another insurance question (long and complex) Melin?

Factual Questions
1

Here’s another insurance question. A little more complex than the red light accident.
For the people in the insurance biz. Who do I get pissed at? Myself is an option but read on.

I once was bicycling on a sidewalk against the direction of traffic. It was rush hour on a very congested route. I’d figured I was safer on the sidewalk than in the road going with traffic. I’d cut across to the against traffic sidewalk when the opportunity presented itself since my destination was approaching. A car that was turning into a parking lot adjoining the road hit me. The raised sidewalk becomes level with the road at the entrance. I was hit as I was crossing the sidewalk at the entrance. The driver just turned right into the lot and the only reason I wasn’t run over on my bike was the fact that I locked up my brakes before the car hit me. I went over my handle bars and into the windshield.

When I awoke, the paramedics were already there. I was transported to the local ER. I was fairly lucid but when the investigating police officer came in to question me, I couldn’t exactly recall details of the accident and the doctor told him to wait while I got stitches. The cop handed me his card and told me to call him later to make my statement.

For the next week I called the number on his card every day only to be told he was out sick or then on leave. I finally went into the station after a week to make my statement but was told the report already had been file a few days before. I had to pay for a copy and found out I was listed as at fault. The driver claimed I jumped off the sidewalk and hit her car head on, and a witness corroborated this (who for all I know, might have been her passenger and he was from the opposite coast and my lawyer was never able to track him down).

The driver’s insurance company paid for my hospital bills: about $400 for transportation to, doctor’s time, and stitches at the ER. Months later the driver’s insurance company sent me a bill for the damages to the car: about $5 grand! I was at fault according to the police report, to which I had no say.

What kills me is the fact that I was found by the paramedics in the parking lot about 30 feet from the side walk (I went back the next day a took photos of where the blood ‘trail’ began; I was laying there for as long as it took paramedics to show up). IF I had come off the sidewalk into traffic and been hit, I would think that I would have been found in the middle of the road. Also, if I had hit the car head-on with my bike-as claimed in the police accident report (as stated by the driver and her/his witness), one might think that my bike’s front tire would be bent; it was not and police photos of the scene show this.

BUT, since I was at fault in the official accident report and the police officer who filed it couldn’t be bothered to get my side of the story, some law firm hired by the insurance company (who had paid my hospital bills) started to send me letters wanting $5 grand for the damage to the car and threatening my credit rating if I didn’t fork up.

Mmmm. The damage to me was about $400 for stitches and they want $5k for the car that hit me. And, I’m not like some people who would have claimed whiplash or whatever in order to win the insurance fraud ‘lottery’.

When I called the law firm, they were confused as to why I just didn’t give them my auto carriers info.
“They’ll [your carrier] take care of it for you.”

I was kinda dumbfounded. This law firm was trying to bully me into paying $5,000 to them by telling me I would be taken to court or my credit rating would be fucked.

“Auto insurance” I asked. “You people don’t even know the facts. What makes you think I have auto insurance?” [In my state it’s required to drive.]

“How can you drive a car without it?” was the reply. “If you don’t have insurance, you’re in big trouble. Your car damaged our client’s car.”

At that point I told them to talk to my lawyer. I was more or less happy with the fact that I didn’t have to pay the hospital bills-I wasn’t suing for whiplash or some bullshit that some might have gone for. I never heard anything again until 1 week before the 3-year limit after the incident to file damages when I was served with a summons to pay for the car.

1 week before, good move on their part, not to give me any time for a counter suit. I’d thought it was done with. I should have called somebody like Stephen L. Miles.

I’m not sure who to be pissed at: the driver, for being stupid; the cop, for being lazy; or the lawyers, for being greedy.

You tell me.

2

Insurance??? Insurance has nothing to do with this issue until fault (liability) has been determined. It appears that the police and the other car have put you at fault (whether right or wrong). The first thing you have to do is reverse the fault. You’ll probably have to take them to court to win a judgement. After winning a judgement, their insurance company will honor the judgement and pay.

3

Bicycle vs. car and the bike caused $5,000 worth of damage to the car???

Yikes!

Hmm, you didn’t happen to have renter’s or homeowner’s insurance at the time, did you? It might cover you for this. If you did, at least look at the policy and see.

I don’t know what state you are in, but at least in California cross-complaints can be filed even after the statute of limitations has run – the recovery would be limited to an offset against any recovery on the main action.

I kind of suspect you’re gonna be screwed on the fault issue here. Although the police report isn’t evidence, if the deposition of the police officer is taken he’s gonna refer to the report, 'cause he isn’t gonna remember anything independently, and he’s gonna testify consistently with what’s on the report. And the other side appears to have a favorable witness, and you don’t. Major bummer. One thing that might help is if an accident reconstuctionist could determine that, based on the physics of the thing, it had to be the car’s fault, but that’s (1) difficult to do, and (2) far too expensive for the kind of money involved here.

You got a lawyer? Talked to him/her about this? If you don’t have some kind of insurance that’s gonna cover this, or at least provide you with a defense, you’re gonna have to either pay a lawyer to defend you or try to negotiate a settlement with the other side. I’d demand to see all the bills associated with the repair of the car, for a start, and see if the $$ was reasonable. Then I’d argue the fault issue with them, and point out that your poverty makes you judgment proof, and try to settle it for no more than half the cost of repairing the car.

This is general information, and is not intended to replace the advice of a lawyer who has had the opportunity to review all of the facts of your case and is familiar with the law in your state, and is not meant to create any attorney-client relationship. The best way for you to protect yourself is to consult a legal professional in your state.

Good luck.

-Melin

Who is NOT Straight Dope Staff

Siamese attack puppet – California

4

www.freeadvice.com is a law site you can also ask questions.

I don’t know if one should take legal or medical advice from people on the net…No two people ever seem to give the same advice.

5

Melin-
Don’t Cyclists always have the right of way though??

-Frankie
I’m a wholesale dealin papa, but I retail on the side.-Brownie McGhee

6

Frankie, a cyclist does not always have the right of way, and if in fact this scenario was accurate then IMO the cyclist would be at fault.

Liability depends on whose story the jury believes.

-Melin

Who is NOT Straight Dope Staff

Siamese attack puppet – California

7

Melin’s right (as per usual).

This isn’t really an insurance issue, it’s a liability issue. I think you’ve got problems if you were riding on the sidewalk. A bicycle is a vehicle and its usually illegal to ride on the sidewalk. So, that’s a strike against you. You’d be in better shape if you were a pedestrian struck on the sidewalk.

However, other circumstanial facts could help your case, if you can prove them. Tire marks, where the damage to the bike and the car was located, where you were located after the impact… that sort of thing. Of course, having a witness against you doesn’t help.

I would also be interested in seeing how they’ll prove that you breached your duty to operate your bicycle safely, even if you did run head on into the car. Cars move much more quickly than bikes. Generally, the person turning through a lane of traffic has the duty to make sure they have adequate time to make the turn. If I turn left across your lane of traffic, causing you to run head on into me, that doesn’t make the collision my fault.

Also, the police report is not admissible evidence of who is at fault in the accident.

You need an attorney, and you need to make it clear to the law firm that is trying to collect this that they will have to convince a jury to make you pay $5000 to the driver who hit YOU.

Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars.

8

OK, I am the adjuster handling the case for teh other driver. I have a $5,000 loss I am trying to recover from someone who has neither the means nor assets to pay. If I garnish her wages, I will have to process a monthly check from said person. And my insured creamed her in his car.

This is not a case that would motivate me a lot, either as a professional or personally. Though liability is somewhat on my side, a jury is probably going to like you. Besides, I am going to eat up most of the $$ in litigation costs.

There are 2 paths for you to take:

  1. hire an atty, pay $$ for an investigation and a reconstruction engineer or for a private eye to track dow the witness and get a statement, take it to trial and roll the dice. Eve if you win you will be out $2-3k at the least. An investigotor will run at least $1000, and engineer at least $2,000 and the attorney, about $1,000 if he is a good samritan but more like $2500

  2. Offer some amount that you can live with and cut your losses and risks.

But you probably bear a good portion of the responsibility here, so you should pay some amount. I am betting that his repair bills are inflated anyway. Offer to cover his deductible for starters. And make it clear that you got nothin’ to give 'em.

9

Is that a typo, or did you really mean to say that?

10

Actually, Melin, it was my body crushing the windshield and frame of the car that caused the $5 grand worth of damage. I’m about 200 lbs. and was going about 10 mph and the car was doing about 15 mph. 200 lbs at 25 mph involves some kinetic energy. When I went over my handlebars, I tucked myself into a ball; my elbow punched a hole through the car’s windshield at impact. I was squeezing glass out of my elbow for the next few months. The insurance company wanted damages for the broken windshield, the bent frame of the car, and time lost by the idiot that hit me-and they thought my car caused this damage to their client’s car-not my body or my bike. Why did they think this?

My question should be: What do you do when you’re screwed by a lazy police officer’s report?

What gets me is that my bike had only about $40 dollars worth of damage to it; I had about $400 in overpriced hospital bills. The driver that hit me insurance company paid for the medical bills, but not for the damage to my bike. Next thing I hear is that they want $5k.

Of course, each of the bills for damage to that I received from the insurance company were for different increasing amounts. It seemed the damage to the car increased as time went by.

And, I’m not stupid, I retained a lawyer from to get go; but in my state, it seems you’re screwed if the police report labels you at fault. Guilty until you spend enough money to make yourself innocent. I didn’t have enough cash to pay for a respectable reconstructionist. The cheap guys ARE bullshit.

The cost of a respectable accident reconstructionist is more than what it’s worth to me. I would spend more money than what I would lose in court.

Bottom Line: The version of a [uniformed] cop who couldn’t care less costs me a shit load of money whether I had any fault or not. To rectify this situation [for me, at least] cost more than it’s worth.

11

Ok, what I meant to say was:

If Car A is proceeding north down the street and turns left across Car B’s lane of traffic so that Car B does not have sufficient time to react or stop, resulting in Car B running head-on into the side of Car A, this is usually not Car B’s fault.