You’ve been injured through no fault of your own and need medical treatment. What do you do when somebody else is responsible for your injuries but their insurance company will not pay up front for your medical care? Instead they will offer you payment all in one lump sum upon you reaching maximum medical improvement.  How do you get from where you are to where you need to be?

  1. Don’t sign anything from the at fault party’s insurance company or do a recorded statement until you are in a the right state of mind to do so.  That does not mean in the hospital bed with a morphine drip hours after the traumatic incident. Regardless of what the insurance adjuster says, it can wait and it will not expedite anything. It could only complicate things. (It’s never a good idea to sign anything from an insurance company without at least talking to an attorney-most times without any costs to you);
  2. Seek treatment from an emergency room or minor care facility where there is no appointment or prior consultation necessary.  Only you can judge the need for emergent medical care based on your injuries and pain level, no one else;
  3. If you have health insurance, Medicare, and/or Medicaid file all medical care you seek with those providers. Yes, someone else caused your injuries. Yes, you will have to reimburse them for expenses paid. HOWEVER, those expenses will be less than had you not filed through the benefits mentioned above because of the reduced, contracted rates they have with medical providers. (Darren Tobin wrote a great article on this reimbursement process, known as subrogation, entitled "Understanding Subrogation-Why You May Not Be Keeping It All".);
  4. If you have no means of health insurance you can still be seen at the emergent facilities in your area or free clinics. Make sure you have a copy of the form filled out by the trooper if you were injured in an automobile accident. If from other negligence, be sure to indicate to the doctor how you ended up being injured and in need of medical care. Details are important, both in the doctor’s understanding to provide efficient & effective care and in determining the proximate cause of your injuries;
  5. If you have a primary care physician you have previously visited and sought care from make an appointment with them and explain how you ended up being injured and be detailed with your specific complaints;
  6. If you are a doctor, nurse, and/or otherwise medically trained & educated do not seek gratis, undocumented care because you know what your injuries are or what to do to make them better without anyone but you knowing. That is the worse thing you could do. As a well known Greenville attorney told me, "Insurance companies are like the Russians during the Cold War…."  What does that mean? Don’t confuse them. By not having documentation from a third party about your injuries, it confuses them. They don’t know how to value that so they don’t; and
  7. If you are hard headed or adverse to medical treatment, okay. Just don’t expect the insurance company to put a value on your "pain and suffering" sitting at home without anyone knowing what you have endured but your loved ones. If it is not documented, you are not injured in the mind of the insurance company. If you wait weeks after the incident that injured you, insurance companies call that a "gap in treatment".  Essentially giving them more reason to low ball you or make excuses on how you were injured other than reality.

I know you don’t know what to do. I realize you think the insurance company will take care of you because you didn’t ask to be put in this situation. Plus, it was the person, company, and/or entity they insure that put you in this condition.  I understand you have values and morals where you would treat others as you would want to be treated.

However, my job is not to help you strengthen misplaced beliefs in how the world SHOULD work. My goals and objectives with every client interaction are three part:

  • Educate you on the law, specific to your situation;
  • Help you get compensated for what you have had to endure at no fault of your own; and
  • Make sure you are satisfied with our attorney/client relationship so you brag about me to your friends, family, and others you know that may need me to fight the faceless insurance companies on their behalf.

 

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Photo of Trey Mills Trey Mills

Floyd S. “Trey” Mills III knows that suffering a personal injury through no fault of your own can be a nightmare for the victim and his or her family

Mr. Mills was born on April 24, 1978.  His parents, Floyd S. “Butch” Mills,

Floyd S. “Trey” Mills III knows that suffering a personal injury through no fault of your own can be a nightmare for the victim and his or her family

Mr. Mills was born on April 24, 1978.  His parents, Floyd S. “Butch” Mills, Jr. and Patricia Yarborough Mills, were originally from Newberry, South Carolina, and soon after the birth of Mr. Mills, his parents brought him back to be raised in the same county they grew up in.

Education

Mr. Mills attended Newberry Academy from grades K-3, Gallman Elementary 4th grade, Rikard Elementary 5-6th grade, Mid-Carolina Middle School 7-8th grades, Mid-Carolina High School from 9-12th grades, Clemson University, and Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University.

Health Crisis

While Mr. Mills was a junior in high school he was chosen by his school to be a representative to Boys State.  This was a great honor and would have been an even better experience except, while at Boys State, Mr. Mills became unusually ill with blackouts, night sweats, and back pain.  Fortunately for Mr. Mills, his mother was an ER nurse at Lexington Medical Center, but unfortunately, for Mr. Mills that did not change his diagnosis of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.  Along with his diagnosis, Mr. Mills received a prognosis of two weeks.

Obviously, Mr. Mills has been blessed with his second chance at life and those who have been wronged by health care insurance companies and other types of insurance companies can feel confident in knowing that Mr. Mills can not only empathize with them but fight fervently for their side.  Mr. Mills’ cancer experience and his mother’s arduous yet unsuccessful battle against lung cancer were very trying times.  However, those real-world battles and experiences were nothing compared to the administrative and billing wars he had to encounter with Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance. It seems BCBS would deny any charge over $1,000 without rational reasoning therefore prompting Mr. Mills to go to law school and carry the torch for those that were too ill to fight for themselves while the school yard bully beat them down.

College

Mr. Mills went on to Clemson University where he was very active in student activities along with academic accomplishments.  Mr. Mills was invited to join Calhoun Honor’s College, Sigma Pi fraternity, Golden Key National Honor Society, Student Government, IPTAY Student Advisory Board, and Tiger Brotherhood. Mr. Mills also worked as a student employee with IPTAY Scholarship Fund under the direction of Bert Henderson, formerly the Associate Athletic Director of Planned Giving at Clemson University.

Early Life

Mr. Mills was unsure of where his hard work and life experiences would best provide an adequate return to the outpouring of kindness he received during his cancer experience. Having received many blessings from the American Red Cross, Mr. Mills went on to be an Apheresis Donor Recruiter under the supervision of Barry Pollard at the American Red Cross Blood Donor Services in Columbia, SC after graduating Clemson University.

Running from his true calling, Mr. Mills fled to Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico to Teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).  Having spent a semester of college in Madrid, Spain, Mr. Mills thought he should be assisting foreign countries. Mr. Mills was certified by the Vancouver Language Centre in Guadalajara for his TEFL training.  Mr. Mills was in Guadalajara only a few months when September 11, 2001 occurred and helped him focus on his life priorities.

Law School

Mr. Mills went on to law school at Mercer University and clerked each summer trying to determine how he could best serve those less fortunate.  The corporate law firms never truly provided him with that personal feeling of assisting the common person in need.  It wasn’t until Mr. Mills became the first law clerk of the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association under the supervision of Linda Franklin and lobbyist Michael Gunn that he realized where his education, life experience, drive, and hard work could truly benefit those who have been personally and directly affected by the negligence of another.  Mr. Mills wanted to be a coveted and much needed plaintiff’s trial attorney.  More importantly Mr. Mills realized the power of the faceless insurance companies, misinformed legislative members, and the true power of money and lobbyist in dictating laws.

What’s the one service you pay for all your life but you are actually penalized if you ever have to use it? Insurance.

Trammell & Mills

Mr. Ernie Trammell gave Mr. Mills his big break at leveling the playing field against the faceless and heartless insurance companies.  Mr. Mills works tirelessly every day in an effort to bring justice to those who have been wronged.  Mr. Mills has worked on both sides of the law and has been through some harrowing life experiences.  Mr. Mills has been tested and tried by many of the more traumatic events that life has to offer and now provides his services to the public.

Who would you rather have on your side? Someone whose resolve has been tested and tried? Or someone who has intertwined their morality and greed in such a way that they can’t tell one from the other?

Why haven’t you hired Mr. Mills to be your attorney yet?

Would you listen to the devil on how to get to Heaven? Then why listen to insurance adjusters?