Like I stated, I live in a no-fault insurance state.
This means no matter what level of auto insurance coverage you have, and there’s an accident where bodily injuries occur, your own auto insurance covers your medical expenses. That way your medical bills get paid off.
Then it’s up to the insurance companies to determine who’s at fault in the accident, and what insurance company owes the other insurance company for those paid medical expenses.
I have a million dollar umbrella policy, 1k deductable on my o3 trailblazer, not sure what my benefits under umbrella policy apply to the car aspect, and not sure what a 1k deductible would gain me if I totaled it. Should look into it.
I think you need to have another talk with another agent. So you hit and kill a 25 year old PhD on a bike? Where would the $2 plus million come from to settle the case? There is a lot more liability risk than just paying for your own medical costs and your shop will be one of those assets they’ll be looking at. Paying for repair of the vehicle is a minor issue. $300,000 liability coverage is nothing in this day and age.
@Tester - I’d check with your insurance company. My brother lives in a No Fault state…and he was able to sue (and win) a judgement of well over $200k.Took his summer home and boat in payment. I guess each state is different.
I’m in Minnesota too and we aren’t that different. If you have assets, you need heavy liability coverage to protect them. Homes, bank accounts, cars, boats, businesses, paintings, etc. are all at risk for a single moment of distraction at the wrong time. Not to mention the lawyer’s fees to defend yourself. We just covered all this in my insurance class last month in Minnesota.
Assuming someone got sued and there was a huge judgement against them they should be able to discharge that quickly in a bankruptcy hearing if they refused to settle it in some way.
Some years back I was in a car accident and had a fair amount of medical bills. Her insurance co pany made an offer to settle which did not even cover the medical expenses. I turned it down and eventually had to bring a suit against the lady who hit me. I won the case and pretty well knew from the get-go that it would mean nothing but it was a matter of principle. The insurance paid the max; the rest I’d have to get from her which was going to be tough because she hid assets.
Outside the courtroom after the judgement me, my attorney, and her attorney had a brief conversation. Her attorney made a settlement offer or she would file bankruptcy and I told him to forget it. He, along with my attorney, was shocked that I turned down 4 figures of cash.
I simply told her attorney it was all or nothing and that while I realized I was shooting myself in the financial foot it was a matter of principle; a premise he was not likely familiar with. That went over well…
Two minutes later he was standing at the clerk’s counter filing the BR papers.
I’ve never regretted it for one second.
There’s also a reason why many celebrities, sports figures, and so on who live in Florida or have investments there. Their statutes make a lot of assets untouchable in any lawsuit.
I agree with db4690. A guy ran a red light last year and struck my wife’s Nissan Altima and at first the damages did not look too bad but once it was taken to the body shop they found a lot more damage. Long story short it cost over 6k to be repaired.
Westfool. I just read that this car was a new purchase. I guess you have now figured out that you should have paid for collision insurance. Even if you had a an accident with the other driver being at fault is no guarantee his or her insurance company won’t try to weasel out of it. At the very least you will spends hours on the phone fighting with that insurance company. Trust me, I know from experience.
That is the trouble with threads like this that run on past their sell date and change directions. johnbarry there is no other insurance co. and the original poster has left the building. As for this thread enough already.
"OP was too drunk to drive...OP let another drunk person drive...That person crashed the car...
That person is dead broke."
Good summary!
All-in-all, it sounds like a typical case from Judge Judy.
You know…the type of case where she chides both parties for being irresponsible, and then dismisses both the suit and the countersuit.
Yup, then after that she would dismiss the case. Now for the general public and college grads, Judge Judy is not on the Supreme Court. She makes something like 10-15 million so she would never take a pay cut to be on the high court.
Now why close down a thread just when a good conversation gets going? This place has been far too quiet to shut discussions down.
This thread would sure have been a lot simpler if the OP had mentioned that minor detail about being tanked up in the beginning…
It would then have been…
OP = SOL
The OP at this point should just be thanking the heavens that no other people were killed or civil issues would have been the least of their problems. It would have been criminal and you can bet that defense attorney fees would greatly exceed the amount paid for the car.
