Helping Someone Who Was Doored Thursday on Lawrence Ave

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Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on May 30, 2015 at 5:15am

Brian, thank you for your actions and concern. Please take note of anything you saw or heard, even if you did not see the actual event. Preserve the video you took in the event the dooring victim needs it later. Police should have taken your info but their priority is to care for the injured. Check back here at the Chainlink in case the injured cyclist later on needs witnesses or anyone that observed anything relevant to it.
Again, thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Keating on June 1, 2015 at 2:52pm

Insurance "adjusters" work to "adjust" claims. Meaning the adjuster tries to resolve the claim as favorably as possible for the insurance company. When a bicyclist is injured you are not like a good neighbor and you are not in good hands. You are a financial liability and they will do what they can to settle the case for as little money as possible.

What I'm able to do as any attorney is essentially two fold. First, I have 13 years of experience in negotiating claims like this. Second, if push comes to shove I have the ability to take the case to trial and get a judge or jury to favorable compensate the bicyclist.

Most people do not have the knowledge, training, and experience to reposition the negotiation in their favor. And that's not a criticism, just reality. I've read that some insurance companies offer as little as 10% directly to the injured person that they offer that same person that's represented by an attorney. I always have and always will offer free consultations to anyone injured in a bike crash. And there are no attorney's fees unless we win. So the bottom line is if anyone is every injured give me a call. I'm here to help - it's what I do for a living - and if nothing else I can walk you through the process and explain how it all works.

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Permalink Reply by Tricolor on June 2, 2015 at 12:32pm

A bent wheel's pretty inexpensive compared to a broken person. Insurance companies will pay out faster for one than the other.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Keating on June 2, 2015 at 3:05pm

This is very true.

Property damage is relatively easy to figure out the value for, especially for newer bikes. It's a little trickier if it is a custom build but still somewhat of a matter of just finding comparable bikes and their sales price.

For personal injury it is very complicated. We are all different. Pain and suffering, disfigurement, disability, loss of a normal life, wage loss, medical bills, future medical bills.......for every person and every crash it is different. Again, it's why no one should rely on an insurance company to "decide for them" what their case is worth. 

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Permalink Reply by V W on May 30, 2015 at 1:24pm

Indeed and I get the sense the police have an unofficial "blame the cyclist " policy, not that you'll be ticketed but the driver will be made out to be not at fault. Now I bet if and when a bicycle cop gets doored they're somehow not as sympathetic. But invariably they won't send a bike cop to write up the report, more likely one of the Chevy Tahoe driving ones.

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