by timelesspleasures » Mon Oct 17, 2011 06:18 pm
In an accident where we , husband & I,had the green light, made it 2/3rds of the way across the intersection and person - single occupant,ran a red light on our right and we ended up t-boning him. Police agreed he was 100% at fault. 2 phones in his car. Our insurance sent us a letter stating," results of the inter-company aritration , reviewing the contentions submitted by both sides we are 55% at fault....Needless to say we are infuriatted!.Awaiting call from a person to discuss this letter. Our lawyer stated to us it just 2 children fighting over a piece of cake. We have extremely good insurance coverage, we expect to have our company work in our best interest..they are not. What can we do? Can we sue them fore breach of contract, bad faith? Where do we start? Anne in northern California
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 01:49 am Post Subject:
Were there any witnesses to the accident? Maybe they saw something different than what you saw. If either you or the other driver ran a red light, then I would think the fault would be 100% either one way or the other. Since it was 55%, is it possible that you didn't get out of the intersection before the light turned red and the other driver was "timing the light"?
I would request a report of your insurance company's findings. If they won't give it to you, then contact the California Department of Insurance and see what they say. They can usually point you in the right direction.
Good luck and please let us know what you find out.
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 03:05 am Post Subject:
Something to consider... there are two sides to every story.
While I can't be sure, I've heard enough accidents that I can probably guess the other side to this story. The other person also claimed to have had the green light. Based on the points of impact to the two vehicles, this person enter the intersection before you did and as the other vehicle was well in front of you when the impact occurred, you had the last clear chance to avoid the accident. Indeed, there is little reason why you would not have seen this other vehicle in time to stop.
I'm not saying that is what happened... I'm saying this is probably how the accident was presented from the other side.
There is no breach of contract as your policy as 1) your policy gives your carrier the right to settle a claim and 2) your carrier actually _denied_ that you had liability in the matter. It was a 3rd, independent party, that stated your carrier needed to accept 55% liability. Also, there is not bad faith for the above-mentioned reasons.
Your carrier and the other carrier are members of inter-company arbitration. That is, they both signed a contract stating that instead of going through costly litigation that they would submit their arguments to a 3rd party and that 3rd party would decide what the outcome was. Each party still needs to prove their case. Now I'll say this... inter-company arb is _not_ like trying a case in court. The rules are completely different.I've actually won cases by forgetting to respond. If I had responded I would have completely lost. But their decision is binding on the two carriers involved.
Why argue? It's not your money that was paid... it was your carriers. Granted, the other carrier won't be refunding your deductible but you can feel free to file against the other person in court for this (as you personally are not bound by the arb decision).
Some people who write out their arb contentions are better then others. Just like some attorneys are better.
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