Hi Everyone:
Before I state my question, I’d like to share a little bit about how the incident took place.
I have a brother who was involved in a car accident about a few months ago. The other party was on a motorcycle. My brother came out okay from the accident, but the other party had a serious injury to his left leg. Here’s how the incident took place. My brother was changing lane from him lane to one over to the left, when out of nowhere, the motorcyle sped up and hit the front driver side fender. According to the police report, it does state that the motorcycle did sped up.
My brother is insured under me, but the car is registered under my name. According to my insurance company, they have stated that though it is not 100% my brother’s fault, we are still somewhat liable because the other party was seriously injured. My insurance company has offered the other party the max coverage that my insurance covers to avoid any law suits from taking place, but the other party’s attorney has rejected it. Apparently, they want more. They stated that the other party medical bills along came out to be $120K. He needed surgery done on his leg. My insurance company stated that usually the other party will accept the max even though it is less than the medical fees. When I last spoke to my insurance company, our next step is to just wait for a letter from the other party’s attorney. It’s already been past two weeks since I found out this news. So, I called the insurance a few days back and have learned that the attorney has called and left my adjuster a message stating that they’d like $850K. I’m not sure where and how they go that #, but I’m afraid. My brother and I don’t have that kind of money. We don’t own a property. My brother has nothing in his bank. I have a couple of thousands in mine. I still have my school loan. In addition, because both my parents are sick, I’ve been taking over some of their bills.
I don’t have money to hire a lawyer. I’m just waiting for my insurance company to deal with it. However, I’m anxious and was wondering if anyone might know what the outcome might be from all this. Please advise.
You insurance company will provide a lawyer, and do all the work for you to fight the suit, and get the resulting award down as much as possible.
Being a motorcyclist, and just having “celebrated” my 10th anniversary the other day of when a lady blew a stop sign, nearly killing me, and leaving me with a broken left hip, and a financial mess that took me many years to clean up, I can tell you what it feels like from the other person’s perspective.
I don’t know the circumstances of your brother’s accident, but I’ve been on the road enough years as a motorcyclist that plenty of people have started to change lanes into me, and I’ve sped up to get out of their way. The motorcyclist could have been in that very situation with your brother. So please don’t try and immediately blame the “speeding” motorcyclist for the accident occurring.
Anyway, the main thing is that your insurance company is going to do everything that they can to settle the accident claim for as little as they possibly can. Let them work their magic. Unless the motorcyclist is rich, he is eventually going to run out of money trying to win a huge case. Trust me, I know this first hand.
You and your brother will be fine.
Also, talk to your insurance agent AND RAISE YOUR POLICY LIMITS.
If this ever happens again, and I hope it doesn’t, you will be in a better position.
BC.
I don’t know the circumstances of your brother’s accident, but I’ve been on the road enough years as a motorcyclist that plenty of people have started to change lanes into me, and I’ve sped up to get out of their way. The motorcyclist could have been in that very situation with your brother. So please don’t try and immediately blame the “speeding” motorcyclist for the accident occurring.
I feel sorry that you were in a accident…but I tell ya…here in NH and MA…Motorcyclists are a danger. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’m about to change lanes doing about 70…when all of a sudden some idiot in a bike comes barreling up doing over 100. If they see 20’ of open road…they gun it. And I’ll bet that’s what happened here…although it’ll be damn near impossible to prove it.
Anyway, the main thing is that your insurance company is going to do everything that they can to settle the accident claim for as little as they possibly can. Let them work their magic. Unless the motorcyclist is rich, he is eventually going to run out of money trying to win a huge case. Trust me, I know this first hand.
You and your brother will be fine.
If the guy is suing for MORE then your insurance then YOU are liable. I know because I did it. When my oldest son was 2 weeks old we were sideswiped by a drunk who ran a stoplight. Car was totaled…son broke his arm. I almost killed the guy. A cop saw the whole thing. While my wife was taking care of our son…I pulled the guy out of his truck and had him on the ground…The cop who saw it had to pull me off the guy before I killed him. I sued him for $500k and won…He had minimal insurance ($10k). He was liable for the rest ($490k). Of course he didn’t have anything. I then garnished his wages and took possession of his new truck (after it was fixed) and sold it within a week. If he owned a house I would have gone after that too. He changed jobs twice and both times I found him and started garnishing his wages again. When he moved back to Canada I no longer had access to his wages…but I would have until the day he or I died.
As a motorcyclist, I have had cars change lanes while I was right next to them while I was traveling at a constant speed, just because they didn’t check their mirrors or look over their shoulders. Consequently, I have a hard time being impartial here. Hopefully, for your brother’s sake, the plaintiff isn’t a member of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA). If he is, they might be providing his lawyers free of charge and/or providing expert testimony if this goes to trial. In either case, he might have found a lawyer to take his case free of charge in exchange for a large part of the settlement. That could also be why they are asking for so much money.
The part of your story that stands out to me is that your brother knew the motorcyclist sped up. Does that mean he saw him coming and changed lanes anyway? If so, that won’t look good to a jury. Right-of-way isn’t yielded when you accelerate, especially if the motorcyclist was under the legel speed limit after he accelerated.
In any case, how much bodily injury liability insurance does your policy have? As long as the settlement isn’t more than that amount, you should be fine, except for the increase you can expect in your premiums.
they have stated that though it is not 100% my brother’s fault, we are still somewhat liable because the other party was seriously injured.
There are different ways of assigning liability and it can vary from state to state. In some states, if you’re found to be more than 50% at fault, you are 100% liable for the damages. Another method is distributed negligence where each party is assigned a percentage of fault and the liability is divided up that way. So, it depends on your jurisdiction’s method.
Your insurance company will represent you up to the policy limits. If the judgement is above that, you are personally liable. Often in cases involving potentially large judgements, you will see both the insurance company’s lawyers and lawyer(s) for the defendant. Your insurance company could settle immediately for the policy limits. Often, they will ask that a liability waiver be signed in exchange for the quick settlement. That would absolve you from further litigation and damages. They don’t have to accept those terms and if your insurance settles anyway, the rest is on your shoulders.
Even though you have no real property now, they could attach any future earnings.
These things tend to drag out over many years so there’s no sense getting too worked up over it now. Likely, they will see that you have no real property and settle with the ins co for policy limits rather than battle it out in a lengthy litigation.
I appreciate your feedback, Bladecutter. Thanks for sharing you point of view. Though I’m still worried, I feel somewhat at ease from your comment.
Hello TwinTurbo: Thanks for your input. Greatly appreciated. When you say, they could attach any future earnings, are you saying that we might be required to go on an installment plan?
Hello MikeinNH:
My brother was trying to change lane to the left to get a parking space. He’d made sure to look all around before doing so. He’s a very careful driver and wasn’t under the influence of alcohol or anything.
I’m glad to hear that you, your wife, and son were okay from the incident. I understand in your case why you did what you did, because the other driver was under the influence and was being careless.
It’s an enforced installment plan- they deduct a fixed sum right from your employer’s check to you. I wouldn’t get too worked up about that possibility just yet. It’s unlikely unless you’re a high wage earner or the injured party is particularly tenacious. It’s good to know what CAN happen so you’re prepared. These things play out over many years and you’ll likely have ample time to decide if and what action is necessary on your part. Until then, I’d wait to see how the ins co plays their hand and where it goes. It’s not unusual for the injured party to demand exhorbitant sums. They haven’t had time to research what real property you have and they will likely settle for policy limits when they complete their discovery process.
It easy to lose sleep over these things, especially early on. Fear of the unknown is the worst. So, if you understand what can happen and what is likely to happen, then you should rest easier.
As I said…it’s probably the fault of the biker…but it’ll be almost impossible to prove.
I was just pointing out if this guy really wants to go after you he can. If your insurance doesn’t cover what he’s suing for…they can go after YOU personally. I wish you luck.
I know that there are plenty of motorcyclists out there who are a menace to society, but there are many, many more who are doing nothing more than following the flow of traffic to get where they are going, and aren’t out there for adrenalin highs.
But, that’ not what this thread is about, so we shouldn’t hijack it.
Also, I’m glad that you and your family are okay from your accident.
After my accident, I actually tried to get up to do exactly the same that you did, but that’s when I learned that my hip was broken, and couldn’t complete the task.
My accident was caused by a lady who was running late for work, had to take her young son to school, and just wasn’t in the mood to stop for a stop sign. I was 3 blocks away from my house, on my way to a new job. I was already broke at that point, and the accident cost me alot more than just my hip at that point in my life.
I also wound up with a bad lawyer, and got hosed in that regards, too.
But, 10 years later, I’m in a much better situation than I was back then.
The only true advice I can give the OP is to just relax, as everything is currently out of his hands. If anything, increase your policy limits RIGHT NOW, as doing that should allow the insurance company to take the hit instead of you.
In fact, if there are any insurance agents on here, can you tell us if that is in fact possible? Can the OP raise his rates now, and you will cover it from the new amount, or is it fully locked in from the amount of coverage that he had at the time of the accident?
BC.
You are so right about losing sleep over this. Both my brother and I haven’t been able to focus on anything, but constantly worry about this. This is the first time he’s been in an accident. I tried to assure him that the good news is that he’s okay and the party is okay. Unfortunately, it is where its at. At the beginning, we assumed that the insurance companies from both parties will work this out, until I was told otherwise. I just hope that everything turn out okay. Thanks again TwinTurbo.
Thanks again. We really don’t have any other assets. This is all so new to both me and my brother. All we have is the insurance. We don’t have properties or anything else that we can liquidate to cash to pay the other party. I’m just worried for my brother, because he’s losing sleep over this. It’s good to just hear everyone feedback. This helps a lot.
He didn’t see the motorcyclist at all. He was already in the changing lane when he heard the motorcycle revving up and as soon as he heard it, the motorcyclist hit the front driver side of his vehicle.
The bodily injury coverage that we have through the insurance company is $50K/$100K. Our insurance company has offered the $50K amount, but the other party attorney has rejected it and wants more. Unfortunately, we don’t have more. All we have is what our insurance company has to offer.
Just a few comments here. Motorcyclists are generally considered a moving target and in almost all cases the automobile is at fault.
You were not present; you only know what your brother is stating to be fact.
Your brother apparently did not even see the motorcycle so how did he even know the motorcycle sped up?
You mention hearing an engine rev. Well, maybe that was someone twisting the wick and swerving in an attempt to avoid being run over.
Once while on the interstate and in broad daylight a gentleman in a Ford pickup changed lanes right on top of me and the only thing that awoke him out of his stupor was my right foot planting a boot into the driver’s door.
Your insurance company will defend you in court up to the limits of the policy and depending on how that works out in court, will pay the maximum amount on the policy.
Anything over and above that amount means the party suing you can come after both you and the brother for a deficiency. This means they can garnish paychecks and bank accounts, seize real property, etc.
If it gets bad enough that they actually take you to court and win a huge judgement then filing bankruptcy is an option that can be used to clear the slate and is much preferable to having them go after bank accounts, etc.
I speak from experience on this as I’ve been involved in a couple of lawsuits due to accidents. In both cases the insurance co. paid off their limits and the defendant filed bankruptcy when I refused to settle the “overage”. Why would I settle? They offered less than the still outstanding medical bills so as a matter of principle I took the financial hit and sent them to bankruptcy court.
The only way I could see your prevailing in this is if you appear in court with an overwhelming amount of evidence and testimony from expert witnesses. This is far from cheap and could be pointless anyway.
Hope some of that helps but my feeling is that your brother was at fault by making a left turn and “not seeing the motorcyclist”.
What you’re going through with insur. co. limits and someone getting a judgement over and above those limits is a pretty common thing unfortunately. Now you know why some wealthy people carry literally millions in insurance coverage.
At this point I would just sit tight and see what happens. They other party can do nothing until they have a judgement after a trial is completed. Once they have a judgement they can then make moves to garnish pay or bank accounts. If they do that then filing bankrupty should be considered if the judgement is large.
(If it comes down ot being sued then I would advise removing that money from the bank account and keeping a bare minimum in there. Not trying to play jailhouse lawyer here; only pointing out something I’ve been through a few times myself and hope it helps you out.)
One comment: YOU NEED A LAWYER. This is not the place to come for legal advice, nor is it wise to be putting your story on the internet. Get a phone book, start calling around and explaining your situation, and see what can be worked out. Owing a few thousand to a lawyer is better than owing a few HUNDRED thousand to someone as a result of losing a lawsuit. Your insurance is not going to represent you in court.
GET A LAWYER RIGHT NOW.
I’m not trying to come here to get legal advice. I’m just trying to share and gain knowledge to what can happen. Thanks for your advice.
Sorry To Hear What You’re Going Through
I hope this works out OK for you.
You say you want to share knowledge and my advice comes a little late in your case but may help others. I hope you don’t mind.
Bladecutter says, " Also, talk to your insurance agent AND RAISE YOUR POLICY LIMITS. If this ever happens again, and I hope it doesn’t, you will be in a better position. "
This is particularly true if you own your home outright or have other valuable assets to protect. I have those risks as well as having deep water on my property, owning boats and PWCs, being a “dangerous golf fanatic,” and teenage driver(s).
If you have some of these risks you should consider buying a Personal Umbrella Policy. I raised liability insurance on all our cars and purchased an Umbrella Policy. The cost, for a policy that gives me an additional $1,000,000 coverage on any and all of the above mentioned risks, over and above the regular coverage, is just over $300, annually.
“You mention hearing an engine rev. Well, maybe that was someone twisting the wick and swerving in an attempt to avoid being run over.”
The engine revs quite a lot when the bike’s downshifted, too. This might or might not be a tactic used to slow a motorcycle if the rider thinks quickly enough.
I am a lawyer and you should IMMEDIATEY stop putting any more facts on this public forum. Everything you have said here is discoverable. The attorney assigned to your case by your insurance company is your lawyer and these questions should be directed to her/him ONLY. In the first place any communication with your lawyer is covered by the attorney-client privilege and, second, he will be best able to help you understand the procedures, your risks, what to expect and if necessary, even when it might be in your best interests to retain other counsel.
On other thing: I’ve read through all the responses on this thread and there is some REALLY BAD advice in several of the responses.