Back

Important Personal Injury Claim and Insurance Information | Colorado

Phil Harding | 790 Views | 01/27/2015

Who wouldn’t like a free gift this time of year, right? Well Colorado’s best attorney, Phil Harding from Harding & Associates has promised just that. He’s here with us this morning on Colorado’s Best. So tell us what is this great gift that you’ve had for our viewers?

Well you know I thought, what a better gift to give our viewers than the information on how to double, triple or more an injury claim?

I like that. I like doubling and tripling.

Well good you know I think I heard someone moaning out there like I gave him a fruitcake. But I want you to re-gift this, this information that I’m going to give to you is when we’re done with this segment you’re going to have the knowledge that many attorneys don’t have.

Yeah, because you teach not only people you teach attorneys this great knowledge. So we’re going to tell everyone, we’re going to remind everyone why you are our legal expert. It is awesome. He’s been voted one of the top 100 trial lawyers in Colorado for 6 years in a row now, very impressive. Also, you’re an AV rated attorney. That’s the highest rating your can get, right?

Correct, that is.

That’ awesome. Also, a super lawyer again this year and a lot of national publications like USA Today call you to get your insight on a lot of big cases around the nation, so just incredible. The list goes on and on. And I just heard that you were elected by your peers as one of the top attorneys in the nation.

Yes.

That’s awesome.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that.

Yeah, congratulations, impressive.

Well we got a lot of information to go over here. So let’s go about this. I want to briefly go over some points and talk about what people try to do when they settle their own case that’s going to half or more the amount that they recover. And first of all, never, and you got to zoom in, record this three second, never, ever sign a release for the other side.

Never, ever–

Never, ever.

–don’t do it.

And let me tell you why. Yeah, maybe they see your medical records. They want to see your medical bills and let me tell you why. We have a graphic up here. It’s called – this is a bill you may get when you go for surgery – it’s called an EOB because it stands for Explanation of Benefits.

Okay the EOB.

EOB, now here you could have gotten $29,352 paid from the other side because if you look on the far left hand side that’s how much the hospital billed for this surgery but if you signed a release for the other side’s insurance company or sent this bill to them without covering up the paid amount, they would have seen the billed amount of $29,000 but then they would have seen the paid amount of the $8,500. Now the other side’s insurance company – when they see that – they would have said, “Well you showed it to me, so I guess I’m only going to pay you the $8,500.” Now that’s a difference of–

So that works against you by showing it.

You lost $20,000, right there. And let me tell you why this makes sense. You got this discounted rate because you’ve been paying years and years and years for health insurance premium.

Right, you deserve it. You deserve that rate.

When you settle this case the other side is not going to say, “I’m going to pay you back for the years of health insurance premiums that you paid to get this discount.” So they don’t get to see that.

Yeah, they shouldn’t get the discount, that’s for you.

You only so to them the left hand side, the billed amount, not the paid amount. That’s huge. And it comes from these big words called the collateral source doctrine. Now because you have this collateral source – and the collateral source is your health insurance – the other side does not get this discount, big.

Big, big, that is like $20,000 you’re looking at. So that’s a huge saving. What else do you have in your big bag there Santa.

All right, so of the $8,5000 – you’re health insurance paid out on this – if you settle your case you’re going to have to pay that back. Now, of that $8,500 there is this thing called Colorado’s Make Whole Law and you may not have to pay back any of that or only a portion of that $8,500.

So how does that work?

Well let’s talk about it. I have a portion here of Colorado’s Make Whole Law and let’s talk about it. Colorado’s Make Whole Law says the amount recoverable if any – that’s key words – if any by the payer of benefits – namely your health insurance – for reimbursement or subrogation shall be reduced by an amount equal to the payer of benefits proportional share of attorney’s fees and expenses incurred on behalf of the injured party.

Let’s talk about this for a second. So this reduction of a third, let’s say you hire an attorney on a third contingency fee, the health insurance company that wants their money back needs to reduce how much they want by the third as well. You hired an attorney, that attorney did work, that attorney charged you to get money. It’s also getting money back for your health insurance, they need to reduce it by a third as well.

Okay, well that seems to make sense. It seems like that’s only fair really.

Well, of course it’s only fair. I mean everyone– they’re benefiting from it. Here’s another thing I want to go into which is a third segment. I want to talk about how to find more insurance. And here’s the thing if you are injured – and remember one out of six people driving doesn’t have any insurance and state minimums are $25,000 – you may be able to stack these insurances on top of each other. And I got to tell you I am out there and I know where to find insurance that other people can’t. If you’re going fishing, you hire a fishing guy that knows where the fish is.

Absolutely yes.

Yeah, and so I know where that is. And let’s talk about this graphic for a second. First of all, you need to know when you loan your car, you loan your insurance. So you first look if someone runs into you at the owner of the insurance. The next thing that you look at is the driver. If the driver and owner are different, there may be two insurances there.

The next thing is do you have uninsured underinsured motorist coverage. And under Colorado law, unless you signed a waiver, you have it. And then I dig further and further, is anyone else in your house? Do they have UM/UIM? Do you have multiple cars? There may be more and more coverages there. And I want to go over that example that we were talking about right before here.

I represented an individual and they were in an auto accident, had $170,000 in medical bills. The person that ran into my client only had $25,000 in coverage. My client only had $25,000 UM/UIM. So you think, “Wow, there’s only $50,000.” I then started to dig and ask questions and even my client said, “What does that have to do with anything?” Found out that her husband – her ex-husband from many years ago – still kept her on the policy because they had teenage kids together. That was another hundred–

That’s awesome you found that.

Well and we called– and people thing that I’m crazy when I ask these questions. We got them another $150,000, or another–

So they went form having a deficit to making more.

And then you use Colorado’s Make Whole Law remember where we saw if you have to pay back, if any, because she got policy limits of 25 and 25 and the 100, she didn’t have to pay back a penny to her health insurance company because she was not made whole under that law.

This is awesome. This is how he can double and triple the amount you get back on your claim. So you’ve got to call Phil with any of your legal questions and to find him you can go to our website Coloradosbest.tv and send him the questions there. You see his picture you can click on it and them submit questions. If you would like to call him directly at his office, Harding & Associates, just call 303-762-9500 and get a free consultation anytime. And you can find him online at Hlaw.org. Those are great gifts, thank you.

By: Phil Harding

Important Personal Injury Claim and Insurance Information | Colorado

Who wouldn’t like a free gift this time of year, right? Well Colorado’s best attorney, Phil Harding from Harding & Associates has promised just that. He’s here with us this morning on Colorado’s Best. So tell us what is this great gift that you’ve had for our viewers?

Well you know I thought, what a better gift to give our viewers than the information on how to double, triple or more an injury claim?

I like that. I like doubling and tripling.

Well good you know I think I heard someone moaning out there like I gave him a fruitcake. But I want you to re-gift this, this information that I’m going to give to you is when we’re done with this segment you’re going to have the knowledge that many attorneys don’t have.

Yeah, because you teach not only people you teach attorneys this great knowledge. So we’re going to tell everyone, we’re going to remind everyone why you are our legal expert. It is awesome. He’s been voted one of the top 100 trial lawyers in Colorado for 6 years in a row now, very impressive. Also, you’re an AV rated attorney. That’s the highest rating your can get, right?

Correct, that is.

That’ awesome. Also, a super lawyer again this year and a lot of national publications like USA Today call you to get your insight on a lot of big cases around the nation, so just incredible. The list goes on and on. And I just heard that you were elected by your peers as one of the top attorneys in the nation.

Yes.

That’s awesome.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that.

Yeah, congratulations, impressive.

Well we got a lot of information to go over here. So let’s go about this. I want to briefly go over some points and talk about what people try to do when they settle their own case that’s going to half or more the amount that they recover. And first of all, never, and you got to zoom in, record this three second, never, ever sign a release for the other side.

Never, ever–

Never, ever.

–don’t do it.

And let me tell you why. Yeah, maybe they see your medical records. They want to see your medical bills and let me tell you why. We have a graphic up here. It’s called – this is a bill you may get when you go for surgery – it’s called an EOB because it stands for Explanation of Benefits.

Okay the EOB.

EOB, now here you could have gotten $29,352 paid from the other side because if you look on the far left hand side that’s how much the hospital billed for this surgery but if you signed a release for the other side’s insurance company or sent this bill to them without covering up the paid amount, they would have seen the billed amount of $29,000 but then they would have seen the paid amount of the $8,500. Now the other side’s insurance company – when they see that – they would have said, “Well you showed it to me, so I guess I’m only going to pay you the $8,500.” Now that’s a difference of–

So that works against you by showing it.

You lost $20,000, right there. And let me tell you why this makes sense. You got this discounted rate because you’ve been paying years and years and years for health insurance premium.

Right, you deserve it. You deserve that rate.

When you settle this case the other side is not going to say, “I’m going to pay you back for the years of health insurance premiums that you paid to get this discount.” So they don’t get to see that.

Yeah, they shouldn’t get the discount, that’s for you.

You only so to them the left hand side, the billed amount, not the paid amount. That’s huge. And it comes from these big words called the collateral source doctrine. Now because you have this collateral source – and the collateral source is your health insurance – the other side does not get this discount, big.

Big, big, that is like $20,000 you’re looking at. So that’s a huge saving. What else do you have in your big bag there Santa.

All right, so of the $8,5000 – you’re health insurance paid out on this – if you settle your case you’re going to have to pay that back. Now, of that $8,500 there is this thing called Colorado’s Make Whole Law and you may not have to pay back any of that or only a portion of that $8,500.

So how does that work?

Well let’s talk about it. I have a portion here of Colorado’s Make Whole Law and let’s talk about it. Colorado’s Make Whole Law says the amount recoverable if any – that’s key words – if any by the payer of benefits – namely your health insurance – for reimbursement or subrogation shall be reduced by an amount equal to the payer of benefits proportional share of attorney’s fees and expenses incurred on behalf of the injured party.

Let’s talk about this for a second. So this reduction of a third, let’s say you hire an attorney on a third contingency fee, the health insurance company that wants their money back needs to reduce how much they want by the third as well. You hired an attorney, that attorney did work, that attorney charged you to get money. It’s also getting money back for your health insurance, they need to reduce it by a third as well.

Okay, well that seems to make sense. It seems like that’s only fair really.

Well, of course it’s only fair. I mean everyone– they’re benefiting from it. Here’s another thing I want to go into which is a third segment. I want to talk about how to find more insurance. And here’s the thing if you are injured – and remember one out of six people driving doesn’t have any insurance and state minimums are $25,000 – you may be able to stack these insurances on top of each other. And I got to tell you I am out there and I know where to find insurance that other people can’t. If you’re going fishing, you hire a fishing guy that knows where the fish is.

Absolutely yes.

Yeah, and so I know where that is. And let’s talk about this graphic for a second. First of all, you need to know when you loan your car, you loan your insurance. So you first look if someone runs into you at the owner of the insurance. The next thing that you look at is the driver. If the driver and owner are different, there may be two insurances there.

The next thing is do you have uninsured underinsured motorist coverage. And under Colorado law, unless you signed a waiver, you have it. And then I dig further and further, is anyone else in your house? Do they have UM/UIM? Do you have multiple cars? There may be more and more coverages there. And I want to go over that example that we were talking about right before here.

I represented an individual and they were in an auto accident, had $170,000 in medical bills. The person that ran into my client only had $25,000 in coverage. My client only had $25,000 UM/UIM. So you think, “Wow, there’s only $50,000.” I then started to dig and ask questions and even my client said, “What does that have to do with anything?” Found out that her husband – her ex-husband from many years ago – still kept her on the policy because they had teenage kids together. That was another hundred–

That’s awesome you found that.

Well and we called– and people thing that I’m crazy when I ask these questions. We got them another $150,000, or another–

So they went form having a deficit to making more.

And then you use Colorado’s Make Whole Law remember where we saw if you have to pay back, if any, because she got policy limits of 25 and 25 and the 100, she didn’t have to pay back a penny to her health insurance company because she was not made whole under that law.

This is awesome. This is how he can double and triple the amount you get back on your claim. So you’ve got to call Phil with any of your legal questions and to find him you can go to our website Coloradosbest.tv and send him the questions there. You see his picture you can click on it and them submit questions. If you would like to call him directly at his office, Harding & Associates, just call 303-762-9500 and get a free consultation anytime. And you can find him online at Hlaw.org. Those are great gifts, thank you.

By: Phil Harding