had a car accident last feb. struck and killed a ped. on an icy 2 lane rural highway. now being sued for wrongful death.
Total Comments: 6
Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 05:41 am Post Subject:
Sorry to hear that. I'm hoping you told your carrier of this when it happened.
Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 05:52 am Post Subject:
Well, it arises a number of questions- we're yet to know if you were actually at fault. What does the policy report say?
Did you have any witness to this accident? Did you consult an attorney regarding this?
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 02:16 am Post Subject: car accident
the police report did not find me negligent, stated black ice due to a major snow/ice storm we had a few days before. I came up on the first accident minutes after it had happened and in the same spot mine occurred. A resident along the highway was standing in the roadway looking at the first accident when mine occurred. Both of us were found not at fault. So his family is suing me and the highway dept for wrongful death. The attorney representing my insurance company says it won't pay out more than my liability limitations. His family was offered it 3 days after the accident and refused to accept it. I was advised to send a "hammer letter" to the attorney representing my insurance company stating they pay out the liability limitations in order to protect myself in the event we go to trial. Any suggestions, sample wording in the letter, etc? No I have not consulted an attorney other than the one representing me with my insurance company.
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 02:51 am Post Subject:
The attorney representing my insurance company says it won't pay out more than my liability limitations. His family was offered it 3 days after the accident and refused to accept it
I was advised to send a "hammer letter" to the attorney representing my insurance company stating they pay out the liability limitations in order to protect myself in the event we go to trial.
If you carrier offered the limit, then sending _your_ attorney (not your insurance companies) a letter asking them to pa the policy limits is not going to change anything.
Your carrier has a duty to protect you as best they can by paying up to your policy limits. In order to protect you, they will require the other party sign a release. If they paid your policy limits without a release, then the other party can simply continue to pursue their claim against you and you'd have a Bad Faith claim against your own carrier for not defending you with your policy limits. If the other party does not want to accept your policy limits then there is nothing your carrier can do but to offer you a defense. If the other party filed suit after your carrier offered their policy limits then I bet the real reason they filed is because the state did not offer them enough money on their end. If the attorney knows he's going to go to court against the state then there is no reason to settle with anyone... as it's just as easy to file suit against two people as it is one. If he's going to court in order to get a judgement, he might as well get two at the same time. That is, it's all the same trial to him if there are 1 or 100 dependents.
So I think you are really just caught in the middle here. The other person's attorney would be quite happy to accept your policy limits and move on but he's not going to as long as the state is not paying him what he thinks he should get from them.
If you have an attorney appointed to you by your insurance company they you should not be doing _ANYTHING_ on your own. You need to go through your attorney. The people giving you this advise.... don't have a clue as to what is going on.
Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:30 pm Post Subject: hammer letter
the advice came from an attorney representing a worker's comp case. he stated i needed to have an attorney draft this type of letter and send it to the attorney representing me (from the ins. co) to protect myself if we do go to court and for some unknown reason a jury awards them what they are asking. my ins co will only pay liability limitations, which is 50,000.00 and they are suing me for 150,000.00 as well as the state hiway dept. he said if i have this letter on file than my insurance co would have to pick up all of the judgement......
Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:16 pm Post Subject:
What is being told to you is to put in writing that you want them to pay your policy limits. Usually this is done when they are offering _less_ then your limits. Then, when an excess judgment comes about, you can sue your carrier for Bad Faith. But in this case they _are_ offering your limits. What more can they do? So there is no bad faith. Send the letter if you want, you can do it yourself.
Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 05:41 am Post Subject:
Sorry to hear that. I'm hoping you told your carrier of this when it happened.
Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 05:52 am Post Subject:
Well, it arises a number of questions- we're yet to know if you were actually at fault. What does the policy report say?
Did you have any witness to this accident? Did you consult an attorney regarding this?
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 02:16 am Post Subject: car accident
the police report did not find me negligent, stated black ice due to a major snow/ice storm we had a few days before. I came up on the first accident minutes after it had happened and in the same spot mine occurred. A resident along the highway was standing in the roadway looking at the first accident when mine occurred. Both of us were found not at fault. So his family is suing me and the highway dept for wrongful death. The attorney representing my insurance company says it won't pay out more than my liability limitations. His family was offered it 3 days after the accident and refused to accept it. I was advised to send a "hammer letter" to the attorney representing my insurance company stating they pay out the liability limitations in order to protect myself in the event we go to trial. Any suggestions, sample wording in the letter, etc? No I have not consulted an attorney other than the one representing me with my insurance company.
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 02:51 am Post Subject:
The attorney representing my insurance company says it won't pay out more than my liability limitations. His family was offered it 3 days after the accident and refused to accept it
I was advised to send a "hammer letter" to the attorney representing my insurance company stating they pay out the liability limitations in order to protect myself in the event we go to trial.
If you carrier offered the limit, then sending _your_ attorney (not your insurance companies) a letter asking them to pa the policy limits is not going to change anything.Your carrier has a duty to protect you as best they can by paying up to your policy limits. In order to protect you, they will require the other party sign a release. If they paid your policy limits without a release, then the other party can simply continue to pursue their claim against you and you'd have a Bad Faith claim against your own carrier for not defending you with your policy limits. If the other party does not want to accept your policy limits then there is nothing your carrier can do but to offer you a defense. If the other party filed suit after your carrier offered their policy limits then I bet the real reason they filed is because the state did not offer them enough money on their end. If the attorney knows he's going to go to court against the state then there is no reason to settle with anyone... as it's just as easy to file suit against two people as it is one. If he's going to court in order to get a judgement, he might as well get two at the same time. That is, it's all the same trial to him if there are 1 or 100 dependents.
So I think you are really just caught in the middle here. The other person's attorney would be quite happy to accept your policy limits and move on but he's not going to as long as the state is not paying him what he thinks he should get from them.
If you have an attorney appointed to you by your insurance company they you should not be doing _ANYTHING_ on your own. You need to go through your attorney. The people giving you this advise.... don't have a clue as to what is going on.
Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:30 pm Post Subject: hammer letter
the advice came from an attorney representing a worker's comp case. he stated i needed to have an attorney draft this type of letter and send it to the attorney representing me (from the ins. co) to protect myself if we do go to court and for some unknown reason a jury awards them what they are asking. my ins co will only pay liability limitations, which is 50,000.00 and they are suing me for 150,000.00 as well as the state hiway dept. he said if i have this letter on file than my insurance co would have to pick up all of the judgement......
Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:16 pm Post Subject:
What is being told to you is to put in writing that you want them to pay your policy limits. Usually this is done when they are offering _less_ then your limits. Then, when an excess judgment comes about, you can sue your carrier for Bad Faith. But in this case they _are_ offering your limits. What more can they do? So there is no bad faith. Send the letter if you want, you can do it yourself.
Add your comment