Car Accident Injury Law Question

LOCATION: SOUTH CAROLINA I was recently in a car accident on January 3rd in South Carolina. I was driving a rental car along a state highway when a young man made an illegal u turn infront of me causing both vehicles to be totalled, front and side airbags went off.

I live in ohio, so at this point I was stranded with my dog while waiting for highway patrol.

The other drivers insurance company has accepted 100% liability. An adjuster called me and offered 4k for pain and suffering missed wages and expenses (Uber and vet bill), as well as 15k for medical on the back end to reimburse any medical bills within the next 6 months. She offered this very quick and emphasized i would have the money in 24-48 hours which made me question if this was a good deal.

I do not have health insurance, and have never been in this situation. My back got tweaked because I was trying to swerve to the right when the impact happened, and my right knee and hand were bruised by the airbag. My dog was in a crash tested crate and was all cleared from the vet other than some muscle pain in his rear leg. He had another vet check a couple weeks later and was fully cleared. (Pet insurance is a lot cheaper than human insurance ???? he is also my dependent so he is priority imo)

I went to my primary care doctor on the 15th and she gave me orders to get both a back and knee xray. However, she also thought my injuries were muscular so I would probably need an mri. She also recommended physical therapy.

I own a business and my main concern is my lost wagers and impact to work until my back is better / if working will make the injury worse. I am a sports photographer so I often have to lay or sit in positions for long periods of time which is hard on the back and knees. I make approximately 2k per week. I had to miss one day of the event I was working when this happened which has caused a loss of around 1k. I can show sales reports to show average income from each event (2k). I decided not to book an event the weekend following the accident because I was really sore. So I was hoping to atleast get around 3k in lost wages to make me whole. I am my business, so being able to work at 100% is very important. It is very competitive, so if I am not at my best I can easily lose events.

I spoke with a SC lawyer and I will post our convo, I dont know if I am misunderstanding?

FROM ME : "Hi , I did have one question. So the initial offer for example from the insurance company was $4000 to me for wages and pain and suffering plus 15k on the back end to cover medical over the next 6 months. From what I understand whatever I get for medical is not given to me as a settlement, but provided as reimbursement for medical expenses, is this correct?

Would the 33% fee apply to both the 4000 cash settlement and the 15,000 medical on the back end?

If so, I would end up in the negative right? Sinse 33% of the backend medical is more than the cash settlement.

I guess I am just worried if the medical portion is only provided as reimbursement I would end up owing 33% of that which may be a large amount.

When I spoke to the lawyer, he said the 33% fee would apply to any additional money you guys could secure, that i wouldnt end up with less than the 4k / 15k medical offered. But I dont see anything about that in the agreement. "

FROM LAWYER: Hi Kali, this is LAWYER responding. I forgot to tell ASSISTANT about the 33% off any gross amount over $4,000.00. That is my fault for forgetting to tell her. The fee is off the gross amount - so if the settlement is $20k, the fee would be for 33% of $16k. Our fee would never be greater than your net "take home" so we would reduce the fee in any scenario where the 33% is greater than your net. That said, I cannot guarantee that you will net at least $4,000.00 since we do not know the extent of your injuries and how much treatment you will need. If you don't require much additional treatment and your total medical bills are relatively low, State Farm could offer less than $4,000.00. I know it puts you in somewhat of a catch 22. Happy to answer any other questions you may have."

Any advice is much appreciated! I asked the adjuster to send me the offer in an email and asked for time to think about it. I never got an email and haven't heard from anyone sinse.

Do you think i should get a lawyer? Does the communication above sound reasonable? Or should I just write my own demand letter and see what they say?

I have been getting so many spam calls and text after the accident, its hard to know what lawyers to trust.