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Posted 1/13/2015 9:54 PM (GMT 0)
Hello friends,

I just need to let this out...I have a pending suit from being hit by a large pick-up truck while walking my dog 2 years ago. This is what caused the tear to my labrum and irritated the heck out of the double whiplash. The deposition was scheduled for tomorrow, but my lawyer called today, was unable to reach me (figures, the first time I go out for one day!) and now has rescheduled the depo till next month! He said we need to talk first as "you've got so much wrong with you before this happened". He has no idea how hard it is to live with this, how it's hard to have to bring it into focus, and then be told I'll have to do it all again in a month! I know I need to take a few deep breaths and regroup, and I think expressing this will help, so thanks for letting me do this here.
Posted 1/13/2015 11:30 PM (GMT 0)
Dear pitmom,

I sympathize with you. Lawsuits for injuries are nasty. I had one a year and a half ago. It's really hard to prove that your injuries were caused by the event and that conditions you had previously were made worse. The major problem is getting doctors to write anything for you.

I had my stomach pushed into my chest, but neither my gastroenterologist nor my thoracic surgeon would say the injury was due to being in a wreck. (The gastro charged my lawyer $850 for his lie, which came out of my settlement.) You have to talk with the docs yourself to see what they will say. Don't get caught losing money to a liar. Don't even ask your lawyer to get his statement if he tells you he won't do it or you'll have to pay for it! They're afraid of being dragged into a courtroom. If they would write, in a single sentence, that it happened the way you claim there wouldn't be a court case because the other guy's insurance would settle for the max. Really sticks in my craw.

Don't even dream you will get anything more than the insurance the guy carried. No doubt you deserve it because you will have a lifetime of pain, but cases don't work that way anymore. People on juries are jealous that you might get money they don't get and hardly find your pain worth anything. Without a major doctor saying your injuries were caused by the incident you won't get anything. You can't claim anything you can't prove with a doctor's testimony. Your lawyer won't let you.

I know how hard it is to live with injuries that are permanently life changing.

You will have to go through an examination by an "independent medical examiner," a doctor, probably an orthopedic surgeon, who has sold his soul to the defense's insurance company. Spend some time googling the trick tests he will try to pull on you. Search for IME. He'll push down on the top of your head and say you're faking if it hurts. He'll write a report that makes you look like you aren't hurt no matter what is the truth. Get used to it. He's getting paid a lot.

Depositions are no big deal. Just tell the truth, obviously. The defense counsel will have all the reports on every doctor and hospital visit you've had in the last 20 years. Your lawyer should have everything too. You should know what's in them. Do you have a list of every condition you've had and when they occurred and how you were affected by your new injuries? They'll probably even bring up the ovarian cysts and try to say that's where your pain is from. Oh, there's so much you need to review before the deposition.

Sincerely best wishes.
Posted 1/14/2015 3:41 AM (GMT 0)
Hi pit mom,
You know how Health Insurance Companies can refuse you coverage due to pre-existing conditions? Well, the defendants lawyer can do the same thing, lump your truck caused injuries in with your prior CP probs and say no harm, no foul. That is why your lawyer wants to talk to you, one on one, so that you don't get caught up in that trap. I agree that his waiting till the last minute stinks but at least he was on the ball enough to catch it before the deposition.id reschedule ASAP and get this issue cleared up pronto . . . Q
Posted 1/14/2015 6:20 AM (GMT 0)
Also be very careful about anything you post anywhere online. Even if you think its private its not. They will do deep searches and find a pic or statement and try to spin it around on you. Even innocent things can be weapons to a lawyer.
You deserve compensation for your life of pain.
good luck
Posted 1/14/2015 9:02 AM (GMT 0)
As already said over and over and not to be discouraging these cases are near to impossible to recover on and closer to impossible if you were not in impeccable health prior too the accident. The Attorney for the insurance company will have numerous researchers who get paid to find anything they can use against you and they won't leave one rock unturned. They will look as far back as the day you were born to see if the OB pulled you out wrong!! They also like stated check internet activity especially social media sites like FB,twitter and instagram looking to catch you in one statement that doesn't hold true and that one thing will prove your capable of being misleading. The deposition is pretty informal but its your first legal statement of what happened so you should be clear, advised by your representative and have all your duck's in a row. Any thing you leave out or put in will be brought to light later you can bet on it.

As for Dr's not making statements? Their malpractice insurance and attorney's for those companies won't allow them to. Stating anything such as this caused this without a doubt or anything more then a broad its possible can come back to bite them.

I wish you lots of luck and your attorney probably made the best decision at the time for your case since you both need to be on not just the same page but paragraph! You lose he loses so he's going to make darn sure he has your answers and statements covered with you prior to you giving them and they hate surprises in any form.
Posted 1/14/2015 2:37 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you all for responding. This is not my first 'rodeo' so I know how it goes. Just needed to decompress. Thanks again.
Posted 1/14/2015 5:21 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck with the claim. I worked in that field for years. The correct term for your situation is "an aggravation to a pre-existing condition". Hopefully you saw a different dr for injuries sustained in the accident or two separate charts were set up if sought care with your PCP. Otherwise, they will look to your dr to distinguish the differences. A good dr & smart seasoned atty will know how to handle this.
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