The Brad Hendricks Law Firm Blog

A well-managed injury claim typically takes 6 to 18 months to settle because negotiations cannot begin until you reach Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). Settling earlier risks undercompensating you for future medical needs and permanent disabilities. The settlement timeline follows distinct medical and legal milestones: Treatment to MMI (Months 1–6+): You must complete treatment until doctors certify your condition is fully resolved or permanently stable. Records Assembly &

The value of an Arkansas injury claim is calculated by totaling quantifiable economic damages (all medical bills, rehabilitation, lost income, and diminished earning capacity) and adding non-economic damages (pain, emotional anguish, scarring, and loss of life quality). Personal injury compensation consists of two core components: Economic Damages: Past hospital/doctor invoices, projected future corrective surgeries or therapy, documented past lost wages, and loss of future e

Hospitals bill injured victims directly or file medical liens because third-party auto insurers cannot be billed directly by healthcare facilities before liability is established. Under the Arkansas Medical, Nursing, Hospital, and Ambulance Service Lien Act (Ark. Code Ann. § 18-46-101 et seq.), providers file statutory liens to collect full chargemaster rates from your eventual tort recovery. When a hospital learns an auto crash caused your injuries, they often choose not to

In Arkansas, your health insurer cannot take reimbursement from your personal injury settlement unless you have been fully compensated for all of your economic and non-economic losses. This consumer protection standard is known as the Arkansas "Made Whole" Doctrine. First codified in landmark decisions like Franklin v. Healthsource of Arkansas (1997), the rule dictates that an injured victim must be made completely "whole"—reimbursed for all medical expenses, past and future

You are responsible for your medical bills as they are incurred; the at-fault driver’s auto insurance does not pay providers on an ongoing basis. Instead, bills are handled during the claim through your own Medical Payments (MedPay) coverage, private health insurance, or a medical Letter of Protection (LOP) from a Car Accident Lawyer at The Brad Hendricks Law Firm. The at-fault insurer only issues a single lump-sum check when a global settlement release is signed. In the inte

The statute of limitations to file a personal injury or vehicle property damage lawsuit in Arkansas is three (3) years from the exact date of the collision under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-105. Missing this deadline permanently forfeits your legal right to pursue compensation in an Arkansas civil court. Exceptions extending this window are rare. The deadline may be tolled if the injured party was a minor at the time of the wreck (Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-116) or legally incompet

If the at-fault driver is uninsured or carries minimum liability limits, you must turn to your own auto insurance policy's Uninsured Motorist (UM) or Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage to pay for your outstanding medical bills and damages. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-19-605 and § 27-22-104 establish Arkansas's minimum mandatory liability coverage limits: $25,000 for bodily injury or death of one person per accident $50,000 for total bodily injury or death per accident across all pe

Yes, you can recover financial compensation as long as you are 49% or less at fault under Arkansas’s modified comparative fault statute (Ark. Code Ann. § 16-64-122). Your financial award is reduced in direct proportion to your assigned share of negligence; however, if you are found 50% or more at fault, you are legally barred from recovering any damages. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-64-122: 0% to 49% at fault: If you incur $100,000 in damages and are deemed 20% responsible, your

No, you should never provide a recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Arkansas law does not obligate you to speak to an adverse insurer, and adjusters routinely use early recorded statements to lock victims into premature descriptions of their injuries before diagnostic scans are complete. Insurance adjusters use recorded interviews to ask open-ended questions like, "How are you feeling today?" A polite reply such as "I'm okay" or an incomplete catalog