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My mother was taken to our local hopital's emergency room wee she was diagnosed with a hip contusion and sprained knees due to a slip and fall incident at her adult education school. She was released the same day and and has not been able to gain normal activities for over 3 weeks. She is already receiving medical bills and unfortunatelly she does not have insurance of any kind. The school's risk managemnets office has not anwsered her verval request to have them cover her expenses. She would like to know if a personal demand letter, claiming expenses and pain and suffering damages, will be effective. (1,000.00 meds and 5,000.00 for pain and suffering) much appreciated, edwin
State/Country of Question: Florida Already Tried: She met with a school risk management claims representative only, without any answer from them. I am now preparing a personal demand letter based on public sample letters but not sure if it will be effective.
Hello Edwin,
A written demand most certainly should be made upon the school at this time. If they are not answering your requests, it is because they hope you go away or miss the statute of limitations to file a claim against them. You may make this written demand yourself, and you need to include all the facts in the letter, plus copies of all medical expenses and records. You can end the letter with the fact that they have 15 days to pay or respond, and if not, you will be hiring an attorney to sue. An attorney should take this on a contingency basis if you really do have a case. That means, you will not have to pay anything unless you win or are offered a settlement. Be sure to send the letter by certified mail, return receipt requested.
Please let me know if this leetr is correct:
My medical/medicine expenses so far have totaled $1,010.50, lost of wages $250.00, and as a result of the accident and continue to suffer from knee and hip pain, I demand settlement of my claim in the amount of $6,010.50 to aid on my recovery. Please respond to this demand to settle within 15 days to pay or respond, and if not, I will retain legal advise.
Sure, let me look it over and I will get right back to you.
Okay, so that is really good as you addressed everything you needed to. However, your mom could get potentially MUCH more than you are asking for according to the facts as I am reading them. There could be future lost wages, future medical bills, etc. and the amount she is claiming for pain and suffering is low. In any case, if this is what you feel comfortable asking for, then the letter is great. The only thing I would put in there is that you also demand to see a copy of their insurance declarations page--which will tell you how much they are insured for. It is likley millions. Don't forget to attach all the medical records.
Thank you!
Should I demand their Insurance declaration page after i receive an answer or now and if I do now what purpose will it serve as I will be claiming a sum?
Thanks,
Hello,
Well, I would do it along with your demand letter. The benefit is that while they may not pay, they may send you their dec page, which you can then give to your attorney and it will save a lot of time. Also, if they don't give it to you, that fact can be used later to show that they did not act in good faith with regard to your mom's claim. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. Also, please don't forget to click the green "accept" button in one of my answer boxes so I can receive the proper credit for helping you today. Thanks!
Lawyer
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Dear ladylawer,
Thank you again for you past help on my mom's incident.
I sent a demand letter to the County School's Board claim administrator as we discussed on our last communication but since I did not received an answer as stipulated in my letter, I contactated them by phone without any sucsess and by e-mail with a responce back as noted below:
As you know GB is the claim administrator for our city's county school board.
"We have received your demand package with regards XXXXX XXXXX above-referenced incident. At this time, we are not prepared to extend a monetary responce to your demand. However, on behalf of our client, we will commence with a comprehensive review and evaluation of these materials. Upon concluding same, we will respond to your offices to advice of our client's pursuit and/or settlement intensions.
begining of letter: Please note that as previously advised due to the construction in the area, I need to obtain a copy of the contract between the County's School Board and the contractors who were in charge of the construction at the school when the incident occurred. I am working hard with risk management to obtain a copy of the contract and their insuranc einformation; howevr I am still working on the same. As soon as I obtain the same I will forward your case information to their insurance and send you a copy of the same.
in the interim, please feel free to contact the undersigned if you have any questions or any additional information in this regard." End of letter
What should I do?.
much appreciated,
Arturo
Arturo- Well I am glad to see you are finally getting some responses. At this time, you can do one of two things: you can hire an attorney to facilitate this for you who will take about 33 percent of any settlement you get or you can just keep handling this yourself even though it is going to take longer. Seems as though right now they are trying to see if the construction company's insurance will pay this claim. They both can actually be sued and should be if a settlement is not forthcoming. If I were you, I would contact counsel and tell him that he has X amount of days to get you the info you are requesting or provide you with compensation or you plan to sue.
Thank you for your response!
In reference to your note" if I were you, I woul contact councel..." which councel are you refering to?
Thanks!
I guess I thought the school's attorney or their insurance company's attorney is the one who wrote you the letter. I see now it was just a loss prevention specialist. Whomever the "undersigned" is, that is who you need to contact.
Hi there,
an insurance adjuster wants to personally talk to my mother to go over her claim. Is this alright? and should she proceed and should I be present?
Much appreciated,
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