I have 10 days to "serve an answer" to the lawyers of the COmpany suing me for car accident without car insurance. What do I write to them to by some time to figure out what we are gonna do? And does anyone think the lawers for the plantiff would start accepting monthly payments?
I might be able to help, Bill. Qualified insurance agent. What does the summons say? Who is suing you, an insurance company, or an individual?
breeze- I would appreciate any help you can give me. In a condensed version it says, I am summoned and required to appear in city court, by serving an answer to xxxxinsurance companys lawyer, upon failure to do so judgement will be taken.then there are 6 points mentioned. 1. xx insurance co is a duly organized ins company authorized to sell insurance blah blah blah. 2.the residence of the plantifs subroger(what ever that means. 3. our county of residence 4.that defendent carelessly, recklessly and negligently struck and collided with plantiffs car. 5. accident was soley thru negligence of defendents 6. the plantiffs subroger car was "bent, broken and destroyed" to the som of xx amount. thats pretty much what it says. Breeze- would the insurance start accepting payments monthly from us our do they want it all now? I was planning on telling them if they dont accept payments I will file a 7 and they would get nothing
Yes, do exactly that. The person you hit has uninsured motorists coverage, and the insurance company is "subrogating" - that is trying to recoup the money they had to pay by suing you. Call the lawyer, tell him you have no money, nothing to lose, and they can agree to your terms or you will bk it. Which insurance company? Did you get a ticket? Does NY state allow you to drive uninsured if you pay an uninsured motorists fee? (If anybody know about this, it will save me looking it up.)
Insurance co is New York Central Mutual- and no, husband did not get a ticket( he is a police officer, they overlooked it) And no, he did not know insurance lapsed, I didnt tell him, its all my fault. Live and learn I guess. Thank you for your advice. I am calling a lawyer tommarow to see if he could at least get the amount lowered some how, wish me luck.
If he didn't get a ticket go to court and argue with them that it wasn't his fault, you are not liable.
breeze- even though there was no ticket, there is a police report, it says "my husband entered in to turning lane but did not see vehichles in front and was unable to stop before colliding with veh #1. It also says weather appears to be a factor (it was a torential downpour at the time). would denial of being our fault still work with that on report?
Honestly, if he's a cop, he probably knows what will work with the traffic/civil court and what won't. Did the other cars have their lights on? Were they going too fast for conditions? Were there other things that could have taken the blame off you and accounted for the accident? I mean there really are accidents, where no one is to blame. If no one was hurt, and the insurance company fixed the guys car, all this lawsuit is going to do is hurt you guys. Cops are heroes right now. Are they suing for just the amount of damage to the vehicle, or for some kind of punitive damages? Also, when did your insurance lapse - is it connected to 9/11 in any way? Maybe this sounds too commercial, but insurance companies are notoriously insensitive, and most judges and even juries are not sympathetic with with them. Is it a jury trial, or is it being heard by the judge? Picture this - the big mean insurance company wants to be reimbursed by the cop with a family who accidentally let his insurance lapse because he was in NYC digging for victims..... the cop can't afford a lawyer so he is defending himself, and if he weren't in court he would be out protecting the people in his city from terrorists and gang wars (or whatever is prevalent where you live). and this accident was cause by the weather, not by anyone's reckless driving - show your good driving records. If you can afford a lawyer, fo talk to one. Does the department offer any legal counsel you could use, even if it's just for advice and not for court appearances. Also, when is the court date? You could look into the prepaid legal insurance plan if it is not too close to the court date - I believe NY has the law officers legal plan available, which offers a lot of services for one price. (I sell it, but this is not a solicitation. There are probably cops there who also sell it, and you could talk to one of them about whether or not it would help with your situation. Regardless, I think, given the right set of curcumstances (not necessarily those I outlined above) that a judge or a jury would send the big mean insurance company home with no money, and let you off the hook. It coesn't sound like a cut and dried case to me.
