The Los Angeles Times reports, “Up to 200,000 people who were cut off on unfounded suspicions that they were felons evading law enforcement or prosecution will receive back payments. Legal advocates for the poor, elderly and disabled secured a $500-million class-action settlement Tuesday for as many as 200,000 people whose Social Security benefits were suspended on unfounded suspicions that they were fleeing prosecution.” Most of the $500 million the Social Security Administration has agreed to pay in back benefits “will go to 80,000 recipients whose payments have been suspended or denied since Jan. 1, 2007.”
From the American Association for Justice news release.
I can’t count the times a claims adjuster insisted that a person can’t be injured because of little damage to the automobile. Let’s see…A car is made of steel and plastic, and a human is made of flesh and bones. Hmmm. I had a client whose leg got pinned between the bumpers of two vehicles. Absolutely no damage whatever to the vehicles. So no damage to her, right?
Good point. My favorite story about that was when I was interviewing a potential new client, an older lady, who was in a car wreck. I asked if her car was badly damaged, and she said “No, all the damage was done to me honey.” People can be severely injured even when there is no visible property damage, due to the design of modern bumpers. But the insurance carriers always take the position that you can be hurt if your car isn’t badly damaged. On the other hand, they always say that a badly damaged car is not necessarily an indication that the occupant was badly injured…