How to Handle Your Teen’s Personal Injury Claim – Shortest Version Possible

 

 

This is Seth Smiley of the Smiley Law Firm here with an interesting topic for the Parents of Teen Drivers Facebook Group. Today, we will be talking about what I do for my everyday job – the personal injury claim.

We will look specifically at how to handle your teen’s personal injury claim after an auto accident. It is not a fun time for anyone involved as there is an injury – sometimes minor, sometimes horrific. There are also situations where we are unaware of the seriousness of the injury for a few weeks – whiplash is a good example.

After an accident, your child should call 9-1-1, and if necessary, be taken by ambulance to get treatment. You should always be listed as the emergency contact so that people reach out to you as a parent.

You should ensure that your teen continues with their treatment, even if the extent of the injury is not immediately apparent. Make sure they follow the doctor’s orders during the treatment phase.

You can retain a lawyer during this phase, as it is a good idea to get this organized as soon as possible so that they can gather all of the insurance documents, police reports, videos, etc.

After the treatment phase, the lawyers gather doctor’s reports and documents. It is essential as we want to pay all of the medical fees properly, and there are no unexpected bills months later. The insurance company that represents the at-fault driver will cover these expenses.

When you gather all of these documents, you want to put together a demand letter. In Louisiana, there is only one year to settle the claim, so some insurance companies practice a slow pay, low pay tactic. Your lawyer will help you make a claim and settlement on time.

After the demand letter, you will work on the claim with the other side and settle. It would be best if you did this correctly as you don’t want exposure to extra expenses, and your teen should have adequate compensation for their pain and suffering.

Pain and suffering compensation is allowed as if your teenager were not in the accident, they wouldn’t have to go through a painful recovery phase. There are other things to claim for – future medicals, loss of earnings, etc.

This is a short overview of how to make a personal injury claim. I will be going into all of these areas in more detail in the future. There are many other points relevant to personal injury claims to discuss.

If you have a small claim, you might want to handle it on your own. If you have any questions for me about this, please leave them below or DM me. I am happy to give you the best advice that I can.

Thank you.