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I was wondering if anyone here had ever been sued for an accident that was their fault. Our son had an accident the morning after my Dad's Funeral two years ago. The car was in my husband's name, but our son was driving it, and he was on his way back to the College when the accident occured. The lady he hit said she was fine at the time of the accident, she was even checked out at the Hospital, her car had a very small dent, hardly noticeable, but now she claims she has permenent injuries from the accident, and is suing my husband and our son jointly. Our son has been driving for six years now, and that was his only accident and only ticket. He had been driving for four years before the accident. The car our son was driving was totaled in the accident. Our Auto Insurance payed the Finance Company the value of the car, because we were still paying on it, they paid for the Hospital Bills for our son and the lady when they got checked after the accident, and they paid for her car to be fixed. Why would she wait two years to sue? We have twenty five thousand dollars coverage for bodily injury per accident. We owe a lot more for our house than what it's worth, our furniture and television are older than our son, we have no investments and no money in the Bank, no Savings either. What happens if she is awrded more than the Insurance pays? I know we will be responsible for anything over what the Insurance gives her. What if we can't pay? We have nothing of value. We are doing good to keep our son in College.
I was wondering if anyone here had ever been sued for an accident that was their fault. Our son had an accident the morning after my Dad's Funeral two years ago. The car was in my husband's name, but our son was driving it, and he was on his way back to the College when the accident occured. The lady he hit said she was fine at the time of the accident, she was even checked out at the Hospital, her car had a very small dent, hardly noticeable, but now she claims she has permenent injuries from the accident, and is suing my husband and our son jointly. Our son has been driving for six years now, and that was his only accident and only ticket. He had been driving for four years before the accident. The car our son was driving was totaled in the accident. Our Auto Insurance payed the Finance Company the value of the car, because we were still paying on it, they paid for the Hospital Bills for our son and the lady when they got checked after the accident, and they paid for her car to be fixed. Why would she wait two years to sue? We have twenty five thousand dollars coverage for bodily injury per accident. We owe a lot more for our house than what it's worth, our furniture and television are older than our son, we have no investments and no money in the Bank, no Savings either. What happens if she is awrded more than the Insurance pays? I know we will be responsible for anything over what the Insurance gives her. What if we can't pay? We have nothing of value. We are doing good to keep our son in College.
Two years is the statue of limitation for filing suit due to an accident in most cases. So of course she has waited till the VERY last second to file. Sounds like your son got the brunt of the whole thing (car and bodily wise). In MOST cases when the recipient of a settlement from an accident signs their check and deposits it into their bank account they have released the other party from further claims. What has your insurance company said? You have talked to them and if not you should ASAP! She can NOT get your house in the suit nor can she get anything in YOUR name if she is suing your husband and son (depends on the state your in - a good lawyer can discuss this with you). If YOU inherited something from YOUR family and she only named your husband and son in the suit - she can't touch YOUR belongings of your 1/2 of the assets.
If you really think she is trying to just get some money (most likely is the case) then turn yourself into a good PI. Get your camera and a good zoom lense. Follow her around (without her knowing it) and document all of her activities. If she is out moving around just like any other normal person then she is not "permanently injured". Insurance companies are starting to do this now (have for a few years really) when it comes to claims of disability, workmans comp, etc. They have proven that people that "supposedly" were injuried were out partying it up and doing all kinds of things that ANY person w/ the "injuries" they claim to have would not dare attempt. All without pain or medicine. Get several sets of pics, send them to your insurance company, have a set in a safe and then a set to take to court if it comes to that. Don't settle out of court if she is trying to pull a fast one. Take it all the way to court and a jury will see straight thru her scam. Your pictures will help (video is also a good thing as it will show her in action). If it ends up in court and she loses you can get her to be repsonsible for paying your attorney.
Any party to an accident with the possibility of bodily injuries would be well advised to wait as far into the future as possible to establish their claims(s) before settling with an insurance company or the other party at fault.
Why?
Because it may take many months before all the damage becomes apparent. A lot of injuries first presenting may mask other problems of a more long lasting nature. For example, whiplash and neck sprains and open head wounds may take some time to start healing up ... and have masked long term cognitive problems, or vision problems, or hearing problems. You simply aren't functioning well enough in the days and many months after an accident for these other injuries to surface, especially if you are on pain meds or other meds. Some problems, such as heart damage, can take well over a year before they can be detected after an accident.
Generally, states have a statue of limitations on how long after an accident an injured party can sue to recover their loss. So, if you're in a state with a "two-year" limit, then it would have been very reasonable for the other party to have taken most of that time to ascertain the extent of their physical injuries. Even though immediately after the accident the other party was saying they felt fine, they could have sustained injuries which took awhile to surface ... in (mild) shock after the accident, they may have not realized any problems.
This is the reason why an ambulance responder to the scene will immobilize someone who's been in the accident, even if they're up and walking about at the time. What if they'd suffered internal injuries, or a critical fracture, unknown to the injured party? The techs sure don't want to be the ones to aggravate that injury and be responsible for further damage.
The point here is that the person in the accident may be the least capable of determining the extent of their injuries at the scene or for some time thereafter.
Of course, this doesn't mean that the other party is being truthful in the aftermath. Insurance and medical fraud is a big business in this country.
I've been there, where a former employee asserted that she'd gotten a case of chemically induced asthma due to the solvents in my shop, and she was suing for workman's comp and disability for the rest of her life ... couldn't use her favorite perfumes anymore, couldn't use a lot of household cleaners due to the smells, etc. etc. etc ... her quality of life was in the ****ter due to working as a receptionist in the front office of my shop. And she had two doctors from a major respiratory hospital swearing that she really was a basket case due to this injury suffered in my shop over the space of 6 months.
Fortunately for me and my insurance company, there is an absolute defining test to establish or deny the presence of "chemically induced asthma", an acetylcholine (sp?) test. We had to countersue her to be allowed to perform the test with her physician present to monitor her condition when our doctors administered the test. She totally FAILED the test; in other words, administering the drug resulted in absolutely no symptoms whatsoever. She and her doctors had been lying the whole time, and they knew it ... especially since they should have administered this test at the outset of treating her for over a year for the alleged asthma problem. They were all in it for the money.
The worst part of this fraud was that she'd been collecting UI payments against my account for well over a year by the time we got the opportunity to prove it was a false claim. My insurer should have sued her to recover the money falsely paid out, but they had already upped my UI rates to cover the claim. So, why would they bother when they already had somebody to offset their losses?
The insurance companies get you coming and going. Have no claims? you pay. Have a claim which is covered by your insurance? you still pay.
But, back to the OP's problem here ... the other party may have a legitimate claim against you AND your insurance company. Notify your insurance company of the current legal action which is a direct result of the insured accident and they MUST step in with their legal staff.
If the other party can prove physical damages and get awarded money in excess of your insurance coverage, then you'll be looking at paying the excess award. If you can't, then bankruptcy may be an avenue for you to explore. You may want to consider placing all of your family assets in your name, now, to try to place them out of reach of the other party, although this may only be a delaying tactic for you.
You should consider getting your own legal representation outside of the insurance company; someone who is looking out for your interests as opposed to a lawyer who is looking out for the insurance company's interests.
Good luck with this. It will not be easy, however it twists around in the process ... even if you establish that the claim against you is false/fraud.
Thank you all for all the replies! I have talked to the Insurance Company, and they said they are hiring a Lawyer. I was thinking that she would've had to sign something at the time of the accident when the Insurance paid. We are in Texas. According to the papers the Constable served, my husband is being sued because the car was in his name, and he let someone that he knew was reckless and irresponsible behind the wheel. By no strtch of the word has our son ever been reckless and irresponsible, he wasn't even speeding at the time of the accident. Our son and my Dad were extremely close, he was Dad's first grandchild and only grandchild for six years, and I think my son was just grief stricken when he had the accident. That is no excuse for him to have an accident. At the time of the accident, when we picked our son up at the Hospital, our son told us that he didn't know what happened, he said one minute the lady's car wasn't there, and the next it was, and he said, I must've fallen asleep at the wheel, he didn't really hit her car, he grazed her car. The papers also say that we must file an answer with the Court within twenty days. The Insurance Company told us not to get a Lawyer or do anything, to let the Attorney they hire handle everything, so I don't know if we should file an answer or not.
Yes, some injuries take awhile to show up. But, if I had been suffering for 6 months due to something stemming from an accident I would have already been seeking some kind of judgement or insurance claim. If she is suing rather than calling your insurance company and filing another claim - it sounds like she is just seeing dollar signs.
I've been in a pretty bad accident and the medics that responded did not make me sign anything, treat me nor stabilize me. As a matter of fact I even told them when they arrived and I was still "stuck" in my car that I had been on the way to the hospital for an MRI. They DID stablize and transport the other victim in this accident (3 cars involved) as she was really stuck in her vehicle AND was 5 months pregnant (ended up having a broken ankle - now THAT one had to have some kind of long lasting effects). Each area will do things differently.
I'm in Texas as well and pretty much around here it is a 2 year statue of limitation. The insurance company has on the back of their check a statement that by endorsing the instrument the recipient is releasing them of all liability. This is why she is coming after you but your insurance will take care of it. I'd get ahold of an attorney to take care of YOUR assets and to protect them. Make sure all property (furniture, cars, property, savings accounts, etc) are all seperated and documented. This way she can't touch anything that rightfully belongs to YOU. Texas is a state where YOUR property is YOURS and your husband can not release it or use it as collateral without YOU signing off on it.
You would be surprised how many accidents happen during a death in the family. There was a very tragic one in our city a few years ago. A man and his brother were headed to the funeral home to make arrangements for their mothers burial. Two short blocks from their destination the driver was in that "fog" with the goings on and ran a red light and it killed them. I can only imagine the grief that family suffered and still does to this day. Your mind is just not right during that time. In your case the accident w/ your son only compounds the lose of your father and you know your grateful for your son being alive and having survived the accident. Then you have this lady that comes along and decides to take advantage of you.
Anyway, I'd still go about and get some pictures of her moving around and showing she is NOT suffering if that be the case. If it is far from home then check around and find a reasonable PI that will do it for you. One of the parents my daughter goes to school with, her dad does this very thing for insurance companies. They tail people and show that their "disability" claims are false.
We don't have any assets to protect. However, I do appreciate your advice! This is what has me so worried, the fact that we have no money, or any kind of assets, so we have no idea how we can pay her anything. I have an Inheritance that has been sitting in Probate for two years, but the Executor of the Estate won't give us any info, and she yelled at me and told me not to call her anymore, I had only called her twice, I told her to have a nice day and I was sorry I bothered her and I wouldn't ever call her again, I don't figure I'll ever get the Inheritance, I refuse to bicker over money.
After reading some of the responses in this thread, i'll leave you with the only advice that you'll need.
Listen to your insurance company.
The insurance company will know how to handle the litigation aspect. You don't, i don't, and the "advisors" above definitely don't seem to have any idea about the process.
Let your insurance handle it, period.
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