Oftentimes clients are confused after they’ve been involved in a collision when the insurance company refuses to accept liability. The person at fault in a collision may be very apparent but the insurance company still withholds accepting liability. Frequently, the insurance company will not accept liability until they talk to their insured. If the other driver tells their insurance company a story about how the collision is not their fault, the insurance company may continue to deny liability. Why is all of this important? An insurance company will not pay anything on any claims until liability is resolved.

That means if your car is damaged, they will not pay to repair it, they will not pay the tow bill, they will not pay the storage bill, pay any medical bills or lost wages. Their refusal to pay any bills can create economic stress. If your damaged car is not drivable and the insurance company is refusing to pay for the repairs, you may now have transportation problems on top of your physical injuries. The insurance companies are not in a hurry to pay claims so they don’t care about the economic plight it causes for you.

Generally, the insurance company will want a recorded statement from you. They will ask for this after they’ve talked to their insured and have a version of the collision story, which may place blame on you or on someone other than their insured. Their recorded statement can ask questions slanted toward supporting the theory they are developing that their insured is not at fault in the collision. We typically advise against giving a recorded statement to insurance companies because typically it does not further your cause.

Usually after a collision, the insurance companies want to take a recorded statement from each driver or witness. A recorded statement is usually done over the phone and lasts approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Most recorded statements are fairly innocuous. The insurance adjuster is simply trying to get some basic information. Sometimes, however, the recorded statement questions are deceptive. We’ve had cases where insurance adjusters, later on, attempt to use the recorded statement to refute or rebut what was said days after the collision. Often the questions have to do with what injuries were incurred in the collision before you’ve had an opportunity to even realize all the injuries you’ve suffered. For this reason we typically advise against giving a recorded statement. If you give a recorded statement, ask to have your own legal representation available. You may have a duty under your insurance policy to give your own company a recorded statement. You have no duty, however, to give your recorded statement to anyone else. The old adage what is good for the goose is good for the gander often comes to mind when I discuss recorded statements with insurance companies. When they ask to take my client’s statement, I typically ask to take their insured’s statement. They never agree to this. You have to ask yourself why are they unwilling to share information. It must be because they’re not as interested in the truth of the matter as they are with controlling the claim to control the ultimate cost of the claim.

Claims can fall through the cracks without proper medical treatment and legal representation.

For the vast majority of personal injury claims, it is simply no longer possible to receive fair compensation without an attorney. It is just as important to hire an attorney to represent you as soon as possible.

This is because, as soon as the claim is reported to an auto insurance or any health insurance company including Medicaid and Medicare, they all attempt to manage you and the claim to protect their interests at the expense of your own interest. Paperwork starts flooding your mailbox seeking information and requesting your signature. Phone calls begin to pour in asking questions and seeking your commitment. You should respond to some of these communications; you should ignore some and you should have your attorney respond to the rest. Any missteps in this process begin to chip away at your ability to receive full and fair recovery. A few examples of missteps are:

You may unwittingly allow your medical providers to cut in front of you and get paid for their bills right off the top of any settlement (this may actually consume your entire settlement). Any applicable health insurance including Medicare and Medicaid may, or may not have a lien related to the treatment in your case that needs to be reimbursed. Certainly if Medicare or Medicaid paid for any treatment that’s related to the case, it is extremely important that the claim be handled appropriately and that they receive proper reimbursement. Private health insurance companies may have a right to be repaid, but they have to prove they have such a right. You shouldn’t assume that they are entitled to take a percentage of the settlement out of your case. No matter who the health insurance provider is, they may claim a lien on your case that includes payment for treatment completely unrelated to your injury.

Willis and Willis carefully scrutinizes any claim for reimbursement placed against our clients cases.

• Appropriate medical treatment is critical. Do you already have a regular family doctor? Have you been told to see a specialist? No matter what your injuries are, the treatment you receive following your accident can go a long way toward proving your claim or sabotaging it. It sounds deceptively simple but seeking appropriate medical treatment and following the full course is always in your best interest.
• Do you answer every piece of junk mail you get? Of course not. Unfortunately, following a collision, you will receive a lot of junk mail from attorneys, chiropractors and other medical providers seeking to involve themselves in your case. In fact, we are aware of one local chiropractor who calls accident victims multiple times a day and actually lies by claiming to be working with the insurance company. Unfortunately, the “professionals” who use telemarketing and junk mail forms of advertising do you a great disservice. You may be referred for treatment to a doctor who has no business treating the injuries that you sustain. Every year, we have clients come in who have injuries a reputable chiropractor would not treat (knee, ankle, shoulder, etc.) However, there are the chiropractors who will incur a $5,000 to $7,000 bill treating injuries outside their purview. This sabotages your case on numerous fronts:

1. That’s several thousand dollars of money taken out of the case that now can’t be used for the appropriate treatment.
2. During this period of chiropractic treatment the patient is not receiving the correct treatment by the appropriate personnel. Understandably, the actual injuries may not improve or heal.
3. Any insurance company looking at the above example will heavily discount the value because the actual injuries went for weeks or months without treatment. This gives the insurance company the ability to argue that the injuries weren’t that serious or were not related to the collision.

• There are plenty of attorneys, who like us, are dedicated to our justice system and want to do their best to advance your claim. Most of them do not send junk mail. The letters you get in the mail following a collision come from attorneys who put far more of their resources and attention into elaborate marketing campaigns, than they do to pursue your case. Accordingly, once represented by a marketing attorney we believe that they will look for the easiest, quickest, cheapest way to get your claim settled so that they can conclude your file and move on to the next batch of new claims. We have inherited many cases that originally started in the hands of a marketing law firm and, with some individual attention to the file, have increased the recovery to the client significantly.

Just like many things in life, the practice of personal injury law only grows more complicated every year. The longer you wait to hire an experienced attorney the more damage you may cause to your claim.

The path to a fair and full recovery in your claim is riddled with landmines, pitfalls, and assorted other stumbling blocks. A professional experienced attorney can navigate these obstacles and negotiate/litigate a fair settlement for the client.

The police crash report generated at the scene of a collision is a public record. It contains your name, address, date of birth, driver’s license number, and social security number. It used to be that no one was interested in these crash reports except the people actually involved in the crash. Since they’re a public record, some attorneys and physicians recently started using them as marketing opportunities. Lawyers and doctors started purchasing the crash reports on a daily basis in an effort to solicit your business. With the increase in interest in these reports, the police agencies have started removing social security numbers from the report before releasing them to the public. However, with your phone number, cell phone number and address, the telemarketers and solicitors can contact you. Obviously, they want your business. The question is, once they have your business, are they looking out for your best interest or are they spending their time and energy on their next advertising venture or campaign. With over 35 years of combined practice experience, Mark and Todd Willis have maintained the philosophy that taking care of their clients is the first priority. They feel that if they take care of their clients the clients will return and refer others. We never cold call or solicit clients. You won’t find us in TV advertising, newspapers, phone books, magazine advertising, radio advertising, billboard advertising, or fancy trucks driving around town with flashing signs. Day in and day out we continue to take care of our client’s interests. We’ve had opportunities to talk to people who have been represented by advertising lawyers or treated by advertising physicians and frankly their stories are frightening. Before you decide to accept treatment from or be represented by a doctor or lawyer who solicited your business, you should ask other people about what their experience has been with these types of people.

If you are involved in a motor vehicle collision, you expect the police to respond, investigate and file a report. Did you know though that you’re supposed to file a crash report with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV)? The crash report completed by the investigating police agency stays with that agency. Even if it’s the Ohio Highway Patrol. In the vast majority of cases, people do not file a crash report with the BMV and in most cases it makes no difference in how the claim is ultimately handled. In some cases, however, it can make a difference. When you file a BMV crash report, you are required to provide the BMV with proof of liability insurance. The BMV will then contact the driver of the other vehicle to complete a report and require them to provide proof of insurance. If the other driver does not respond or the other driver cannot provide proof of insurance, the BMV will suspend their license.

The BMV will send the request for this information to the address listed on a driver’s BMV issued license. If you’re involved in a collision with a driver who cannot provide adequate insurance information to the investigating police agency, it may be advantageous to file a BMV crash report because this will force the other driver to provide legitimate insurance information to the BMV or admit they have no insurance and face a suspension of their BMV issued driver’s license. It would also be advantageous to file a BMV crash report, if the other driver cannot provide adequate insurance, so that you can prove to your insurance company that you have done everything necessary and possible in order to determine the insurance coverage of the other driver. This may be necessary to obtain coverage under the uninsured motorist coverage in your policy.

You may recall the last time you renewed your license plates that you signed a form in which you declared that you had financial responsibility (insurance). A driver reporting a collision to the BMV is one way the BMV enforces the requirement to carry insurance.

Additionally, this process is one reason why it’s important to keep the BMV apprised of your current address. They will send their notification of a need for you to supply them with information to the address on your BMV issued driver’s license. If they send a letter to this address and it comes back to them, then there is no response from you and they will suspend your license. You, at that point, would have no knowledge of the event until the next time you needed your driver’s license in some official capacity, like a traffic stop or a renewal. Then you would find out that it is suspended, which could lead to your arrest.

Having an understanding of the procedure for making a law can make it easier for citizens to be more active in their government.

Anyone can come up with an idea for a law but it requires the sponsorship of a congressperson to give it wings. While this initial idea may have one or more sponsors such as voters, a committee of civilians, a special interest group, a lobbyist or a member of the legislature, it is a member of Congress, either a Senator or House of Representatives member who is tasked with writing a draft of the proposed law called a bill. After the Congress member has drafted the bill, he/she becomes the official sponsor and can introduce it for consideration. Only the members of Congress can actively introduce bills.

Once introduced, the bill is sent to a House or Senate committee for review depending upon who initially sponsored it. Both the House and Senate have many different committees that cover a wide variety of issues ranging from tax law to the military. The bill goes to the appropriately related committee where they discuss and study it. The committee may decide to table it, which means it doesn’t go any further, or send it back with recommendations for changes or with no changes to be voted on. At this point the bill is debated, modified, and voted on, if recommended by the committee. The bill requires a majority vote to pass then it is sent to the other branch of Congress where the process is repeated. The process can move smooth and quickly or meticulous and slowly.

If both the House and Senate approve the bill, it is sent to the President for signing. The President has several choices. He can sign the bill and it immediately becomes a new law or he can do nothing and the bill automatically becomes a law after 10 days. He can also choose to veto the bill, which means the bill doesn’t get his approval and does not become law. However, a veto can be overturned if two-thirds of both houses of Congress support the bill.

The process for making a law in the State of Ohio is very similar. The State of Ohio has a House of Representatives with 99 Representatives and a Senate with 33 Senators. The Governor is the one who ultimately signs or vetos a bill at the state level.

Tort – a private or civil wrong or injury. A wrong independent of contract. A violation of a duty imposed by general law or otherwise upon all persons occupying the relation to each other which is involved in a given transaction. (Black’s dictionary)

A civil wrong, or wrongful act, whether intentional or accidental, from which injury occurs to another. Torts include all negligence cases as well as intentional wrongs which result in harm. (In plain English)

Tortfeasor – a wrong-doer; one who commits or is guilty of a tort.

Plaintiff – a person who brings an action; the party who complains or sues in a personal action and is so named on the record.

Defendant – the person defending or denying; the party against whom relief or recovery is sought in an action or suit. A person summoned to answer a charge or complaint in an action or suit.

Liability (liable) – bound or obliged in law or equity; responsible; chargeable; answerable; compellable to make satisfaction, compensation, or restitution. Condition of being bound to respond because a wrong has occurred.

Proximate cause – that which in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces the injury, and without which the result would not have occurred.

Immunity – Exemption, as from serving in an office, or performing duties which the law generally requires other citizens to perform. Exemption from legal prosecution, often granted a witness in exchange for self-incriminating testimony. Exemption from legal prosecution, often granted a witness in exchange for self-incriminating testimony.

Mark Willis just returned from his second trip to Africa on December 15, 2010. Mark is a member of Bonyo’s Kenya Mission (www.bonyoskenyamission.org). Bonyo’s Kenya Mission is dedicated to the improvement of healthcare and life in general in the rural village of Masara in the Nyanza Province of western Kenya. Bonyo’s Kenya mission owns and operates the Mama Pilista Memorial Health Clinic in the village of Masara. Fundraising by Bonyo’s Kenya Mission provides a skeletal staff to provide for the daily healthcare needs of the area. Each year however, Bonyo’s Kenya Mission in conjunction with Share Kenya, a cooperative effort between Northeastern Ohio Universities, Colleges of Medicine, Ohio University College of Medicine, Ohio Northern University, Rocky Vista College of Osteopathic Medicine, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, Akron Children’s Hospital and Summa Health System converge on the clinic to provide more comprehensive medical care and on a larger scale. This year’s mission consisted of 30 some medical and pharmacy students along with physicians, nurses and others in the medical field. Mark Willis served as the chief operating officer for the mission to coordinate the patient’s care among the various disciplines represented by the group. The group treated over 2,400 different patients. Several were seen multiple times for follow up visits throughout the trip.

In addition to the general medical coverage, the mission ran an eye clinic with donated eyeglasses. Mark Willis made arrangements for ophthalmology coverage through Tenwek Hospital, a faith based hospital about 2.5 hours away in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Patients were screened for surgical issues including cataracts. The surgeries will take place at Tenwek Hospital in the near future. Other eye concerns were addressed through the ophthalmology coverage. The mission’s ophthalmology department was able to provide screening and eyeglasses for all who needed them. In addition to other medical issues, approximately 1,000 had sight issues that were addressed in the mission.

In addition to coordinating the various students and healthcare providers, Mark Willis coordinated with the 60 some interpreters hired by the mission to work with the U.S. healthcare workers and the patients. Most people in this area of Kenya speak the local Luo tribal language (Dholuo) or the east Africa dialect of Kiswahili. The clinic was broken down into various functions from registration and triage to intake screening, wound care, and general medical treatment. Our patients ran the gamut from pediatric to geriatric and required everything from emergency care to optical care and screening to lab tests and pharmacy services. Mark Willis used his training as a Fire Fighter EMT and his organizational abilities as a lawyer to pull the group together, staff the various departments and provide patients with quality healthcare.

Past Kenya Trip

The State of Ohio requires you to carry liability insurance in order to legally operate a motor vehicle. So in the land of good hands and good neighbors, critters and fancy commercials just what does your policy really provide? They all provide liability insurance as required by the state but that’s where the similarities end. Under Governor Taft’s administration the insurance industry was, in a sense, deregulated in Ohio. Protections required by law for you as the owner of the policy and your family members were removed. All policies start with some language to the effect that they will pay the legal liabilities you incur for operating a motor vehicle. The rest of the numerous pages of the policy are exceptions to this basic statement. They start by creating a “blanket of coverage” and then they punch holes in it. We now are seeing language in policies such as: there is no coverage for a bodily injury to any member of an insured family residing in the insured’s household. This creates a huge coverage hole for you and your family. It’s probably safe to say that the average person spends more time in the car with family members than they do anybody else. A family member is usually defined in policies as a person related to you by blood, marriage or adoption and living in the same household. So, for example, a husband and wife and their children are traveling in a car. The husband/father is driving and they stop and pick up a hitchhiker along the road and continue on their way. The father doesn’t see a red light, drives through the intersection and is clobbered by a tractor-trailer seriously injuring everybody in the car. The policy you paid for may not cover the wife/mother and the children because of this exclusion.

The hitchhiker, however, is covered. That would be the end of the story with some carriers. No coverage for your family members, the people you paid to protect. Some carriers would provide coverage, some carriers have taken a piece meal approach to it and will tell you their policy doesn’t cover it but in this situation they’ll help you out. This means they know they really should be covering the claim but since they were able to hoodwink you on the policy, they’re only going to pay a portion of your damages. We suggest you ask your agent specifically if your automobile policy will cover family members in your car if you cause the collision.

We suggest you get the answer in writing because sometimes we find agents are uninformed about all the changes that the insurance companies have put into the policy. Unfortunately, we see tragic situations like the one discussed in this article all too often. Find out who you are really insuring with your policy.

What it will do this year:

Allowing States to Cover More People on Medicaid

States will be able to receive federal matching funds for covering some additional low-income individuals and families under Medicaid for whom federal funds were not previously available. This will make it easier for states that choose to do so to cover more of their residents.

Expanding Coverage for Early Retirees

Too often, Americans who retire without employer-sponsored insurance and before they are eligible for Medicare see their life savings disappear because of high rates in the individual market. To preserve employer coverage for early retirees until more affordable coverage is available through the new Exchanges by 2014, the new law creates a $5 billion program to provide needed financial help for employment-based plans to continue to provide valuable coverage to people who retire between the ages of 55 and 65, as well as their spouses and dependents. Applications for employers to participate in the program were available June 1, 2010.

Providing Access to Insurance for Uninsured Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions

A Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan will provide new coverage options to individuals who have been uninsured for at least six months because of a pre-existing condition. States have the option of running this new program in their state. If a state chooses not to do so, a plan will be established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in that state. This program serves as a bridge to 2014, when all discrimination against pre-existing conditions will be prohibited.

Extending Coverage for Young Adults

Under the new law, young adults will be allowed to stay on their parent’s plan until they are 26 years old. (In the case of existing group health plans, this right does not apply if the young adult is offered insurance at work.) Some insurers began implementing this practice early. Check with your insurance company or employer to see if you qualify. Effective for health plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2010.

Holding Insurance Companies Accountable for Unreasonable Rate Hikes

The law allows states that have, or plan to implement, measures that require insurance companies to justify their premium increases to be eligible for $250 million in new grants. Insurance companies with excessive or unjustified premium increases may not be able to participate in the new health insurance Exchanges in 2014.

Rebuilding the Primary Care Workforce

Starting this year to strengthen the availability of primary care, there are new incentives in the law to expand the number of primary care doctors, nurses and physician assistants, including funding for scholarships and loan repayments for primary care doctors and nurses working in underserved areas.

Strengthening Community Health Centers

The law includes new funding to support the construction of and expansion of services at community health centers, allowing these centers to serve some 20 million new patients across the country.

Payments for Rural Health Care Providers

Presently, 68% of medically underserved communities across the nation are in rural areas, and these communities often have trouble attracting and retaining medical professionals. The law provides increased payment to rural health care providers to help them continue to serve their communities.

Providing Small Business Health Insurance Tax Credits

Up to 4 million small businesses are eligible for tax credits to help them provide insurance benefits to their workers. The first phase of this provision provides a credit worth up to 35% of the employer’s contribution to the employees’ health insurance. Small non-profit organizations may receive up to a 25% credit.

Relief for Four Million Seniors Who Hit the Medicare Prescription Drug “Donut Hole”

An estimated 4 million seniors will reach the gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage known as the “donut hole” this year. Each such senior will receive a $250 rebate.

Cracking Down on Health Care Fraud

Current efforts to fight fraud have returned more than $2.5 billion to the Medicare Trust Fund in FY 2009 alone. The new law invests new resources and requires new screening procedures for health care providers to boost these efforts and reduce fraud and waste in Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP.

Providing Free Preventive Care

Effective for health plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2010 – all new plans must cover certain preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies without charging a deductible, co-pay or coinsurance.

A new $15 billion Prevention and Public Health Fund will invest in proven prevention and public health programs that can help keep Americans healthy – from smoking cessation to combating obesity.

Putting Information Online

The law provides for an easy-to-use website where consumers can compare health insurance coverage options and pick the coverage that works for them.

Prohibiting Insurance Companies from Rescinding Coverage

In the past, insurance companies could search for an error, or other technical mistake, on a customer’s application and use this error to deny payment for services when he or she got sick. The new law makes this illegal.

Appealing Insurance Company Decisions

The law provides consumers with a way to appeal coverage determinations or claims to their insurance company, and establishes an external review process.

Eliminating Lifetime Limits on Insurance Coverage

Under the new law, insurance companies will be prohibited from imposing lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits, like hospital stays.

Regulating Annual Limits on Insurance Coverage

Under the new law, insurance companies’ use of annual dollar limits on the amount of insurance coverage a patient may receive will be restricted for new plans in the individual market and all group plans.

As the law rolls into effect over the next four years, each year will have new provisions.