To Sue for Pain & Suffering Or Not To?

That’s the question. My insurance company has already explained (they broached the topic; I’d not even thought of it) that the other insurance company should be calling me to make an offer for pain & suffering after the car repairs and medical bills are paid for. My insurance company cannot handle that part of the process — though it’s nice that they are going to re-emburse me the $500 I shelled out for the deductible direct deposited into my account within a few days.

Peter and Meg have suggested I contact a lawyer now. My cube-neighbor’s daughter works for the highly televized collision-type lawyer here in Portland and she’s offered to get me an appointment.

Meg and Peter say I’m entitled. My dad seemed to agree. My mother seemed very upset when I mentioned it.

The truth is that while it’s been an inconvenience, my medical bills and my auto repair is being paid for. Yes, I’ll probably be in pain for a few months. Yes, it will interfere with me getting my pig stye ready for the parental visit. Yes, I’m popping Tylenol and Advil 4x a day which can’t be good. Yes, I’ve been unable to really enjoy my hobbies of cooking and…well, cooking anyway. But overall, what’s the point of a pain & suffering settlement?

I tried to understand Meg’s explanation about some formula involving soft tissue damage or permanent damage or long-term damage, but it kind of made my eyes gloss over. I kind of wish this had happened in New Orleans so one of them could handle my case.

So, I don’t know what to do? Wait and see if the other insurance place really does call, and if so, how long do I wait? Go ahead and call the lawyer and get him going on it? Just forget about it because this country has really gotten too sue happy and really do I want to encourage that?

I mean, sure, I was eyeing up a home theater system yesterday in radio shack, where I forgot the one thing I meant to buy there…and yeah, it’d be nice to have a little money to put in savings for a possible future vehicle or home purchase…

But the lady was very nice and her insurance company has been very compliant from what I understand and really, I keep thinking about if the roles were reversed and how upset I would be for her and how upset I’d be that my car insurance was going up.

Which is interesting because looking back, I don’t feel the same about the angry woman I accidently hit in Alabama 10+ years ago who slammed her breaks on for no reason and then had her mother the passenger sue me for a long list of items despite the fact that I was the only one who had to go to the hospital and the only one who ended up on crutches.

Hmmm…either I’m older or this lady was truly nice…plus, the roles are reversed. Why would I want to put her through what I went through?

I don’t know…

tags: lawsuit, car accident

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