We Can Help You With The Settlement Journey So You Can Move Forward With Your Life

In Virginia, there are many different insurance coverage options that are involved in paying medical bills after an automobile collision.

First, if you have health insurance, always have your medical provider bill your health insurance company. If your health insurance is accepted by your medical provider, Virginia law requires that medical provider to file with your health insurance in most cases. If you or any family members living with you in the same household have an auto insurance policy, you may also be covered under medical payments benefits.

Medical payments will pay any out-of-pocket medical expenses you incur within three years of the accident up to the amount of coverage you have. If you have health insurance, medical payments will also pay you whatever amount your health insurance actually paid for the bill. If that medical bill was already paid entirely by your health insurance, you can put the medical payments monies in your pocket to use any way you would like.

Finally, if you do not have health insurance or medical payments or even if health insurance and/or medical payments pay your outstanding medical bills, the at-fault party is still responsible for the entire amount of the medical bills reasonably incurred from the accident. If the at-fault party has automobile insurance, then his or her insurance company should compensate you for your medical bills as well as your bodily injury, pain and suffering, future medical bills, lost wages, embarrassment, inconvenience and/or loss of earning capacity, if any.

Yes. If the at-fault party does not have automobile insurance or does not have enough coverage to fully compensate you, you can file a claim with your own automobile insurance policy under your uninsured motorist (UM) or underinsured motorist (UIM) protection. All insurance policies in Virginia have UM and UIM coverage.

Normally, the amount of your UM/UIM coverage is the same amount as your bodily
injury coverage. However, as of July 1, 2023, you will be able to sign an election allowing you to have less in UM/UIM coverage than your bodily injury coverage. We strongly recommend not signing this election as the minimal savings in premium costs could be far outweighed not being fully compensated for serious injuries sustained in an accident involving an uninsured or underinsured driver.

You should hire an attorney as soon as possible. An attorney can help with any investigation.

The insurance company might send over an adjuster to take pictures that do not show the full extent of the damage to a vehicle.

Once you have an attorney, the insurance companies can no longer contact you. We can help get your medical bills paid as well as help get through the property loss portion of your case.

In personal injury cases, we work on a contingent fee basis so that there is only a fee for the attorney’s time and services if there is a recovery. We do not charge any fee unless money is recovered. If no money is actually recovered, you owe us nothing for our time.

If there is a recovery, the attorney fee is a percentage of the total recovery. This percentage is set out in the “retainer” agreement, the contract that must be signed to authorize us to go to work for you. In most situations, the fee is one-third of the money beyond and above anything paid out by your own insurance carrier. This is subject to change depending on the circumstances of your specific case.

We usually advance the costs to properly prepare your case. Costs might include hiring an investigator to interview witnesses and gather information, ordering and paying for medical records, meeting with your doctor(s) and having reports prepared to prove your case, filing fees to the State of Virginia should a lawsuit have to be filed, the cost of having the law suit served on the defendant, the cost of a court reporter should there be depositions (sworn statements under oath) among others.  At the end of your case, we receive reimbursement for our actual out-of-pocket cost advances.

When you deal directly with an insurance company or any defendant, you are dealing with an adversary. The party on the other end of the telephone is trained at minimizing your claim. Right away they will ask you to sign a medical release and give a recorded statement just in case you get an attorney later. They will sound sympathetic to your plight, but in the end, they will do what they can to settle your case as quickly and cheaply as possible.

By representing yourself, you are giving up your only leverage, your right to sue. Why would an insurance company fear being sued if you do not even have an attorney? They will not take your claim seriously unless you are represented.

Being a victim is hard enough. Most people that are injured prefer to focus on recovery and not on insurance claims. Why not give your headache to professionals who understands how to deal with the quagmire of litigation.

We look at the facts of the case and try and determine who is responsible for the crash. If the driver of car you were a passenger in is even a small percentage at fault, then we will look to both drivers to take responsibility for your damages If they do not have adequate coverage between them, we will look to see if there is any UIM coverage available.