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I am so wigged out and I probably shouldn’t be. Two years ago I was the cause of a three-car accident. At the time when the officer asked the others involved if there were any injuries. Everyone said no. Then a little wile later I got a notice from my insurance company that the claim had been moved from one person to another “due to injuries”. I was like WTF? Well over the course of the next two years we would occasionally get letters that said “We continue to handle the claim.”
Today I came home to find a letter in the mailbox that said “We are writing to let you know we’ve been unable to settle the claim.” o_0 “If you are served with a lawsuit, it’s important you contact us immediately….” 0_o
At least know I know the name of the person who has had the claim the entire time, but I can’t find my copy of the police report right now to tell if it was the person in the middle or the front car. I’ll keep digging this weekend and if I can’t find it, I’ll go back to the police department and see if I can’t get a new copy.
I’ve never been involved in a lawsuit before and I have to admit the idea terrifies me. I still don’t see how anyone could have had injuries so bad that they required two years of treatment. It was a low enough speed accident that my air bags didn’t deploy, though there was enough force to push the SUV in front of me into the truck in front of him. I don’t know for sure since I have a “little” car, but I’ll bet he was sitting right on the other guy’s bumper and that’s why he got pushed into the other vehicle.
I’m gonna try to calm down some and keep digging for that police report. At the same time I’ll probably be shredding a lot of papers we don’t need anymore.
My father was in a similar situation. He was in a car accident (he was at fault) and it wasn’t until over a year later that we were told there was a lawsuit from the other party involved in the accident. It seems to take a long time for the paperwork on these things to process to the point where you actually hear about the lawsuit. In the meantime, my father’s health had deteriorated to where he was in a nursing home (unrelated to the accident) and he passed away a few months later. We were informed that the lawsuit would be against his estate since he was no longer living. Anyway, to make a long story short, our insurance company retained a lawyer to represent them and my father’s estate. I recommend contacting your insurance company to see if they have a similar arrangement available. Also, just so you know, it turns out the insurance company was offering the other party a very small settlement which is what caused the lawsuit in the first place. The person just wanted their medical bills covered. It was a long drawn out process, that lasted over three years, but as soon as the insurance company offered a decent settlement, the lawsuit was dropped, thank goodness!! It was the attorney retained by the insurance company that arranged all of this. He was very decent lawyer. If your insurance company doesn’t provide legal counsel, I strongly suggest that you look into getting an attorney right away.
I plan on either digging up the police report or getting a new one, contacting my insurance company to see if they can tell me why they were unable to settle the lawsuit and then go give the folks at JAG a heads up and ask them if there is anything I need/can do. The letter from my insuance company was giving me notice of possible lawsuit, so maybe I’ll get lucky and there won’t be one.
Sounds like you have a good plan….just stay on top of the insurance company. Don’t wait for them to call you with progress reports, you call them. 😉
Sounds like you have a good plan….just stay on top of the insurance company. Don’t wait for them to call you with progress reports, you call them. If you have any questions at some point, feel free to ask. 😉
I don’t think my insurance company is handling it any more and that’s why I got the notice. Over the last two years I got the letters where they were attempting to settle it, but obviously it wasn’t. Those letters always said if I was contacted by the other party to contact them immediately. I never was so I never called them to find out anything. I’m kind of regretting that now, but I trusted them to take care of things. That’s why you pay for auto insurance right?
They can’t just drop the ball like that. No matter what they have to pay their share of the settlement and they need to provide you with detailed information. If the JAG can help you, that would be great, but don’t let the insurance company just dump it in your lap. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work, even thought they might be trying to make you think so. That’s why you may need to get an attorney at some point to represent you, unless the JAG can handle it. If the insurance company is trying to weasel out, then you need someone who knows what’s what to talk to both your insurance company and the other party. 👿
Many years ago something similar happened to me. I was backing out of a parking space at a shopping center and a woman drove behind me (I never saw her) and I backed into her. A couple of years later I got a letter from her lawyer – she was suing me for depreciation of her car due to the accident. I immediately called my insurance agent and he told me to send him the paperwork. I never heard anything more so I guess the insurance company took care of it. So don’t worry to much about it your insurance company will probaby handle it.
Thanks for the support. It’s just nice to have someone to talk to about it. My husband was deployed when the accident originally happened and he’s deployed again when the “we are unable to settle the claim” letter arrives. Kind of ironic that he doesn’t get to be around for any of it. He wasn’t even here when I finally saved up the money to cover the deductible ($500) to get my car fixed after the accident.
Of course our insurance took a jump after that, but it’s slowly coming back down to pre-accident levels. It helps that my husband and I are cautious drivers and other than the accident I’ve only gotten one speeding ticket and he’s never gotten one. *Knocks on wood* Here’s hoping it stays that way. *Knocks on wood again*
SECOND THOUGHT
I lived in Roswell, GA for about 10 years – 1989-1997 and if I remember correctly Geogia is or was anyway a “No Fault” state. If it was at the time of your accident your insurance company is not responsible for medical costs the injured person’s insurance company is and that is why you have to carry PIP if you live in a No-Fault state.
It sounds like your insurance company’s attorneys will be handling this, even if you are served with a lawsuit. I think they sent you the letter just so that you’d be aware of the situation, it doesn’t mean that their attorneys aren’t still involved in the case.
I was in a similar situation a few years ago. I rear ended someone at a stop light at a very low speed (~5 mph) because the person in front of me stopped suddenly and I had probably been too close to him. Anyway, there wasn’t any damage to either of our cars except for some scratches on the bumpers, and no one was hurt. Both of us had the same insurance company, and we both filed a report on the incident. I didn’t hear anything for several months, and then my insurance company told me that they had been unable to settle the claim and that the person might be filing a lawsuit. As it turns out, the reason that they couldn’t settle the claim was because this person claimed that he had gotten whiplash from the accident, had to see the doctor numerous times, and also claimed to be unable to work for some large number of hours. Basically he was trying to use this incident to defraud the insurance company.
Anyway, he decided to sue me in small claims court, and served me with papers. I told the insurance company, and they took care of everything. They had their experts prepare a big report detailing the damage, extrapolated speed of impact based on the observed damage, etc. as well as other documents, which were brought to the court by the insurance company’s representative. I had to show up also to give my testimony to the judge, but that was about it. That guy lost and eneded up looking like a fool.
So don’t worry, I think the insurance company will take care of everything. But for your own peace of mind, you should give them a call on Monday and confirm that with them.
I understand almost nothing of lawsuits and insurance companies, but I hope this doesn’t cost you anything, pegasi.
That stinks. Its never happened to me, but it did to a buddy of mine. Almost a year after the accident, the guy comes back to sue because he didnt want to accept $20,000 from the insurance company for a settlement. He apparently thought he was gonna be able to milk more out of a PFC. 🙄 I wish I knew enough to help.
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