Accident/Insurance Question

[chinaski]

A friend of mine was cruising down the street on his bicycle, going around 20-25 mph. A guy in a parked car on the side of the road forgets to check to see if people are in the bike lane, opens his door and flattens my friend. It breaks my friends arm in 2 places and now he has to get pins put in. Hes really hurting.

So im discussing this his accident with another friend of mine. I say, "damn, i sure hope he gets a good chunk of change out of this" and my buddy freaks out saying how dare i and basically says im the reason why insurance rates are so high, lazy american, yadda yadda. Now im thinking here, wtf is he talking about? Im not talking about suing the guy who hurt him, im talking about 1.) collecting money from the insurance co. for med bills. 2.) collecting money for lost wages and 3.) collecting money for pain and suffering (there might be a better way to word #3).

Am i wrong here? I know #1 and #2 are a given, but isnt my hurt friend entitled too something for all this BS besides med bills and lost wages? I thought "pain and suffering" was a given in insurance settlements as well (as long as the policy holder has a policy large enough to cover #1 & #2).

How do i explain to my irrational friend where he is going wrong? I think he believes im talking about suing the guy or taking advantage of the insurance company or something, im really puzzled why its so "wrong" to want more that just med bills and lost wages??

[Swaggs]

Might not be so clear cut as you might think. Without knowing all the details, I could argue right now, that your friend hit something that was not moving and did not have control of his vehicle/bicycle.

[chinaski]

I know what youre saying Swaggs, but lets assume its all this guys fault. Isnt it standard practice to receive "pain and suffering" money when this happens?

[Swaggs]

This is kind of an circumstance, because of the vehicle not moving. But, I think I see what you are saying. If it were a normal accident and the owner of the vehicle were clearly at fault, medical bills + pain and suffering (which is what we called it at my insurance company would be paid for by his company.

[Mustang]

Assuming it is the person's fault who opened the door, not 100% certain it will be auto insurance and not just against the person that opened the door and they might have to sue him but, this case screams 'They need a lawyer'

But, answering your question #3.. usually pain & suffering comes out to about 2 1/2 times medical bills. (At least on mine and my wifes accidents.. that is what it roughly was).

For my neck/shoulder injury, what pain & suffering covers is those nights I couldn't sleep for crap, the time spent having to do physical rehab exercises at home. The time spent not being able to do my hobbies (such as model building/painting) because the position I would have my neck and shoulder in wouldn't allow that for more than 15-20 minutes).

While there are people that take advantage of the system or fake injuries or use unethical doctors to push up unnecessary medicals bills.. THESE are the people that are driving up insurance costs. There are alot of people who through an accident have had to alter their lifestyles and are compensated. Believe me.. I'd rather have someone keep their $$$ than have to go through THAT again...

[chinaski]

Thanks for the responses guys, I now can tell my irrational friend to STFU! :)