[Txbobcat]

Yeah that term soft tissue injury sucks. Wouldnt a severe heart attack be a soft tissue injury?

[Cliff R]

Those words have become meaningless to me. My X-Rays are clear, my MRI is clear, but I hurt really, really bad between my shoulder blades, and have since the accident. Some days are better than others, but being in this much pain for over 3 months, "soft tissue injury", or not, means that it effecting my abilities to support myself. I'm at the point now where ALL correspondence will be done through my attorney. If he can get me any amount more than what I've been offered, good for him.

I was stupid enough to think that I could negotiate with them without some assistance. Now, like most everyone else I know, I'm going to have to cost them a lot more money just to get me a little bit more money.

You can bet that if I had rear ended the guy who hit me, (he's considered a "non-standard" driver, that's sort of a politically correct term for a habitual offender who shouldn't be being the wheel in the first place), he'd be wearing a neck brace, walking with a cane, and sueing the piss out of me!......FWIW......Cliff

[fastgto]

I`m sure around here they changed the law so that if it is soft tissue there is ZERO
PAYOUT from the insurance company. Seems to me the law here was changed a few years back. A guy at work could not even get a lawyer to take his case when they found out it was soft tissue damage.

[dblsprt68]

Sorry to hear about all these problems Cliff. The lawyer is the only way to go. Yes, he gets some of your money, but it works. My sister had a crash and tried to do all this herself also. Two years later, after she was tired of the crap; hired a lawyer and he got her a fair amount. Minus what he made, she broke even when she paid the bills from the accident off. Go figure. Take care and hang in there! David

[grandville455]

Man thats a load of crap Cliff!!!... Its funny how we all pay into ins for premiums wether its home auto whatever.. and when it comes time for us to collect on that they neveer want to pay!! Makes me sooo mad!.... And now your suffering.. thing is u werent before the accident! ,but yet they are blaming it on some b s terms to cover there as*... I am sorry this happened to you ,but hopefully the lawyer will get you your do!!

[Jim Scites]

Cliff the best advice anyone can give you is to get an attorney and stop the worrying. Once you turn it over to them, they do all the worrying. An attorney won't take your case unless they think they are going to make a big chunk of change too. So if you talk to them and they will take your case on a contingency basis then sit back and get ready to collect. It will take some time for them to get everything together but it will end up a lot more than your original offer from the insurance company.

[herdswoman]

Dear Cliff, I am so sorry to hear about you and Deb. This angers me greatly, as IMHO drunk drivers are the walking scum of the earth. It also creeps me out, because just yesterday I was telling someone about Larry Davis....now this morning I hear that you and Deb were smashed from behind.

I will do anything I can to help you.

First, soft tissue injuries (STI) cover a lot of ground. Nerves, tendons, ligaments, muscles....fairly much anything except bone can be considered STI. Not everything shows up on an almighty MRI, either. True, a LOT does, but not everything. For instance, an MRI cannot tell how the nerve is conducting impulses, or how a tendon is doing its job. An MRI is arguabley the best imaging technique, but that's all it is: a picture. Even two or three dimensional pictures have limits on the amount of information they can give.

Second, there is a statute of limitations (Ohio was two years, unless it has recently changed). While you may feel better after 10 months, you might feel like crap again after 18. Don't settle too soon. Your body is telling you that this story hasn't been finished yet.

Third, the suggestion given on page one about negotiating with attorney fees is excellent. If you have already asked for "XX" amount of dollars, it is the attorney's job to negotiate - and collect a fee - from that point upward.

There are any number of ways this shyster attorney is going to try and slice/dice calculating your income. However, there is established precedent for determining earnings income, set by the federal government when Social Security was created. I just pulled my file, and when applying for benefits, SS looks at the last two years of income, including "special payments." I am not sure how we defined special payments in 2004, but I think that was any income from investments. You can check this out at http://www.ssa.gov/d&s1.htm

By the way, I managed to ditch SSDI and UNUM this past year, and my life is now again my own. I make a whopping $28,000 a year at Owens (their union negotiators suck), but it is worth every penny I don't get paid to enjoy the gift of being able to work again. Fourteen more years and I will have prescription benefits for life, and that is something that would have either bankrupted my family, or kept Tom chained to employment for the rest of his life. (Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty I'm free at last!)

Keep the faith, Cliff, and fight the good fight. It may take years, but there can be a huge payoff in the end. Your physical life may never be the same as it once was, but the life you do have will always bring its own gifts. I'm living proof. Call me if you like - you have our number.

Much love to you and Deb ~ Tom and Amy