There is no way to accurately predict how long your bicycle accident case will take because it depends on factors outside of our control.  But, there are some general rules of thumb.  

• If your injuries are soft tissue in nature and you only get conservative treatment, your case should be ready for a demand within 6 months.
• If your injuries require any type of injection or invasive treatment, add at least 90 days to the treatment period.
• If your injuries require surgery, surprisingly, most claims end pretty quickly because the insurance company knows it’s a big case and will pay.  But, in order to get to a surgery, most of our clients first exhaust conservative treatment and then a series of injections.  So, you could be looking at several months of medical treatment just to get to the point of deciding to get the surgery.

The answer to this question is a favorite of lawyers…it depends.  If you are talking to your insurance company about property damage, then that is fine.  But, we do not advise that you speak to your insurance company about your injuries.  There may be a time for them to get the information about your injuries, but we like to control the flow of that communication. 

We are able to provide you with a mileage reimbursement form to keep track of your mileage to and from your doctors appointments. However, you will not be reimbursed $1 for $1. To be reimbursed for mileage as you incur it, you would have to use your PIP (personal injury protection) coverage. Remember, this is the same layer of coverage your doctors are using to pay for your first $10,000.00 in medical treatment. Because of that reason, we typically advise our clients to save their mileage to the end of the case to be included in their pain and suffering from the at fault carrier.  

Reimbursement for lost wages is very similar to mileage reimbursement. However, in order to get your lost wages reimbursed through your PIP carrier, you must have a signed disability note from your doctor stating that you are unable to perform the duties of your job and a wage and salary verification form completed by your employer. Lost wage reimbursement through PIP is paid out at 60% and again, is using the same money allocated for your medical bills. Because of this reason, we instead suggest keeping track of any lost wages you incur to be included in your demand package to the at fault insurance carrier.

You may have options with which company handles the property damage to your vehicle.  You can always go directly through the insurance company for the at-fault driver.  But, sometimes the at-fault driver has a garbage insurance company that you might not want to deal with.  Or, they might be dragging their feet.  If you want your own company to handle the property damage, you must carry comp and collision auto insurance.  This is different from property damage (which covers damage that you cause to another).  Be aware that if you get your property damage handled by your own company, you will have to pay a deductible (usually $500) and then hope that your insurance company can recover it for you. 

Reimbursement for lost wages is very similar to mileage reimbursement. However, in order to get your lost wages reimbursed through your PIP carrier, you must have a signed disability note from your doctor stating that you are unable to perform the duties of your job and a wage and salary verification form completed by your employer. Lost wage reimbursement through PIP is paid out at 60% and again, is using the same money allocated for your medical bills. Because of this reason, we instead suggest keeping track of any lost wages you incur to be included in your demand package to the at fault insurance carrier.

No.  Chiropractors are not for everyone.  While they normally do a good job at alleviating symptoms after the bicycle accident, the treatment doesn’t always work.  If you are not comfortable or are having pain, then let us know and we can work to find another solution.  It may be as simple as switching you to physical therapy or sending you to a pain management doctor.  Please do not continue to go somewhere simply because you don’t want to disappoint us or have it affect your case.  Switching treatment because it is not working will not hurt your claim.

This is a loaded question because the degree of being “hurt” or “injured” is so subjective for bicycle accident claims.  Our advice is to wait until after you have had your MRI to evaluate your situation.  You would be surprised about how easily the discs in your spine are injured by the forces involved in an accident.  MRIs are very sensitive and can detect these injuries.  Regardless, even if you do not have a serious injury, your case might be valuable.  Just follow your doctor’s advice and communicate with our office to come up with a plan. 

Finding out the amount of  insurance available is very important to us.  We send out letters of representation to the insurance company the day that you sign the contracts with us.  We then follow-up within a day or two to get a verbal answer on how much insurance there is.  So, we will usually have a pretty good handle on the amount of insurance within a few days.  Getting this information quickly is important because we want your medical bills to be in line with the amount of insurance.

We struggle with this question because it is so difficult to answer until the demand is out and we get an idea of what your injuries are and how much your bills can be reduced to.  Please understand that if you are asking this question early on in the case, no bicycle accident lawyer can ever answer this accurately.  If they do, they are either misleading you or don’t know what they are doing.  Know that in almost every injury claim, the attorney fees come off the top, then there is usually some amount of money that is used for medical bills, and then you get the rest.  We never settle claims knowing that you will get nothing in your pocket unless we have had many serious discussions about the situation in advance.  Not getting anything in your pocket is very rare.  We understand that every client wants their medical bills paid and to get money for what they went through.