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I am a business owner, with semis and trailers.
We received a subrogation letter from an insurance company, stating that we owed money to recover damages for their insured, for a broken windshield.
I inquired about it, because none of our drivers had any accidents/incidents, etc.
The agent sent me pictures which her insured submitted for the claim (basically she just had pictures of our truck with some rock and mud on the trailer).
While it was our truck, how is there any way to really know it was our truck that caused the damage? I asked the agent for the police report, and she said there wasn't one.
So my question is, what are my legal rights in this situation? Without a police report, can I legally deny to pay it? The driver (with the broken windshield) never spoke to my driver about any damage at the time, and just submitted pictures to the insurance company, and I assume the tag number?
They’re demanding payment because they believe you did something.
The only enforcement mechanism they have is to take you to court.
Clearly something is tying you to this. You need to figure out what it is before you decide how to proceed. Best way to do that is to talk to the insurance agent, but don’t do anything in writing yet.
Clearly something is tying you to this. You need to figure out what it is before you decide how to proceed. Best way to do that is to talk to the insurance agent, but don’t do anything in writing yet.
All they have is pictures of my truck.
My question is, without a police report, am I legally required to assume the damage was caused by my truck? Technically, the other driver could submit pictures of any vehicle.
It’s only $300. Honestly, it’s not about the money, I just want to know am I truly obligated to respond to their demand to pay?
No. All they can do is take you to court and try to get a judgment against you, which of course you’d be made aware of and contest.
You can respond and deny liability or you can ignore, that’s up to you.
For $300 they’ll probably just harass you for awhile. The cost of serving you and filing in small claims court will probably exceed that alone. Court doesn’t make sense.
You can submit a copy of the demand letter to your insurance carrier and they will do an investigation and I would think that they would send a letter denying their subrogation demand. A small claims action may come out of this. I don't think the insurance company would want to spend too much time on a $300 claim demand. Did the driver of the truck speak to the owner of the car? Or did they just take a picture from inside the car? Just have your insurance carrier handle it.
I find it difficult to believe you are a business owner who is so foolish as to ask for legal advice on a world wide web forum, without at least identifying what state you live in!
Even the highest priced New York City lawyer can't advise you without knowing the laws that YOU are required to abide by. States have different laws regarding the liability for items thrown or dropped from vehicles on the highways.
IMO, you, as a business owner, would garner a great deal of good will ("blue sky", if you will) by just paying the piddly little $300 and forwarding a carefully worded letter of apology, as in "IF our truck was responsible for dropping a rock which damaged the windshield, we are truly sorry." In other words, admit nothing, but apologize for everything.
sometime ago a person was driving down the road and a rock busted their windshield. This was their second replacement in only 2 months so they didn't want the insurance company to think they are doing something wrong. So, they snapped a picture of some truck on the road from a construction project and sent that as the responsible party to their insurance company. The insurance company replaced the windshield and told them they will go after the trucking company. Since that time, the word has spread just take a picture of any truck and claim that's the one that caused the damage. In time, people learned dirty trucks or those with uncovered loafs or anyone that is involved in construction is fair game.
Adding to the problem is how cheap it is for an insurance company to write a letter. Heck look at all the people who get ripped off by letter scams, so it's got to be gold for a legitimate insurance company. Which also brings up the question of legitimacy of the company and/or the claim.
Oh by the way, one of your trucks (pick anyone for me) threw a rock from an unguarded tire and smashed my windshield, can I get $400 from you?
Don't be silly. I'm sure you have driven down the freeway and been hit by debris from a dirty truck. File a police report? Yea, right, police often won't even respond to non-injury accidents that aren't obstructing a road. Confront the driver? How exactly would you do that, follow the truck 100 miles or so til he stops or pull in front of him and brake him to a stop? Sounds like a driver did the sensible thing, grab his phone and take a photo of the offending truck then file it with his insurance company.
Now it is possible that a driver had a cracked windshield and decided to falsely pin it on some dirty truck. And you probably can't be forced to pay it if you refuse. But you should at least take a good look at your trucks and make sure they are clean and not dropping mud and rocks when they hit a bump. If you bought a brand new car, would you want to be driving behind one of your trucks?
sometime ago a person was driving down the road and a rock busted their windshield. This was their second replacement in only 2 months so they didn't want the insurance company to think they are doing something wrong. So, they snapped a picture of some truck on the road from a construction project and sent that as the responsible party to their insurance company. The insurance company replaced the windshield and told them they will go after the trucking company. Since that time, the word has spread just take a picture of any truck and claim that's the one that caused the damage. In time, people learned dirty trucks or those with uncovered loafs or anyone that is involved in construction is fair game.
I have no doubt that happens but I'd still bet that debris falling from trucks causes 10x more damage than they ever actually pay for. For every person that falsely scapegoats a dirty truck there are probably ten that get damaged by the truck and write it off as "sh#t happens".
I find it difficult to believe you are a business owner who is so foolish as to ask for legal advice on a world wide web forum, without at least identifying what state you live in!
Even the highest priced New York City lawyer can't advise you without knowing the laws that YOU are required to abide by. States have different laws regarding the liability for items thrown or dropped from vehicles on the highways.
IMO, you, as a business owner, would garner a great deal of good will ("blue sky", if you will) by just paying the piddly little $300 and forwarding a carefully worded letter of apology, as in "IF our truck was responsible for dropping a rock which damaged the windshield, we are truly sorry." In other words, admit nothing, but apologize for everything.
How would he garner goodwill? He’s paying 300 to an insurance carrier, probably a subrogation department many states away, and nobody would know about it.
The insurance carrier is subrogating because they already fixed the windshield.
Besides, the question is do I have to pay now, not am I liable. Make them prove liability, that’s their job.
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