South Carolina Personal Injury Legal Questions

First, if you have health insurance, Medicaid or medicare, I recommend that you let your health insurer pay your medical bills. They will have a right to be reimbursed out of your claim for the other driver, but you do not know yet how long it will take for you to settle your claim, and in the end, there will be more insurance left over for pain and suffering if necessary because your medical bills are discounted when paid by insurance. I would have to read the form to know precisely the purpose, but I guess it is so the other insurer can discover whether you have you own PIP coverage. PIP pays a certain amount of medical bills regardless of fault, and I believe the insurer does not have to be reimbursed out of you recovery (I may be wrong on this as PIP is not prevalent in SC) and I have not often dealt with it. The other insurer probably wants to know any source from which you can recover money for the injury. This could be important if your damages exceed the coverage. If I am wrong about PIP having a subrogation interest, they would need this iformation as they could be liable to reimburse the PIP insurer. There may be other reasons. I see no harm to you in giving them the information, but I cannot say this for sure since I haven't seen the form.... Read More

The friend should turn over any claim to her vehicle insurer. They will respond and defend any claim. If a claim has already been settled, there should be a Release that was signed by the injured person and same should have had language that would preclude future claims for more money. If your friend was uninsured, then she should talk to a lawyer about the exact facts of the crash, what policies of insurance may have existed, what claims were previously made and resolved, provide any paperwork she has to the lawyer, etc. as your fact pattern does not sound typical.... Read More

Get a lawyer. If the guy got money in a settlement, he had to sign a release. That document releases everyone under the sun for any further liability. If I am correct, the guy suing will end up having to pay you some money. Get a lawyer or turn the papers over to your insurance company.... Read More

Your friend's insurer should hire an attorney to defend the claim. These attorneys normally specialize in defending injury claims, and especially if a claim is false, showing that it is false. I do not see where there is anything you could do, not being a witness to the accident, having no knowledge of the man's medical treatment or lack thereof. If her insurer is handling the claim, the best you can do is assure her that the insurer will handle it and that she has nothing to worry about.... Read More

If an accident is re-portable, YOU must file it within 10 days of the accident or are subject to a misdemeanor. You must report any accident with over $1,000 damage or personal injury. Typically, the police create a police accident report within that period. Did you request a copy of the report, as you are entitled to a copy of their report? If not, you should do so.... Read More