If you are someone who has suffered a personal injury accident and have a legal claim pending, I am writing to let you know there are options out there to keep food on your table and enable you to wait out the insurance company and get a fair settlement on your claim.

I'm a single mom of two who was a passenger in a car that was rear-ended on my way to a work seminar. As a result I suffered severe neck and back injuries. It's unbelievable how a few seconds can alter your life in every aspect imaginable.

The physical pain is so unbearable that pain killers are needed to make it through the day, but a side effect of pain killers is that they decrease your mental functions, so I was unable to be there mentally or emotionally for my children going thru adolescence.

A triple disc fusion is no picnic. Especially when you're not told how painful the recovery is of the leg bones they took the marrow from for grafting. Needless to say for the second surgery to re-do two of the fusions, I used the marrow donor bank! And then you deal with trip after trip to doctors, specialists, physical therapists, your attorney, pharmacies, etc. Many of these trips were rides begged from family and friends because I was unable to physically or financially deal with them.

The insurance companies create this huge circle that claimants are expected to go 'round and 'round until they give up and settle for a fraction of what the case is actually worth just to survive. The insurance company would consistently be 60 days behind in sending my weekly checks and then delay payment more by coming up with some flimsy excuse that they hadn't received an obscure piece of paper required for payment. And this after I had called for the tenth time regarding my funds! Believe me, there was never a dime in interest for the 90+ days the insurance company would delay before payments were finally made. And then there were thousands of dollars in reimbursements for mileage, parking, pharmacy, etc. that they owed to me that they'd play the same game with. Help for around the house and my needs were reimbursable items, but when you don't have money to pay for them upfront and no reasonable date of when payment can be expected, you just go without.

At work you're treated like a con-artist who's trying to take advantage of the insurance company just so you don't have to work. Instead you go to work and overdo it constantly, which aggravates the pain and slows down the recovery process because you need to work and get a paycheck. You also find that the mortgage company, grocery store, gas/service station, utilities, pharmacy, car finance company, (your) insurance companies, home repairman, etc. lose their patience and trust in you when you're constantly late and getting further behind for two years.

It was about the same time period when the insurance company decided to delay all payments for longer than 90 days and threaten to never make another payment again until things were finalized in court, and yet I'm expected to come up with gas money and a ride 200 miles away to see one of their hired hands to determine that I wasn't faking it. It's insane!

The insurance company also made sure they timed it right after the second surgery I was attempting to recover from. My mortgage company decided they'd had it with me and were starting foreclosure proceedings if I didn't get my payments up to date. I tried refinancing my house and getting some cash out to pay my other bills, because I had some equity in the house, but no lender would help me out since I was so far behind, my credit was shot, and I had no "steady" income. Even if the mortgage company could've refinanced me, it wouldn't have been in time. I had nowhere to turn for help, but my kids still needed a roof over their head and food in their tummies.

A friend who had helped me out before told me about a website she had ran across for a company called Lawsuit Cash Advance. I called them on Monday and had money in the bank by Thursday. I did have to bug my attorney for two days straight but finally got him to cooperate with Lawsuit Cash Advance. I was given enough money so that I was able to get caught up (and a little ahead) on all of my bills and still have some "breathing room." And I wouldn't have to worry about literally starving my family or myself whenever the insurance company decided to play games with payments and reimbursements to me. It was such a relief knowing I didn't have monthly payments to worry about and that I could outlive the insurance company's games and get the settlement I deserved.

It took another year after (a total of three years) to settle and it was definitely worth it! When the insurance company couldn't make me cave in, the jurors were finally able to hear everything I had been through and award the appropriate amount.

Without the advance, we would've been on the streets and starving. I was able to keep my house, car, and job - all because of a company called Lawsuit Cash Advance.

About the author:

Maria Gobely is an executive administrator and can be reached at mgobely@opfinance.com