Auto Accident Survivors

Okay, so I have this saying:

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
For me, one knot usually does the trick.
Today I tied several knots. And go figure... I'm still here.

It seem many of my client's universes collided at the same and I got lots of calls of panic between cases. So there was a lot of listening while driving, some soothing, then a re-direct of those calls to the law firm. I explained I am out of the loop until I come back later.... if and when needed for witness interviews, further investigation, deposition or trial.
I explain that I am a subcontractor, not an employee of the law firm.
I'm a cost in a legal action, like medical records, police reports, experts, copies... all the out of pocket expenses an attorney has to invest to land or win a case. If the attorneys don't in they pay no costs.

What I do, is come in a white horse (actually a blue Trail Blazer), at the beginning of a case, as close to the time of injury as possible. I have the easiest part of the job because once I get to a injured victim's hospital room or house, they want me there. They see me... an agent of the attorney... as an agent of hope.

What I, the Private Investigator is, in essence, is a messenger, evaluator...
and a legitimately and gainfully-employed voyeur.

I am the eyes and ears of the attorney in the field.
I strive to weed out the scammers from the truth-tellers...
the sizzle from the substance...
the prospective clients who are into claims for the money and not the healing.

I strive to protect both clients and attorneys from false claims or the smaller ones, where the return on the attorney's investments would not be in the client's or attorney's best interest.
For instance, in cases where insurance limits are 25k and medical bills are already 30k, it doesn't make sense to hire an attorney and give him or her a third..
Unless...
the only insurance company you are dealing with is your own.
That would make it an UIM claim (Uninsured Motorists Or Underinsured Motorist)... which means your insurance company is allowed by certain state laws to take an "adversarial posture." Once a UIM claim is opened by your insurance company, they can act like the Defendant.

That is why attorneys take on clients who have to sue their own insurance company to get benefits they paid for... when the other guy, the car at fault, has no insurance or too little to cover a fair settlement.

I hope that's not too boring a tale. But those are the facts of auto accident investigation, among many. I do more vehicle collisions than any kind of accident and I have learned how to drive as a result.

Mellow.

No road rage, no left lane driving,
No hanging in groups.
And never, ever will I drive in front of a semi because, according to to one friend, a former Investigator and Instructor for a State Patrol's Major Accident Investigation squad, something like 80% of all semi's allegedly have faulty brakes.

Now that's I've totally pushed your paranoia button, let me take it one step further.
This being both diary and confessional, let me tell you ever so briefly about who I saw today.

There was the old lady in whose bedroom room I sat. She was a passenger in a car that was hit head on by a teenager texting. The elderly woman got punched and burnt bad in the face by an airbag deployment. She is 92. She also broke her hip when it hit the door and her back, she said, "is sorer than hell."

She told me, in the same matter-of-fact way we talked about the torrents of rain hitting the roof of her retirement home, that she could die any minute.

"And maybe it'll be from the accident. or maybe because I'm old," she said. "Truth be told, I Iived to 92 able to walk on my own, now I'm in a wheelchair and if the sons of a bitches who hit me take one more thing... one more day... one more year off my life... I want them to pay me or my kids."

All I could think to say, which now, as I reflect was quite stupid... was, "you go girl."
Though it did make her laugh.

What didn't make me last was my last stop of the day. It was a little boy, age 8 comatose with a brain injury in ICU. It's hard to think of anything to say to parents who are facing such a tragedy on so many levels. The little boy was in a crosswalk when a drunk driver hit and ran. She was stopped at a light by Good Sams who chased and held her there until the police report.

"What if the drunk driver has no insurance?" the father asked. "All we have is about 100k in UIM (Under or Uninsured Motorist).

I told Dad there were no guarantees in this business, though the job of the Investigator is to look for all sources of liability. Meaning we look for sources of insurance money.

"It is possible," I explained slowly as I studied the police report. " to investigate the last place the drunk driver drank. We might be able to make an over-service case."

According the Police Report, the officer said the DEF Drunk Driver admitted she had a few shots at local bar before exiting. The same bar had video cameras, I was told. There'd been a stabbing there before.

So if the DEF arrived drunk or was over-served, perhaps we could request or subpeona the bar's videos. Then maybe we could tap into the bar's insurance company... to cover their little boy's medical bills. Because it was within 5 minutes of exiting the bar, the DWI DEF hit the little boy and attempted to run.

And so as I crossed the Puget Sound tonight... just about sunset... I thought of the little boy in a coma and the old lady in a wheelchair and the irony was inescapable.
I... free, safe, healthy heading home on my White Horse... the Washington State ferry... until tomorrow and whatever it brings.

Meantime to my new FB friends and blog readers including my new students at UW....
It was a pleasure meeting you all last night.
It's a little intimidating... the backgrounds some of you have.
I suspect, however, I'll get over it.