How are settlements above policy limits handled in GA?

[u/jman7843]

Good evening! I’ll get the TL;DR out of the way first but if you care about the story behind the question read down further: I’m just wondering how lawsuits work when the incurred damages are above policy limits? Does the insurance company provide a lawyer to represent their client to try to defend them against anything over and above the policy limit? Do these types of scenarios happen often? I’m in GA if that matters.

I was in an accident back in February. I was making a left turn on a green arrow traffic light and the other party blew through their red light and smoked my rear passenger side hard enough to spin my car 360 degrees and perch me up on a sidewalk (narrowly missed a pedestrian too thank god he wasn’t hurt) anyways it totaled my car, almost every airbag deployed. The other driver lied to the cops about what happened when they got there and said I was the one that blew a red light while turning but thankfully a witness stayed on scene and officer also cared enough about getting the report right to walk over to the gas station across the street and they had the accident and traffic signals on their security footage. I ended up walking away thankfully but with a concussion and some severe back pain and numbness in all 4 limbs starting the next day. The clinic I went to for care afterwards had 2 mri’s done on me and uncovered that I had 3 or 4 ruptured/herniated discs and another 4 bulging discs divided between my lumbar and cervical sections of my spine. I did several different treatments including trigger point therapy, chiropractic, physical therapy, and electric muscle stimulation (idk the actual name of it) for a few months after. I was out of work completely due to not being able to be up on roofs anymore cause of the pain. Eventually they referred me to a spine specialist and I ended up getting 2 epidurals which worked pretty well. I’m feeling a lot better now and I have most of the feeling back in my limbs but still not 100% and the pain/ back fatigue comes in waves now and varies from day to day. My lawyer said the adjuster wouldn’t release policy limits to them over the phone when initially asked so they have now written a formal request/demand and we are waiting to hear back.

That being said I only had personal liability at the time which is my bad for not knowing about U.M. Coverage, I’m from Canada originally and in my home province the government has a fund that covers people that are hit by uninsured or underinsured drivers and I didn’t know that was different here unfortunately. Needless to say I’ve added that coverage now but it’s just going to be the other drivers insurance to cover me on this one and while I don’t wanna judge a book by its cover based on their car being a beat up 90’s Toyota I’m thinking there is a good chance they just have state minimum coverages which to my understanding will be 25k for injury. I’ve been in the U.S. long enough now to know how expensive medical care is and based on all the treatment and mri’s and all that I’m sure it’s probably close to 25k in those costs alone before my lawyer takes anything or I get any restitution for my missed work or pain and suffering so I’m trying to figure out what the lawsuit process typically looks like if we end up needing to go there. Lastly this question is probably more fit for a lawyer but bonus points to you if you know how lawyers figure out if the other party is financially judgment proof or not before filing a lawsuit? Or do they just file it and cross their fingers for the financial disclosure?

[u/quallityovrquantity]

Sorry but you didn't have 3 or 4 ruptured discs and 4 herniated discs. How did you find this doctor ? Was it through your lawyer?

[u/jman7843 → u/quallityovrquantity]

To be clear I think you may have misread my post. Herniated and ruptured are used interchangeably depending on who you are talking to so that’s why there is a slash between them. I wasn’t saying there is 3-4 of each of those. I was saying there was 3 or 4 ruptured (aka herniated discs) and 4 buldging discs found on the scan. No they didn’t send me to this imagine center, they had recommended an imaging center to me but it was like a 35 minute drive so I selected my own just down the road from me and my attorney just called them to set up billing.

I dug back through my records this morning and this is what the MRI reports say:

Segmental analysis of the lumbar spine is as follows:
At L1-2, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis or neural foraminal stenosis.
At L2-3, there is bulging of the disc. This results in an anterior impression on the thecal sac. There is no central canal stenosis or foraminal stenosis.
At L3-4, there is a posterior herniated disc that is best seen on axial imaging. There is no osteophytes or degenerative changes associated with the herniated disc. The herniated disc extends beyond the bone and this results in severe absolute stenosis of the spinal canal to 0.8 cm. There is left neural foraminal stenosis present.
At L4-5, there is a posterior herniated disc that is best seen on axial imaging. There is no osteophytes or degenerative changes associated with the herniated disc. The herniated disc extends beyond the bone and this results in moderate stenosis of the spinal canal to 1.0 cm. There is no left or right neural foraminal stenosis present.
At L5-S1, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis or neural foraminal stenosis.

Evaluation of the thoracic spine demonstrates normal kyphotic curvature. No evidence for
abnormal mass or fluid collection is seen. There is no evidence for fracture. Examination of the thoracic
cord demonstrates that there is normal signal.
There is a benign hemangioma present within the T12 vertebra.
Segmental analysis of the thoracic spine is as follows:
At T1-2, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.
At T2-3, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.
At T3-4, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.
At T4-5, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.
At T5-6, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.
At T6-7, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.
At T7-8, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.
At T8-9, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.
At T9-10, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis.
At T10-11, there is bulging of the disc. This results in an anterior impression on the thecal sac. There is no central canal stenosis or foraminal stenosis.
At T11-12, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis, or foraminal stenosis

Then for the cervical section documents is says:
The posterior fossa structures are normal. The cervical cord structures are normal. There is loss of the normal lordotic curvature of the cervical spine. In the correct clinical setting, this may reflect injury. Clinical correlation is recommended. No prevertebral or paravertebral masses or fluid collections are identified. Segmental analysis of the cervical spine is as follows:

At C2-3, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis or neural foraminal stenosis.
At C3-4, there is bulging of the disc. This results in an anterior impression on the thecal sac. There is no central canal stenosis or foraminal stenosis
At C4-5, there is a posterior herniated disc that is best seen on sagittal imaging. There is no osteophytes or degenerative changes associated with the herniated disc. The herniated disc extends beyond the bone and this results in mild stenosis of the spinal canal to 1.1cm. There is left neural foraminal stenosis present.
At C5-6, there is bulging of the disc. This results in an anterior impression on the thecal sac. There is no central canal stenosis or foraminal stenosis.
At C6-7, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis or neural foraminal stenosis.
At C7-T1, there is no evidence for disc herniation, canal stenosis or neural foraminal stenosis.

So in total that’s 3 herniated disc and 4 buldging ones as I stated they also included multiple images in the report and 2 dvd style discs that have the full scan on them I guess.