Auto Accident: $75,000 Settlement
Feb 21, 2011OUTCOME: $75,000 Settlement
My client's husband had died in an auto accident last year when they were rear-ended by another driver. To make matters worse, the other driver only had minimum coverage, which in Missouri is only $25, ... 000.00. Fortunately, my client's husband had underinsured motorist coverage on his insurance policy, so we were able to access another $50,000.00 for our client. Still, this is chump change when someone has lost a loved one in an auto accident. Adding insult to injury, the Veterans Administration had placed a $419,000.00 lien on my client's case. This would have been a simple solution had this been a lien or bill from a medical facility, because in Missouri medical facilities do not have a right of reimbursement for wrongful death cases. However, this VA lien is akin to a Medicare lien, the dreaded "super lien." Based on federal law, our firm is legally obligated to protect the Veterans Administration's lien. This had the potential of wiping out any right of recovery my client had for her husband's death. I did my research and put together a brief with my arguments for why the Veterans Administration should reduce its lien. After about a month of waiting, I finally received a response. They had met my request and agreed to reduce the lien from $419,000.00 to $5,000.00.
