Motor Vehicle Accidents

This experienced Massachusetts motor vehicle accident Attorney has successfully obtained settlements and litigated court cases for over a thousand clients spanning a career nearly 30 years. The Attorney has handled auto accidents with minor impacts as well as auto accidents with substantial impacts and serious injuries. No accident victim is treated any differently. This Attorney zealously represents every client in aggressively pursuing his or her accident claim.

This experienced Attorney will investigate the case, will obtain all necessary police or accident reports, photographs, have contact with witnesses, determine insurance coverage and assess liability. This experienced Attorney will maximize your case to the fullest extens so that the client receives the most from a settlement. This experienced Attorney will give you a “realistic” value of your case and will not unfairly raise your expectations.

This experienced Attorney is highly competent in processing the accident case from start to finish, ensuring that the client receives his or her money, if and when, due and payable, to pay him or her for any lost wages, medical expenses and other out of pocket expenses as well as his or her pain and suffering.

  1. PIP Benefits

  2. In a motor vehicle case, most times clients have PIP coverage on their own automobile insurance policy. “ PIP ” is an abbreviation for Personal Injury Protection benefits. PIP coverage can be available to cover medical bills and/or lost wages up to $8,000.00 typically. The PIP claim can be an involved process. If a client has health insurance such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Tufts, Harvard Pilgrim or another private health insurance plan, PIP benefits will pay the first $2,000.00 in medical bills. Medical bills over $2,000.00 will then be submitted for payment to the health insurance company. Whatever health insurance does not pay (ie: co-pays, deductibles) would be resubmitted to PIP for payment under the extended PIP benefits (the monies remaining from the original $8,000.00 in coverage minuse the first $2,000.00 in medical expense paid).

  3. This Attorney will guide the client through this process as the client treats. The client must be aware and advised that any treatment he or she seeks must be properly authorized and/or within the network of his or her health provider. If the client seeks treatment outside his or her health network, the PIP company can deny payment of this treatment and the client will incur unpaid medical bills.

  4. Some people may not have private health insurance but have Mass Health, Medicaid Medicare or some other government sponsored health plan. In many of these cases, the full PIP benefits of $8,000.00 should be available to pay the client’s medical bills. If the client is not be properly advised by his or her attorney and the bills are sent to these plans for payment instead of PIP , then when the time arrives to try to settle the client’s case, there will be a lien on the client’s case for what the plan paid. For instance, if Mass Health paid $3,000.00 in medical bills, then it will have a lien (or a claim) on the client’s settlement and that agency will be seeking to be repaid out of the client’s settlement. This Attorney will ensure that all bills that should be paid by PIP are paid by PIP or will ensure that PIP will reimburse the plan out of the remaining PIP monies.

  5. Often, the PIP company will want to have the client examined by one of its own insurance doctors to determine if treatment is reasonable or necessary. This is known as an independent medical examination or IME . A client could be seeing a chiropractor and the PIP company can direct that the client be seen by one of its orthopaedic doctors for an examination. This may not seem fair but cases have upheld this process.

  6. These IMES can be brief and the insurance doctor may not have reviewed the client’s medical documentation beforehand or even have medical records for review. It is of utmost importance that the client be properly advised before an IME . The IME doctor should also have important relevant medical records for the examination, especially if there is an important diagnostic record such as an MRI report that shows a serious condition that is directly related to the motor vehicle accident. TheIME doctor wields a lot of influence over a client’s case. If the IME doctor does not believe that the client requires continued treatment, the PIP company can refuse to pay for medical bills incurred after the date of the IME doctor’s report. This Attorney is experienced in disputing an IME doctor’s erroneous opinion if the client’s own doctors believe further treatment is necessary. This Attorney has been involved in obtaining rebuttal reports from treating physicians and negotiating PIP claims with adjusters.

  7. MEDPAY Benefits (Medical Payments)

  8. Many times attorneys overlook a client’s optional coverage on an automobile insurance policy.MedPay coverage is an optional coverage that a driver may have to pay additional medical expenses over and above the PIP limit of $8,000.00. MedPay coverage can come in handy when a client has a large sum of medical bills. Sometimes people may have $5,000.00 in MedPay and sometimes he or she may have MedPay coverage of $25,000.00 or more. Sometimes insurance companies do not voluntarily alert an insured of this coverage and it is up to the attorney to determine all necessary insurance coverage. This Attorney is experienced in dealing with MedPayissues.