Indiana Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Rick Hovde and Nick Deets of Hovde Dassow & Deets will conduct presentations at the Indiana Trial Lawyer's Lifetime Achievement Seminar in Indianapolis on April 29-30, 2010. Rick Hovde will conduct a presentation regarding hypothetical questions in the context of medical malpractice litigation, including defeating motions on summary judgment. Nick Deets will conduct a presentation on "Discovering and Admitting an Expert's Financial Information."

Both presenters are partners of Hovde Dassow & Deets LLC, a law firm in Indianapolis, Indiana. They primarily focus their practice on cases involving personal injury, car and truck accidents, defective drugs and devices, and medical malpractice.

Posted by Nicholas C. Deets | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accidents

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On May 27, 2009, the Indiana Supreme Court issued its Opinion in Stanley v. Walker, 906 N.E.2d 852 (Ind. 2009), holding that Indiana's collateral source statute does not bar evidence of discounted amounts to determine the reasonable value of medical services provided to plaintiffs in personal injury actions. This decision reversed the decision of the Indiana Court of Appeals which had held that I.C. 34-44-1-2 barred this evidence because the write-downs were the result of health insurance which had been purchased by the Plaintiff. Justices Dickson and Rucker issued a persuasive dissent agreeing with the decision of the Court of Appeals and setting forth the long history of Indiana law on determining reasonableness of medical expenses. Several questions still remain after the Stanley decision including whether it will be applied to write-downs required by Medicare and whether plaintiffs will be allowed to introduce evidence of the amounts they paid for health insurance to obtain this benefit and the increases in their health insurance rates going forward which may result from their injuries.

Posted by Nicholas C. Deets | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accidents

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Indiana is third in the nation in accidents involving cars and trains and Fifth in the nation in deaths related to those accidents. The accidents occur more often in Northern Indiana.

According to a 2004 report by the National Transportation Safety Board, there are 82,000 crossings in the country without gates. Gateless crossings are seven times more dangerous than crossings with gates.

Indiana was third in the nation in the number of motor vehicle accidents at gate crossings. The problem is only getting worse.

Last year, 20 people were killed at crossings -- seven more than in 2006. The number of crossing accidents increased by 24 last year -- from 137 in 2006 to 161 in 2007.

Indiana should make these crossings safer. The new gates need to be installed or substantially improved. The NTSB has said:

"The most effective option is quad gates. They have crossing arms that cover both lanes on both sides of the railroad track. In addition to preventing accidents by drivers who fail to see a train, they prevent drivers from driving around lowered gates. They are standard rail crossing protection in many European countries but are not widely used in the United States."

The problem needs to be solved quickly before more injuries and death occur at these unsafe in crossings in Indiana.

Posted by Robert T. Dassow | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accidents

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The Indiana Court of Appeals decided the case of Stanley v. Walker on Tuesday, June 5, 2008. In this significant Indiana decision, the Court held that discounts on medical bills that were obtained because the plaintiff had procured his own health health insurance were not admissible under Indiana's Collateral Source Statute. This means that Plaintiffs can claim the full amount of their medical bills and are not punished for having the foresight to purchase their own health insurance. This is a major victory for Indiana citizens seeking to obtain fair compensation for their injuries in auto and truck accident cases as well as other actions such as medical malpractice cases.

The decision may be read by utilizing the following link:

http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/06030803cld.pdf

Posted by Nicholas C. Deets | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accidents , Medical Malpractice , Truck Accidents

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In Indiana it seems more and more that there is not enough insurance to take care of people hurt in automobile accidents. The other driver too often has low or no liability insurance limits. Review your own coverages. Two critical coverages are medical payments coverage and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

Medical payments covers you and your passengers for your medical expenses regardless of who caused the accident. It is very inexpensive compared to any other health insurance.
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage acts the same as if the other driver had liability insurance and pays you for the all of the damages you would be entitled to recover from the other driver up to the limits of the coverage. It also is much cheaper than the cost of your liability coverage and can be purchased in the same limits as your liability insurance.Indiana requires that this coverage be provided if you buy liability coverage unless you waive it in writing.

If you can afford liability coverage of as little as $250000 many insurance companies will sell you an umbrella policy of upwards of $1000000 that will give you significant additional protection.

Call your insurance agent. If he didn't explain all of this to you when you bought your automobile insurance call another agent or company. Protect yourself, don't rely on others to do it for you.

Posted by Frederick R. Hovde | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accidents

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