Father Passed in Car Accident

[yergo88]

My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of: New York

So we've recruited a pretty big law firm to handle our case. Our original lawyer was replaced (He didn't pay us to much attention anyways)

Short story: 2008 my father was the victim of a reckless driver that was being pursued (lights off not on) by two police cars, he was in the back seat of a small SUV and a women with psych/med problems ignored a light on a busy intersection and slammed in to 4 cars injuring a few people, he was the only fatality. She was charged with a form of homicide not man slaughter.

He was 88 years old at the time he passed and was living off social security so whomever calculated that our case is only worth the maximum payout of 50,000. After that figure being settled the lawyer of course is charging a 33% fee for settling with the insurance, my question is there anyway I can settle with the insurance company myself so we might not have to pay the 33% lawyer fee?

Also about the two police cars pursuing the woman and not being able to respond/stop her in time (before she slammed in to 4 cars..) would there be a case?

I have absorbed all of my fathers debt/funeral fee's and I have been absolutely frustrated with lawyers that pay no attention to me and my family. Any advice would be much appreciated

PS: I have this thread subscribed to my email account which I receive on my smart phone if anymore details are needed. Thank you so much for your time.

[flyingron]

If the lawyer has done work on your case, you may still have to pay him.
You're not getting more than the liability limit of the driver's policy. Sure you can try to negotiate directly.

The police have no liability here. Taking more aggressive means to stop the vehicle may not have been any safer for those involved than what occurred.

While you have paid for your father's burial expenses, other debts that you never signed on to be responsible for are NOT your debts (despite what scummy bill collectors will try to convince you).

The problem with getting lawyers that with a maximum fee of $16K they're not going to expend a ton of hours on.

[bereavedson]

if your father's car insurance had medpay (medical payments) or pip (personal injiry protection) coverage on it, have the funeral home submit an invoice directly to your father's car insurer for reimbursement. act quickly, because the companies that provided medical servives to your father will try to collect this money first. once the pip & medpay are used up by the other companies, the funeral home cannot get those funds anymore.

[bereavedson]

do be aware that medicare and health insurers will likely place a lien against any car accident settlement that you may recieve. so if your father was flown by helicopter from the accident scene to a trauma center where he remained alive in the intensive care unit for a couple days, there will be major medical bills that must be paid before you can recieve any money from the car insurance. if these medical bills exceed the value of the car insurance liability limits, then you won't recieve a penny from the car insurance company.

now if your father was pronounced dead at the accident scene and didn't recieve any medical care, there shouldn't be any significant liens to worry about. some police and fire departments do try to collect for their services at accident scenes, but these bills are usually a couple thousand dollars at most.