney can help you, even when your case is complicated and seems impossible. If you or a loved one have been injured in an accident, call us today. One of our expert Personal Injury Attorneys will be happy to discuss your Oregon Personal Injury case with you. Call us now: 541-617-0555