settlement offer - Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Message Board

mcgriffin · 01-23-2007, 07:39 AM

Everyone- I guess w/c is finally getting serious- I recieved an offer yesterday that was a little less of a slap in the face.
problem is with the exception of Skooze we arent very forthcoming on this board as to what actual settlement offers are so we dont know if offer is reasonable or not . what I do know....I don't trust the doctors, I dont trust the lawyers, and i certianly do not trust ins co's. I trust you guy's - so as politicly incorrect as it may sound - how much did you settle for ????? I know Skooze was 180k - my 1st offer was 25k, 2nd 98k.
it's never going to be enough , but I don't want to be completely taken advantage of either.
Robbin

ld3340 · 01-23-2007, 11:16 PM

You can trust this:
I was off work 2 years to the week, and behind on child support the same. They offered 50 and my atty countered with 100, we settled for 75, but, I had to pay 25% of the hospital bill to date. There was no definitive way to prove the RSD came from the original accident at work that hurt my back, or if it came from a hemmerhoid surgery I had a year into the disability. TheRSD started about 1.25 years after the injury.
The hospital bill was 25, the atty 11, child support was 14, and 2 years rent for my landlord was 12. Thats 62! left me a whoppin 13. After losing my vehicle I had to get another also.
My atty said I could get the 100 if I could last 6 months. But with support for my kids, I couldn't do it any longer. Hope it helps LD

aicirtapo · 01-25-2007, 01:00 AM

I did not settle a W/C claim but a car accident - already had arthritis in knee and was rear ended. Brace I was wearing rammed into knee leaving me with RSD in the knee which spread, then settled back once on drugs. Not diagnosed for two years, settled after six. All my costs to date and future costs for power chairs, hand controls on car, drugs etc, extra housekeeping. Settlement was $180,000 but and they had already paid $7,000 for various treatments and drugs. I got $104,000 after lawyers expenses and fees. Retired so none of it for wages. Single so have to look after me and know the legs will be useless in a few years and I will end up with some level of care required. No knee replacement ever possible as surgeons have been definite that operation too complex and now impossible, which is what the claim was based on. Hope you can get them up somewhat

lorriem · 01-26-2007, 07:11 PM

I fell at work in 1994 and workers comp and I both sued the cleaning co that had just waxed the floors but didn't put up any signs.I opted for an arbitration and got $350,000. I had to pay WC back and my lawyer I had to pay 25% to but it was fast and I didn't have the hassle with trial and jury.I had never thought of sueing untill WC called me a told me that they were going to go and sue and they would need me to testify so they thought I should sue also.

Skooze · 01-28-2007, 09:59 PM

Hi Robbin!

I just wanted to add about the closing of your case. Make sure that you point out to them, right now it costs $100k a year to treat me with my TDI benefits. So how far is $100k going to go??? The other thing is before you close your case and sign your life away, that your attorney takes your age, mine was 43 at the time, and take the life expectancy of a woman which is about 84 years old. Take that settlement amount and divde your age subtracted from 84, and divide that by 12 months, and your settlement will allow you that amount to live off of. This is very important when it comes to SS. Mine broke down to $334 a month. This is very crucial because you don't want SS to take away from you anything that you are entitiled to. When you do settle, take the the settlement papers ASAP to SS. The way the wording went, my $334 a month plus disability benefits still entitled me to full SSDI benefits. Get the picture? Hopefully you are younger than me, (I'm 46) and when you do the math, you can point out to the insurance company, could you live off of that?? This doesn't even include the cost of living adjustments!! If you have any other ?'s I'm here for you, and GOOD LUCK> Aloha Skooze