My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of: Washington state
Approximately a week ago I was rear-ended while stopped for traffic on a highway, causing a multi-vehicle collision and likely totaling my vehicle. The police issued a ticket to the driver who hit me. Liability is pretty clear. A few hours after the accident occurred, I went to the ER with increasing back pain. No spinal fracture was suspected and I was sent home with a prescription for pain medication. Several days after the accident occurred I had severe abdominal pain. Imaging performed while at the ER showed (minor) internal abdominal bruising consistent with a motor vehicle collision. The best course of action according to the consulted surgeon was to rest.
My doctor expects I will make a full, but painful, recovery in the 1-2 month time frame by resting and going to physical therapy. My medical bills are being submitted to my health insurance who will request reimbursement (I do not have PIP coverage with my auto insurance). Prior to the collision I was relatively active (including biking 4-6 hours a week as part of my commute and many other activities). For the time being, not so much.
I am 100% aware that I should not settle anything until I make a full recovery and I am in no particular hurry to settle anything. However, I think it is prudent to start working on a demand letter while everything is still fresh in my mind and ensuring I document everything necessary. I have been reading the NOLO book on personal injury claims and have several questions:
1. Multiplier - from what I have read, soft tissue injuries with no "proof" of injury result in a value of 1.5-3 times medical. Given that I have imaging proof of injury, this appears to move this claim up to the 3-5x category. Would this be correct? I'm assuming in this bucket I would be in the low to middle end.
2. Medical costs - my health insurance has discounts. Should I use the pre-discount costs or post-discount costs? The discount will likely be half the costs.
3. Lost income - First, I receive a performance bonus based on my accomplishments over the year in addition to my annual salary as part of my compensation. Should my last bonus amount be included in my annual pay for compensation purposes? Second, is there any compensation for my time in the ER, doctor's visits, etc... if they occurred outside of working hours?
4. Documentation - apart from general soreness, my abdominal injuries mean I am in pain whenever I eat anything (like the stomach flu without the flu part). This has caused me to eat less and lose (some) weight. I am also in pain whenever I, for example, drive over a bump as my intestines move, hitting the bruises. Any thoughts on how to document this or highlight this in my demand letter?
5. Total demand - if I assume medical bills are around $10k, a multiplier of 3x, plus lost income of around $2k, then I should demand double that, so around $64k. Does that sound reasonable for an initial demand? I should assume I would receive no more than around $30k in this example and likely less.
Apologies for the long list of questions and thank you for any help!


