Seeking collective wisdom

He wasn’t drunk, but we were hit by a supposedly ‘suicidal’ driver who ran a red light in an alleged attempt to end his own life. (I don’t buy it, I think he just wanted to win his girlfriend back) I walked away uninjured but my wife has had her quality of life severely diminished due to her injuries. This happened more than a decade ago and she will likely never recover from her injuries.

My advice:

1) Get a good attorney and hope the other driver has good insurance or that you have great insurance. You’ll want to find out what kind of settlement you can expect based on the other driver’s insurance as well as your own. In our case, the other guy was driving a rental car which had a maximum insurance liability of $25 grand and our own insurance didn’t cover for uninsured/under-insured drivers. As you might imagine, the money we received doesn’t even come close to covering the decade plus of medical bills, let alone the pain and suffering of my wife and the impact it has had on our family. We were told we could sue the driver separately, but he was a total loser without a dollar or asset to his name, so it would have been pointless.

2) Depending on your son’s injuries, life may never get back to normal. (I know ours hasn’t) Help his recovery as best you can but set your expectations for a ‘new’ normal, one in which his quality of life is less than it was before. If he fully recovers, that will be great. If he doesn’t, at least you’re mentally prepared for that outcome.

Good luck.

Sorry to hear about this. Wish I had some advice to give. DUI is no joke and the penalties are too light. Praying for your sons speedy recovery.

My advice is to get a dogged personal injury attorney hired ASAP. I’m very sorry your family is experiencing this.

I had a friend whose wife and all 3 kids were killed by a drunk driver. Attorney up and take no prisoners.

So sorry to hear this. My advice would be to take this person to the cleaners with the best injury attorney you can find. I lost a good friend who was hit by a Police officer driving /speeding without their lights on around midnight about 15 years ago.

I agree with the advice about getting an attorney. Seek counsel about going after the insurance companies to cover medical expenses and damages (immediate and long term). Also, seek counsel about whether it will accomplish anything to go after the individual driver. As an attorney myself, I fully believe that the legal system should be put to appropriate use to remedy wrongs that have been committed. After consulting with an attorney, take some time to consider your various options, and give some real thought to the costs of seeking (or not seeking) relief–both for yourself (and your son) and the other driver.

But remember that there are limits to what the legal system can ultimately accomplish. You may have to find real peace elsewhere. Take care, HCHooligan, and good luck. I hope your son pulls through quickly!

(I’m not soliciting business. I work for the State of Missouri, and in my current role, I am not permitted to represent private individuals.)