Minor car accident - now with ambulance chasing law firm

Jovec

Jovec

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The short:

I was involved in a minor car accident where I rear ended the other car. Information exchanged. No police or police report. No airbags deployed. No medical care asked for by either party - I even asked twice if they were okay to which they responded they were fine. I left it in their hands to either pursue an insurance claim or contact me with a repair estimate, instead they went to an ambulance chasing/personal injury law firm (my adjuster groaned when I mentioned the firm's name).

While I don't want my insurance company to pay out unnecessarily, I really don't want to be sued personally either. I wouldn't think that my interests and my insurance company's interests are necessarily the same. My insurance sent my case to their lawyers, but I'm wondering if I need to get a personal lawyer to look after my interests too.
 
iannis

iannis

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It seems like no police or police report screws them more than it screws you. Way more.

To the point where if they did come after you personally all you have to do is say, "Prove it. Never seen you before in my life." Obviously don't do that... but. Or "Prove it. My insurance companies lawyers have already made the case you're trying to commit fraud."

In this, the ambulance chasers are going after the insurance company because they know that you, Joe Private, are not going to pay out.
 
BrutulTM

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Do you know what they're asking for? Are they claiming injury or just damages to the car? I really don't think they will come after you personally, that is what your insurance is for. The worst thing that could happen would be if the insurance wound up paying out and then raised your rates, which may happen regardless.
 
Cad

Cad

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No need for you to hire a lawyer personally. Your insurance company will handle it and even if they screw it up, they are liable! Kick back and help the insurance company lawyers as needed.
 
Delly

Delly

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When I got into a car accident years ago the woman and her son claimed some shoulder/neck injuries. After several months of back and forth, a week or two before the final court case, I saw the woman working at a local grocery store. When I went to the final court date I brought that up to my insurance companies lawyers, they really wanted to delay the case to hire an investigator, but decided to just be done with it. If I would have saw her doing somersaults or something they for sure would have done it, but I wasn't there to spy on her and she wasn't doing anything abnormal.

Its good to protect yourself but I think you're golden in your current position.
 
Cad

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Noodleface_sl said:
This is exactly why you have insurance, so that you cannot be personally sued.
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Not exactly, in many (most?) states the person sues you personally regardless (if suit is filed) but your insurance company hires you a lawyer and pays the bill if you end up losing. And either way, if the insurance company gets sued directly they will still need you to testify/participate just the same, only difference is whether your name is on the lawsuit or not.
 
K

Kedwyn

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You don't need a lawyer you already have one. Your company has to defend you, at their own cost, until they pay out your coverage limits to the other party (legal fees don't eat this up).

If the other party got a lawyer there is already nothing you can do and you have no control over what your company does. They may pay them hush money (med pay, PIP etc) to make it go away. They might even fight them, unlikely. Regardless you have no say in the matter.

Most states, if you rear end someone you are automatically >50% at fault. Police report doesn't make that much of a difference if the facts of the accident aren't in dispute. Them claiming to not be hurt at the time also doesn't matter as many people can go a day or more before feeling anything.
 
Hoss

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They had their backup lights on when you hit them, right?
 
Malakriss

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Make it clear to your insurance company that you don't mind if they go to court over this, depending on the company they may need you sign some paperwork that would let them go to trial instead of just rubber stamping a settlement. If they show other firm that there is a willingness to go to trial there's still the legal pat each other on the back that will go on. Basically, even though a lawsuit is bullshit and it's not cost effective for either side to go through with the full trial they will cut a low settlement, how low depends on how much bullshit is going on. The firm gets their cut plus legal fees which usually makes it not worth it for the other assholes who wanted to sue, and sometimes puts them in the hole.

Pray that the wife claims the husband can no longer perform in bed due to some neck/spinal thing and make them pay out for medical tests to try and prove it. The extra costs ensure the firm will take every bit of the settlement from those fuckers so they end up with nothing.
 
mkopec

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They passed laws in our state for this shit. Reason I know is a dude here at work got rear ended by a commercial truck. Pretty bad. It destroyed his car, fucked up his neck, for realz. He was out of work for a few weeks, had to go through rigorous physical therapy, etc. He went to see Saul, and he basically told him that he had to prove he was out of work for 6 mos before anything would be done in court. Im sure a jobless redneck can pull this off, but any regular joe being out of work for 6 mos on comp is a hard to do to maybe get a payout at the end.
 
Jysin

Jysin

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No reason for the ambulance chaser lawyer but greed, but to play devil's advocate: I once had a drunk driver pull out in front of me. I T-Boned his car and the impact was substantial enough that the seatbelt broke the collar bone of my passenger (car was pre-airbags old). At the scene of the accident, I said I was fine and declined any emergency care. I honestly felt fine other than being shocked by the situation. She went off in the ambulance, I went home. Next day, I could barely crawl out of bed my neck was so fucked up and sore. Classic whiplash but was severe enough I had to go to the docs, get some serious pain meds, and missed a solid week of work.

Point is, sometimes these injuries take a day or so to manifest.

Good luck with your case.
 
Void

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My best friend works for an insurance company handling bodily injury claims exactly like this. Them hiring a lawyer does nothing to you beyond pissing off your insurance adjuster because now he has to direct all conversation through the lawyer, who is almost always a prick due to the nature of the business. It is mostly a scare tactic by the injured party and a money grab by the attorney. My friend deals with actual illegal aliens hiring scummy injury lawyers all day long, and the lawyers are simply working for a percentage of the claim.

The only way it ever gets to you (as far as suing you personally) is if your insurance company fucks up. That would entail them refusing to pay the claim for whatever reason and it going to court, during which the court might then decide that they deserved an amount above and beyond your policy limits. That is called "exposing the policy" and is a huge no-no in the insurance industry. What is more likely to happen is that your insurance company will haggle over the amount with the lawyer, and depending upon what your limit is, might have to pay out the policy limit. That's it. It is only when they refuse to pay and attempt to litigate that they are ever in danger of paying over the limit. There is literally (almost) nothing that the lawyer can do if your insurance agrees to pay the limit. And even if you are exposed, in almost all situations it is the insurance company that is going to pay, not you. That's why they will often just pay the limit, even if it is clearly not a situation that deserves it, because they would spend more in attorney fees to fight it, and could possibly end up having to pay an unlimited amount if the judge feels like making them. There is more to it, specifically regarding what your limits actually are (easier to pay a $15,000 limit than a $250,000 one, obviously), but in almost all cases, none of this is your problem beyond raised rates.

In other words, the lawyer is just there because the people you hit decided they wanted more, and they have no idea how to go about it. Funny thing is, it is likely they won't get much more after the lawyer takes his cut. Just let your insurance company handle it and everything will be fine.
 
Cybsled

Cybsled

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A lot of insurance companies will also just try to settle to make them go away, which helps make some bank for the attorney. Even if the case is probably bullshit (but not so obvious that fraud can be reported to the DOI), a few thousand dollars may be offered by the insurance company for them to drop the suit. Attorney takes settlement, keeps most of it, and derp client gets the leftovers.
 
Jovec

Jovec

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Appreciate the responses.

I imagine it is standard practice, but his lawyers did ask for my policy limits, to which we refused.

I know the law exists in bizzaro world, but it would seem to me that two statements made in a letter from his lawyer to my insurance show their motives. The first is a demand for a settlement offer for the maximum amount under my policy as opposed to a settlement offer for X car repair + Y medical + Z legal (even if that total is outrageous). The second seems like a veiled threat about my insurance potentially failing to protect me "...from the burdens of an excess judgement." Not a fair judgement or reasonable judgement, but excess. To me and to most I would think that indicates a money grab.

Obviously the rear-end nature of the accident makes me legally responsible the vast majority of the time (and likely the reason why the lawyer took the case). I also understand that real injury can present itself at a later time, but in the current world we live in it is just too hard to take anyone's word for it anymore for a minor incident. If they want to claim serious injury, I'd want to be assured that they didn't have a pre-existing injury, weren't involved in another accident, didn't fall off a ladder hanging Christmas lights, or otherwise aren't faking it, etc.

As everyone seems to be saying, this will probably end up being settled out of court. Part of me is regretting that I lowered my coverage due a recent move (my insurance wanted almost twice as much for the same coverage in my new zip code) and that that decision doesn't come back to haunt me.
 
Chysamere

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Jovec_sl said:
Appreciate the responses.

I imagine it is standard practice, but his lawyers did ask for my policy limits, to which we refused.

I know the law exists in bizzaro world, but it would seem to me that two statements made in a letter from his lawyer to my insurance show their motives. The first is a demand for a settlement offer for the maximum amount under my policy as opposed to a settlement offer for X car repair + Y medical + Z legal (even if that total is outrageous). The second seems like a veiled threat about my insurance potentially failing to protect me "...from the burdens of an excess judgement." Not a fair judgement or reasonable judgement, but excess. To me and to most I would think that indicates a money grab.

Obviously the rear-end nature of the accident makes me legally responsible the vast majority of the time (and likely the reason why the lawyer took the case). I also understand that real injury can present itself at a later time, but in the current world we live in it is just too hard to take anyone's word for it anymore for a minor incident. If they want to claim serious injury, I'd want to be assured that they didn't have a pre-existing injury, weren't involved in another accident, didn't fall off a ladder hanging Christmas lights, or otherwise aren't faking it, etc.

As everyone seems to be saying, this will probably end up being settled out of court. Part of me is regretting that I lowered my coverage due a recent move (my insurance wanted almost twice as much for the same coverage in my new zip code) and that that decision doesn't come back to haunt me.
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The part of the coverage that covers if you damage someone else's property or person is not related to the coverage that covers YOUR car. The insurance will cover your liability up to X amount (for the insurance company I worked for, up to 20 million dollars) and this most likely will not change between coverages.

If you lowered your coverage, it sounds like you dropped from Comprehensive to Third Party Property. This will have no effect on anything. (edit: Other than TPP does not cover your own car, only the damage you deal to other peoples property, if you dropped your cover to this level, you will be out of pocket for repairs to your own car)

Honestly, to re-iterate, from someone who has worked for insurance companies for 10 years, just sit back, do nothing, let the insurance company handle it. You are completely covered, and will not have to pay anything, other than your deductible.
 
Jovec

Jovec

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Just because, here is the sole Yelp review on the law firm:

STEER CLEAR!!! Involved in accident, they sent me to THEIR doctors and ran up a huge bill then stopped communication. Reported to CA bar for investigation!
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The sole Google review:
horrible service they need friendlier secretary's, two years have passed by and they not only dont conclude with my mothers case but they never call her back they are so rude on the phone and give me the run around.please dont go to this horrible firm
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BrutulTM

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The max amount that they will cover you for with liability does vary between policies. I just got the cheapest car insurance I could find when I got out of college and years later I found out that it only covered me on liability up to $100,000 which is a joke if you are found at fault in a serious accident where someone is crippled or killed.
 
Nester

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Up here in the great white north, our government insurance company just paid $5,000,000 (full policy limits) for a 4km an hour rear ended that did $650 in damage to the vehicle. the Surgeon who got rear ended bumped his head got a conclusion and can never work as a surgeon again. I understand in canada we typically insure with higher limits it that is damn scary, bros don't skimp on insurance!

The author writes like a moron, but damn this would hurt if you did not have insurance or fell for one of those "we'll make you legal" retarde low limit policies.

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news...07363-913-.htm
 
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