Hey everyone. Got out of the hospital a few days ago after being in an accident with a cager. Dumb *** ran light and pulled out in front of me making a right turn. I scrubbed as much speed as I could before laying it down and hitting him in the drivers side front tire/fender. Hitting the tire stood the bike back up and bounced me off the fender and hood. I suffered a severely dislocated and broken shoulder. The worst part is that the jack *** just kept on driving down the road like nothing happened. Pretty much slung me off the hood and never missed a beat. Didn't even attempt to stop. Another person at the light had to run&nbsp\\;\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\;the guy down and told&nbsp\\;\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\;him that he had hit me. [:@]&nbsp\\;\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\;&nbsp\\;\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\;5 screws and a lot of pain later, I'm back at home trying to type this with only my left hand.
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Couple of questions for everyone.
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Should I take legal action against the guy? He was cited for running the light, but I'm not sure about leaving the scene of the accident.
This may affect my military career(only 4 years from being able to draw retirement)
Missed work.
I'm only 33. The surgeon told me that I will most likely need a shoulder replacement as I get older.
I will never recover to 100%
No more golf this year.
No more softball this year.
Worst of all, no more riding this year![:@][:@][:@][:@]
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Should I fix the sporty and keep it? It's fixable, but I'm not sure if I want to keep it after it has been in an accident.
Here's some of the damage:
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Broken tail light.
Dinged rear fender.
Scratched brake res.
Scratched batt cover.
Dented tank.
Broken left foot peg - damaged shift linkage.
Broken mirror.
Here's what makes me nervous - Bent front fender, possible bent front rim(I think he ran over the front tire), and
broken stop on the lower triple tree(I can turn to the left and the bars touch the gas tank.)
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Thoughts?
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Steve
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Did you get his insurance info and have you contacted your insurance company? Lots of those questions would be answered by them.

Some will not like this suggestion, but in this type of situation in which you have severe and possibly life long damage to your body and the fact that it may mess up your career you need to talk to a good personal injury attorney. The insurance company will not offer you what they should and they will not play fair at all. Talk to an attorney today. The legal action you take should be against his insurance company (as long as he has insurance).

Good luck with your recovery, seriously, if you do not have experience talk to a lawyer. I learned this lesson the hard way.

 

Get all that's coming to you.&nbsp\\; To know what that is you need to talk to a good personal injury lawyer.&nbsp\\; Not the time to be a nice guy.&nbsp\\; The cager put you down and then left you like roadkill.
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Good luck to you and thank you for your brave service.

 

agreed, you may be messed up for life because he did not pay attention. I am not big on suing, but in this case GET A LAWYER and get what you deserve!!!!!

 

Get a good lawyer, there are lots of them who would drool over the prospect of getting your case. Then HANG THE SOB!!!!!
As far as the bike goes, let a dealer take a look at it and make sure he knows that your suing the SOB for damages and he will make an good/better estimate of all the damage and if its worth fixing. Odds are that they will total it if its really that messed up. Cause the parts and labor will add up to nearly the price of a new bike.

 

Steve, I work in the legal field, no I'm not a lawyer but I deal with them every once and a while.

This clearly sounds like a time for you to be talking to an attorney. Hope that the sob (driver) has insurance.

My understanding which is limited, of insurance payout is:

33% medical, 33% lawyer, 33% claimant (you)


Good luck bro, keep us posted and let us know if there is anything we can do to help.

Thanks for your service!

 

Steve
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&nbsp\\; being military I assume that they are completeing a comprhensive Line of Duty investigation on you?&nbsp\\;&nbsp\\;That will be your biggest determining factor when it comes time for you to actually retire and when you go for disability form the VA.&nbsp\\; As far as damages the auto's ins co might state that you technically lost no income or are currently suffering financial loss since you're salaried.&nbsp\\; What you can&nbsp\\; do (I documented similar actions for one of my Soldiers that was in a wreck) is have you supervisors state how you injuries have affected your daily performance and how that will affect your FUTURE promotions\\; that is how they will start determining damages.
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MAKE sure you go to the other drivers court appearance.

 

First, get yourself fixed up as best you can.&nbsp\\; I've had a few scrapes but lucky no long lasting injuries.&nbsp\\; This shitheel needs to be put down.&nbsp\\; Since we can't do that here, legal action is the next best option.&nbsp\\; You need a NEW bike of your choice and if you think there may be problems riding...get a trike.&nbsp\\; Jurys don't look kindly on shitheels that flee the scene or their insurance attorneys.&nbsp\\;
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You're only 33 so there are&nbsp\\;a lot of working years&nbsp\\;left in you.&nbsp\\; I don't know where you're from but a fellow vet just returned to our chemical plant south of Houston&nbsp\\;after Iraq with 95% disability.&nbsp\\; So there is a&nbsp\\;typical job you&nbsp\\;should be qualified for.&nbsp\\; You can easily make $130K a year in a plant so don't go cheap with this bastard.&nbsp\\;&nbsp\\;&nbsp\\;&nbsp\\;
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BTW&nbsp\\;a 16 year old girl&nbsp\\;hit my wife (no injury)&nbsp\\;and boogied on out&nbsp\\;of there earlier this year.&nbsp\\; Lucky for us, her daddy turned her in to the police the next day.&nbsp\\; She said she was scared...&nbsp\\; We didn't press charges since daddy&nbsp\\;hauled her in.&nbsp\\; Daddy sold the car, she lost her license, had to pay fines&nbsp\\;and their insurance paid for our car.&nbsp\\;