Frequently Asked Questions About Personal Injury Cases

When you purchased automobile insurance coverage, you were provided the opportunity to purchase medical pay insurance coverage (med pay). Insurance carriers cannot increase your premiums after you make a claim on your UM, UIM, or med pay coverage. It makes absolutely no sense for a casino to charge you more for your next wager just because you won last time. Similarly, it makes no sense for an insurance carrier to charge you more after you use no-fault coverage.

Med pay covers medical bills incurred as the result of an automobile collision regardless of who is at fault. If a motorist is drunk, crashes into a utility pole, and is treated at the hospital, med pay will pay the medical bills up to the policy limit. I recommend that people purchase as much medical pay coverage as possible. Med pay should be used in addition to health insurance. Med pay coverage is often limited to $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000. These amounts often coincide with the costs of health insurance deductibles. You should purchase med pay coverage for at least twice the amount of your health insurance deductible.

Approximately 12% of motorists in Montana do not carry liability insurance coverage. If another driver slams into you and your family, there is a one out of ten chance that the motorist who struck you does not have any automobile insurance coverage, which is in violation of Montana law.

When you purchased bodily injury coverage, you also purchased uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. UM coverage protects you and your family if you are in a collision with the one out of ten drivers in this state who do not carry any insurance. The amount of UM coverage may not exceed the amount of bodily injury coverage you purchased. Typically, the amount of bodily injury coverage you purchase is the same amount you carry for UM coverage.

Most automobile insurance policies in Montana provide an exemption for underinsured motorist coverage if you use your UM coverage. If you are unfortunate enough to be hit by a driver who does not carry automobile insurance, you may be unable to collect on the underinsured motorist coverage described below. It is important to remember that though you purchased UM coverage, your insurance company is not your friend when you make a claim. The entire claims process following an automobile collision is adversarial. Though you trusted your insurance company to cover you if you became involved in an automobile collision and the other motorist has no insurance, your insurance company is your adversary, not your friend.

When you purchase automobile insurance, the amount of bodily injury coverage you purchase not only protects others, it protects you as well. Because insurance policies limit the amount of UM and UIM coverage to the amount of bodily injury coverage you purchase, the policy limit you purchase for bodily injury coverage should reflect how much it would take to protect you and your family if you are in a collision with an uninsured motorist. Remember, if you are in a collision, there is a one in ten chance that you will have to use UM insurance. Purchasing as much bodily injury coverage as you can afford is the only way to protect other motorists as well as your family.

If you must file a claim for compensation following a motor vehicle accident caused by another driver in Montana, you need to understand the basics of how these claims work. Knowing what happens during the settlement of these claims, what you have to prove to hold the negligent party liable, and the types of compensation that you are entitled to can be helpful to avoid getting taken advantage of by the other driver’s insurance company. Another vital law that you need to know and follow is the statute of limitations.

Statute of Limitations in Personal Injury Cases in Montana

The statute of limitations is the time period that you have to file a civil lawsuit against the negligent driver who caused your car or truck accident. Like other states, Montana has its own statute of limitations law that sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit in personal injury cases. If you miss this deadline, the judge would most likely refuse to hear your case.

The specific statute of limitations rules that you must follow will be based on whether you are pursuing a claim for personal injuries, property damage, or the wrongful death of a loved one. Here are the deadlines for filing a lawsuit in motor vehicle accident cases:

• Three years from the date of the accident for personal injuries.
• Two years from the date of the accident for property damages.
• Three years from the date of the victim’s death, and NOT the date of the accident, if he died from his injuries caused in the motor vehicle accident.

Why You Do Not Want to Wait to File Your Personal Injury Lawsuit

If your motor vehicle accident occurred recently, you may feel that you have years to file your claim and lawsuit. However, this would be a mistake that can weaken the strength of your claim and make it more difficult for even an experienced personal injury attorney to negotiate the settlement that you deserve. Here is why waiting to pursue your claim is not a good strategy:

• Waiting can be perceived by the insurance company as a lack of interest in your case. The insurance adjuster may be more likely to question the cause of the accident and the severity of your injuries if you wait to pursue your right to compensation.
• You could lose key pieces of evidence that can help you prove the other driver’s negligence. For example, a nearby business’ surveillance tape that may have recorded the accident may have been taped over or the vehicles may have been repaired before an expert could inspect them.
• Eyewitnesses to your car accident may move or have their memories fade if your attorney does not obtain a written statement from them soon after your crash. Neutral third parties who have no interest in your claim can be powerful corroborating witnesses that you do not want to lose.

Were you seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident caused by another driver? Attorney Lucas Foust at the Foust Law Office, is here to aggressively fight for the compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering that you may be entitled to. Learn why we are different from other law firms. Call our office today to schedule a free consultation with Lucas to discuss your legal options and how he can assist you.

If you suffered serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident, such as a car or truck accident caused by a negligent driver in Montana, you could need expensive medical treatments and be off work with no pay for months or longer while you recover. Trying to pay your mounting medical bills and monthly bills when you are not working can be overwhelming. You may not think that you can afford to retain an experienced personal injury attorney to negotiate your settlement. However, this is not true at Foust Law Office since we handle these cases on a contingency fee basis.

How a Contingency Fee Agreement Works

Many attorneys handle motor vehicle accident claims on a contingency fee basis. Here are the basics of how these agreements work:

• You owe no up-front attorney fees and do not owe any attorney fees unless you obtain a settlement or win your case at a jury trial.
• The attorney fees that you will owe will be an agreed-upon percentage of your settlement or jury award. The attorney fees will be taken out of your proceeds before you are paid.
• The costs associated with your case can include expert witness fees, costs of obtaining medical records, civil lawsuit filing fees, and deposition costs. These costs are separate from the attorney fees you will owe. Some attorneys will front you these costs and deduct them from your settlement. Other attorneys may require you to pay these fees upfront or when they are incurred.
• The agreement regarding the attorney fees being charged and the costs associated with your case should be clearly stated in a written retainer agreement.

Contact Us for Help With Your Motor Vehicle Accident Claim

While the cost of retaining an attorney will naturally be a consideration in who you hire, it should not be the only factor that you base your decision on. You need an experienced personal injury attorney who has a track record of success in settling and trying auto and truck accident cases and who will aggressively fight for your rights. At Foust Law Office we are selective in the cases that we handle so that we can give them the attention that they deserve. We are not afraid to take these cases to trial when it is in our clients’ interests. To learn how we can assist you, contact our office today to schedule your free initial consultation.

Yes, your health insurance plays a vital role in your automobile insurance claim. How you pay medical bills impacts whether there will be enough money for you and your family to achieve stable financial footing following an automobile crash. Your health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid cards must be presented to all your health care providers. For reasons explained below, your health care providers will likely object to billing anyone other than your automobile insurance carrier. However, you have only a specific amount of insurance coverage to pay your bills, and your health insurance is a necessary tool for getting your family’s financial situation on track. You must insist that your health insurance carrier accepts your health insurance, Medicare, or Medicare.

Health care providers in the United States use an incredibly complicated method for billing patients. Health care providers NEVER expect to be paid the full amount they bill. Instead, they have agreements with health insurance carriers, Medicare, and Medicaid to accept payment for a fraction of the amount they bill. In contrast, a person paying cash or using automobile insurance for payment is billed an amount sometimes two and three times higher than the amount the health care provider will accept from Medicare, Medicaid, or a health insurance carrier. If you allow a health care provider to receive money directly from your or the negligent driver’s automobile insurance policies, you are losing money that is rightfully yours to keep.

A policy limit is the most an insurance carrier is required to pay for claims made on that policy. Although an insurance company may pay less, it is under no obligation to pay more than the policy limit. It is also important to understand that, under Montana law, an insurance carrier may not require a release before paying policy limits. Most underinsured motorist policies require you to obtain permission to settle a case and sign a release.

In other words, your carrier may require you to obtain permission before filing a claim for underinsured motorist coverage. Without permission, you may have waived your right to underinsured motorist coverage. In addition to the many reasons explained in this book, you should not sign a release before consulting an attorney to understand the consequences.

Under Montana law, when liability is "reasonably clear," an insurance carrier may be required to pay all medical bills prior to settling a case. The Montana Supreme Court recognizes that an insurance carrier's refusal or delay in paying medical bills can cause significant financial hardship on families. Allowing an insurance carrier to withhold payment until a settlement is reached creates a situation where the insurance company can and will leverage a car crash victim's family’s needs to strongarm a claimant into a settlement by withholding payment for medical bills.

A car crash victim and the victim's family may have three remedies to pay for medical bills incurred as a result of a crash: 1) health insurance or other method for payment of medical bills; 2) medical pay insurance coverage (which may be stacked just like underinsured motorist coverage); and 3) the negligent motorist's insurance coverage.

How these three methods of payment and remedies work together can become complicated. Medicare and Medicaid may have a right to reimbursement while Blue Cross Blue Shield has no such requirement. A plan may fall under the federal law known as ERISA which has its own set of rules.

Someone who purchases a disability policy is 16 times more likely to qualify for benefits under the disability policy than his or her family will for a term life insurance policy. You may have heard of the AFLAC duck and AFLAC’s commercials concerning long-term disability. AFLAC is just one of many companies selling disability policies. You may even have disability coverage through your employer and not even know it. You may choose among many different types of long- and short-term disability policies to purchase.

It is important to understand that many disability policies require reimbursement. In addition to the terms of the insurance agreement for a disability policy, that insurance policy may also fall under an area of the federal law called ERISA. For all of these reasons, it is critical that any attorney you hire be fully aware of any disability policy you purchased.

An automobile insurance carrier may be required to pay lost wages in addition to medical bills when liability is "reasonably clear." The Montana Supreme Court recognizes that an insurance carrier can and will strongarm a victim and their family into a settlement by withholding payment for lost wages.

As you can imagine, insurance carriers have developed a method for attacking claims for payments of lost wages and medical bills. Insurance carriers send claimants to a "doctor of their choosing" in an attempt to cut off medical and lost wage payments. These doctors are bought and paid for by the insurance company. Many doctors are little more than tools of the insurance carrier who are in violation of their Hippocratic oath.

Although there is not a Montana Supreme Court case explaining how frequently payments for lost wages should be made, an insurance carrier usually pays compensation for lost wages at a rate of frequency that the injured claimant typically receives compensation. If you are paid on a monthly basis in your job, you will likely be paid on a monthly basis for your lost wage claim. If you're paid on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, the insurance carrier will typically pay your lost wages over that period of time.