Comments on: Wall Street Journal http://www.passionforsubro.com/claims-procedures/wall-street-journal/ The personal subrogation blog of Attorney Adam V. Russo. Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:54:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Debbie Kline http://www.passionforsubro.com/claims-procedures/wall-street-journal/comment-page-1/#comment-10988 Debbie Kline Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:37:19 +0000 http://www.passionforsubro.com/erisa/wall-street-journal/#comment-10988 I am currently in this same situation. I was in an automobile accident where I was disabled. I have $40,000 worth of medical bills. The person who hit me only had the state minimum insurance of $25,000. We had to sue our own automobile insurer for our underinsured coverage. We did win the lawsuit. My question is, can our insurance company only collect from the $25,000 amount, or can they also go after the small judgment we won from our auto insurance? Like the lady mentioned above, we very likely will come out of this with nothing. I can no longer work due to my disabilities, yet I am unable to get SSI disability payments (because I am still breathing on my own, apparently). We, like the lady above, are willing to be reasonable with the insurance company. Can individual companies choose to be reasonable, or does ERISA force them, by law, to collect the entire amount? Thanks for the idea of publishing this in some way. I truly believe, like many other laws, that this has been abused by companies who can use it to harm their employees, and make an already terrible situation even worse. If I had known then what I know now, I would NEVER have gotten an attorney. Everybody has gotten paid but us, and I am the one who will suffer my entire life from this accident. If enough people find out about this inequity, nobody will bother collecting from insurance companies for accidents. They will also find there's no reason to have high-cost insurance. You can't get it when you need it. You have to sue them in civil court to get what you've paid for your whole life, and the insurance companies win 75% if the time if it does go to court. Lawyers will not be needed, and self-insured companies will suffer from their own greed. I am currently in this same situation. I was in an automobile accident where I was disabled. I have $40,000 worth of medical bills. The person who hit me only had the state minimum insurance of $25,000. We had to sue our own automobile insurer for our underinsured coverage. We did win the lawsuit. My question is, can our insurance company only collect from the $25,000 amount, or can they also go after the small judgment we won from our auto insurance? Like the lady mentioned above, we very likely will come out of this with nothing. I can no longer work due to my disabilities, yet I am unable to get SSI disability payments (because I am still breathing on my own, apparently).

We, like the lady above, are willing to be reasonable with the insurance company. Can individual companies choose to be reasonable, or does ERISA force them, by law, to collect the entire amount?

Thanks for the idea of publishing this in some way. I truly believe, like many other laws, that this has been abused by companies who can use it to harm their employees, and make an already terrible situation even worse.

If I had known then what I know now, I would NEVER have gotten an attorney. Everybody has gotten paid but us, and I am the one who will suffer my entire life from this accident.

If enough people find out about this inequity, nobody will bother collecting from insurance companies for accidents. They will also find there’s no reason to have high-cost insurance. You can’t get it when you need it. You have to sue them in civil court to get what you’ve paid for your whole life, and the insurance companies win 75% if the time if it does go to court.

Lawyers will not be needed, and self-insured companies will suffer from their own greed.

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