5 months pregnant and rear-ended

by Aubrey
(Dallas, TX)

I was rear-ended by another driver in December 2008. At the time, I was 5 months pregnant and my 18 month old was in the backseat.

I was admitted to the hospital for observation and my son was checked out in the ER. No visible injuries to either of us. The claims adjuster is asking my husband and I to put a dollar amount on our pain & suffering and inconvenience.

How do I put a dollar amount on this?

It's been three and half months since the accident.

My second child is due any day. I'm nervous about signing anything not knowing if either one of the kids has incurred an injury that won't surface until later.

Do I settle now or wait until the baby is born? How do I place a dollar amount on our pain & suffering?

Thanks,
Aubrey


Answer:

Hello Aubrey - Hector here,

Did you have any other doctor’s visit?

Putting a number on pain and suffering can be very difficult. Insurance companies differ on how this should be done (some multiply medical bills, some use software, some look at judgments, some at arbitration awards, etc). The problem is that consumer like yourself have no idea what is fair.

Sure, you do not want to look like you are ripping off the insurance company, but at the same time, you do not want to not be compensated fairly.

Having a car accident while you are pregnant causes a lot of stress on everyone (your husband included), and you should be compensated for that (assuming that you or the baby were not injured in addition to that).

Sounds like you are about to deliver your baby (congratulations, by the way), so at this point, you should probably wait and see. The worse thing you want to do is settle and then find out about several different issues that you could not possibly know before you deliver your baby.

The problem that you will face will be Causation, please see: http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com/Causation.html

The insurance company will probably attack your back pain and pain in general to the pregnancy and not the car accident. This could be a strong argument. (I am just telling you what I believe can be an issue, they might not raise this).

At any rate. The question is how much?

Only you hold the question. How many days were you reasonably stressed out because of this? One week, two weeks, the entire time? And how much do you think it is fair?

Let’s say you feel that 10 days of inconvenience is fair, then figure what you believe your pain and worry is worth for a day and then ask for that.

In this type of situation, it is better to ask for more than for less. The insurance company will defiantly offer you less, so the lower you ask for, the lower the will put their offer.

I hope this help some.

Good Luck
Héctor at
http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com