Missed this last month: Charlotte Allen dissects how the case of the aunt suing her nephew over a hug gone wrong (covered here, here, and here) played out in the press and public opinion. [Weekly Standard]
Missed this last month: Charlotte Allen dissects how the case of the aunt suing her nephew over a hug gone wrong (covered here, here, and here) played out in the press and public opinion. [Weekly Standard]
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What struck me was on ethics: the big divide on what lawyers see as ethical and the general public does. Frankly, since I have to see it every day, it always come down to getting paid for the lawyers. I’ve heard way too many times “I’m not making enough off of this case”. And of course, it’s easy to demonize the insurance company because it’s the bank that funds their livelihood. Simple marketing and pandering to the general public to make that collection easier. Create the enemy, and enough people will flock to the lawyer to ‘protect’ them.
The aunt was supposedly suing to recover medical costs from the boy’s father’s homeowners insurance.
What I want to know is where is the aunt’s health insurance company in all of this? Why does she even need to go after medical costs from the father’s homeowner’s insurance?
It’s funny watching the trial lawyers squirm and blame the insurance company. Though the insurer did exactly what it was contractually obligated to do: settle the case and protect its insured or successfully defend its insured through a final judgment—in this case a defense verdict.
A bit of insight on where the sleaze bag lawyers / insurance companies are coming from:
I had myself a little trip to the hospital some time back. Being lazy, I used the tool at hand instead of the correct tool for the job that was all of 10 feet away in the tool box. There was no one to blame but my own stupidity and laziness. Of course, at the hospital, they wanted to know what happened that required the 5 stitches to tidy up the nasty little cut I gave myself. “Accident….here’s what I did…..” and demonstrated the sequence of my stupidity***.
Some time later I get a letter presumably from the law firm for the company health insurance company seeking to “investigate the circumstances of my accident to see about recovery for costs”. I ignore it since, to be blunt, it looked & stank like an ID theft attempt, wanting all kinds of personal info. They sent two more which I ignored as well for the same reason. In the end, they were probably legit, but the whole thing just felt slimy.
*** – What to know one small reason why hospital visits are so expensive? The Domestic Violence clown, who probably makes 50k / year, came by to ask me if “I felt safe at home” while I’m sitting there bleeding all over. I laughed. I wonder to this day how much that 15 seconds will billed at. Wished I’d actually took a few minutes of her time to force her to look at the wound and make her see how it’s a no brainer self inflicted via stupidity.
MattS, her health insurance may not cover injuries for which a third party is liable. Having made a determination that a third party is liable, it may not have been willing to pay until a court determined the third party was not responsible. Provisions vary, and I haven’t been able to find any article which contained the specifics of her policy.
I have an issue when I cough. Apparently, I have a very strong cough when I get bronchitis or pneumonia and break ribs. I’ve lost count of how many times my wife has been threatened with arrest for beating me, but they can never find bruises or anything. When I try to explain the problem, they look at me like I’m crazy and start questioning me again. I usually get letters from my health insurance companies asking about my accident so they can foist the costs off on someone else’s insurance.