Topic: It finally arrived!!!!!

[Dusthawk]

The letter I have been waiting for for three months finally arrived, my court date is January 18th, 2011. A little further out than I thought it would be but you know what? I've waited patiently for three years for this and can wait a couple more months.

My attorney confided in me that he thinks there is a 95% chance the judge will hear our case and just rule that I be paid. If that does happen, I will have my settlement by February the 12th and can finally get started on my new life.

As a time killer I have spent considerable time browsing through house listings in the South Bend and Elkhart areas of Indiana. I have been finding some great houses for wonderful prices and so look forward to getting there and getting started.

More to come later,

Peace and Long Rides,

Jeff

[tramp]

good luck to ya

[Bob Wessner]

Best of luck to you Jeff. We have our fingers crossed.

[333]

Not remembering your story(and that's even if you told it) and at the risk of being a wet blanket, if you settlement is from an insurance company, more than likely they will do anything to fight paying you.  My son has been fighting AIG in a workmans comp issue for 4 years now.  Every time they lose, they appeal.

Just sayin'.  Best of luck.

[bill440cars]

 
       Yeah 333, Jeff's story is on here, so check, If you are interested. He's been through HELL, to put it lightly.
     
        I'm Praying for ya Jeff, it's been a long hard road Brother, but like you said, you can wait just a little longer. Here's hoping that things WILL get settle, FINALLY and you can get on with your life. 

                                   Keep Hangin in there Bro,   Bill

[Dusthawk]

333, in a nutshell, injured at work June 28, 2006, 4 major surgeries, 2 minor, AIG repeatedly delayed or denied diagnostics and procedures so that I am now permanently disabled. After one surgery I had a traveling blood clot that got caught behind my knee and was on blood thinners for 5 months. Seeing a psychiatrist for severe clinical depression along with taking a handful of pills everyday to balance my head.

My attorney has done everything perfectly, given AIG and the defense no recourse but to pay once the judge says pay him which we are confident he will. Even the judge had ample evidence that shows AIG has done more to hurt me than help me and sees that we jumped through every hoop AIG wanted us to. My attorney can't see any reason why the judge should say no, the defense is out of excuses and the judge won't stand for any more either.

I can almost feel Karma siding with me this time, it just feels right. The plans I am making with the move and everything, I just know the perfect house will be just on the market when I am ready to move and the one person I have talked to about vending routes has told me that while she wanted to transfer over her vending route to someone else by the end of the year, I am the only one to show such eager interest and will wait for me to come through.

In the mean time, I will just bide my time and wait for court to roll around. I know the right thing will happen on Jan 18th so it's just a matter of being patient and having good grace about the wait.

[333]

I had no idea that this was so similar to my son's story(workman's comp), or that AIG was involved.  My son worked at a kennel, and was hit by a car while chasing after a loose dog(dog got away from owner, not the kennel).  He had one major surgery- to repair the burst fracture of T4.  Luckily, there was no spinal cord damage, so he didn't loose the ability to walk, but there was some other nerve damage, probably from the surgery itself(not mistakes, the nerves were just in the way of getting the job done)leaving bowel/bladder issues.  But he was able to go back to work part time about 6 or 8 months after the accident.  AIG lost all appeals but has yet to pay.  The kennel found a way to fire him, allowing AIG to stop the payments of the difference between part and full time.  That is what our latest legal battle is all about, but it also seems to have gotten AIG to start paying, even though they are making mistakes in doing so.  They haven't even thought about the $200K+ they owe my HMO.

[Dusthawk]

There is only one positive law here in California that deals with Workman's Comp, once settlement is reached and ordered by a judge, the insurance company has between 5 and 25 days to make the payment. Every other law here is so one sided in favor of the insurance companies that honest to goodness treatment of injuries is totally in the hands of the adjusters, not the doctors. They legally can hire a consulting doctor who doesn't even need to see the patient to make a "considered opinion" that the insurance companies can run with, most of the time to the detriment of the injured worker as in my case. It took them 5 months just to approve an MRI, three more to approve a second major surgery. They totally ignored all requests for MRI's of my shoulders which were proven to be resultant of the initial ankle injury for 13 months, end even then only approved an Open MRI which is little better than an X-ray saying I was too big for a closed MRI, which was false. My attorney hounded them for months until the finally approved a closed MRI of my shoulders and by then my back, which by then had accumulated enough injury to cause even more pain. Those MRI's showed I needed arthroscopic surgery on both shoulders but they only approved for the right shoulder. They completely ignore requests and demands for treatment of my back and to this day do not abide the opinion of the final examining doctor that both my shoulders and by back were a direct result of the initial injury and their cavalier treatment of my complaints.

We are seeking a minimal settlement of only $80,000 which will provide me enough to start a new life away from the high cost of living here in Cali for a much lower cost of living area such as Indiana has to offer. My attorney will ask for more considering how much the defense has delayed and cost us but he stands firm that the minimum I am owed be paid. We are 95% certain the judge will find for us, the amount of the award is in his hands though. While we hope for a better settlement we are confident that the least I will get is the $80K.

So, assuming the judge rules in our favor, the earliest I will receive the settlement will be the 23rd of January, the latest should be the 12th of February. I expect that by the end of February I will have all the parts I need to finish Rita in hand or on the way to me. I won't get to work on her until after the move to Indiana but I do expect to me riding her this summer. I won't be able to do the big cruise I was planning but every two or three weeks I will take three or four day weekends to various areas where members of this great forum reside and visit as many as I can.

Anyway, time I shuffled off to sleep, been a long day.

Peace and Long Rides,

Jeff

[333]

I don't know what I would have done if I had to rely on AIG to administer my son's care.  Best of luck to you.  If you ever make it to D.C., look me up.