#Insurance #Accident #PolicyLimit #LegalAdvice
Hey, everyone! I need some advice on a situation that has me feeling a bit confused and frustrated. So, here’s the deal: I was in an accident where a guy rode into traffic and unfortunately ended up getting hit by my car. 😔 Now, his family is requesting my policy limit of $100,000, even though I was deemed not at fault after the investigation.
Here’s what I’m struggling with:
– The accident was not my fault
– I passed the sobriety test
– The guy was being pursued by the police at the time
– My insurance is insisting that the family should receive the money because a life was lost
What do you think? Should his family be entitled to my policy limit even though I wasn’t at fault? Is there a way I can protect my assets in this situation? Any legal advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your input! 🙏🏼 #HelpNeeded #LegalAdvice #AccidentHelp
If your insurance thinks it’s your fault, I would contest it. It will raise your rates sky high because of what caused it. You might need a lawyer.
Is there a fine print you need to read on your policy? This does not sound right to me. They are giving your money away and your benefit to someone who should not get it
Don’t negotiate with the family at all. They need to talk to your insurance company.
No don’t give it
You said in a comment that you are in Nevada, which uses a modified comparative negligence rule. If it comes down to a lawsuit, they will not be able to recover anything if a jury finds that the decedent was at least 51% at fault for the accident.
As noted by every other commenter in the thread, your insurance company is going to make a business decision about whether or not to settle or go to trial, and you will have little to no input on that.
Don’t talk to the family. Direct them to the insurance company
It’s up to your insurance company. If they decide they want to pay the policy limits to protect you, then they will, and you should let them.
Insurance often pays for claims where there policy holder isn’t at fault. It’s probably cheaper for them than trying to fight it in court. Many plaintiff attorneys know that, so they file to see what they can get. It suck, but be glad your insurance is trying to protect you.
You are under no obligation to provide them any information other than who your insurance company is. Do not make any more contact with them and let your insurance company handle it if the other parties family wants to pursue legal action they will have to get their lawyer involved and proceeded on.
Why do you care?
We have some thing similar once where my daughter hit a vehicle and they wanted to know our policy amounts. They are allowed to ask, but you do not have to give it to them. The insurance company will defer to you on that. My recommendation is to say no, which is what we did based off of a conversation I had with my brother-in-law, who is an accident injury, lawyer. We are in AZ.
It’s up to your insurer. Let them deal with it. It’s unlikely they are owed anything legally…. But your insurer may choose to pay a tiny bit to avoid litigation… though if the police reports were clear that you were no at fault, no lawyer would likely take their case. You don’t owe people anything when you are at fault (in theory).
It sounds like you’re struggling with this because it feels unfair for the family to receive this money. But think about how much more unfair it would be if you got sued for this, had to testify, had to take time off work to deal with it, had it hanging over you for years, and after all that you might lose at trial if the jury feels sorry for the guy. All because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Your insurance company paying a settlement makes this all go away at minimal cost to you, which isn’t nothing.
This is up to your insurance company to decide – that’s why you pay them.
Can you counter sue the deceased’s estate for pain and suffering? He was at fault while operating a vehicle, even if it was a bike.
We had an no fault accident once too. The passenger in the other car sued us. The insurance company took care of it. It went in for years… and settled literally in the steps of the courthouse right before the trial. We had no say in any of it, the insurance company calls the shots. All we had to do was give a written account and do a deposition.
It was scary as heck because they wanted more than the policy limits and infuriating because they deserved nothing from us…. complete liars.
Whilst they settled for the policy limits, we now carry an umbrella policy to cover us in case anything like this ever happens again.
If your insurance company determines that not settling puts you at financial risk, they may pay the claim for your protection. A fatality generally is worth at least $100K. If they determine there’s a decent chance a jury will find you at least partially at fault, they may determine that the risk to you is too high to risk going to trial (depending on the liability laws where you live). The decision is entirely up to your insurance company; they don’t need their policy holder’s permission to settle a claim.
Insurance company has lawyers that handle it – that’s why you have insurance.
The other family should be able to get that information from your insurance company. If they are asking you, they are not going about it the proper way. Don’t give it to them, let your insurance company handle it.
Tell them to talk directly to the insurance company. Then block them
I know it seems counter intuitive but you absolutely want the insurance company to settle this.
Let’s say for the sake of argument, the insurance rejects the settlement and they then file a lawsuit against you. The insurance will then pay for a lawyer to defend you.
But again for the sake of the argument, let’s say you lose that case, and keep in mind there is no such thing as a sure case, you might have to pay a judgement that exceeded you 100k limit by quite a lot. The insurance will only pay the first 100k, you will need to come up with the rest.
It’s not your Money lol
Literately absolutely nothing to worry about
Don’t give them the information of what your limit is. They are trying to figure out if they should try and settle or sue you for more.
I had an incident with someone who was breaking multiple road laws and I was found by the police to be 100% not at fault. They found an ambulance chaser law firm who says they will get clients money even if they were at fault to see if they could sue for a payday. My insurance company told me that essentially they are fishing to see if it’s worth it to sue you. Don’t give them any ammo to shoot you with. The insurance company will continue with the mediation and litigation as needed, but don’t give them anything you aren’t legally required to.
It is up to your insurer not you. Keep in mind the insurer pays in part to protect ypu from an excess judgment. If biker was negligent it would likely be noted in police report but a wrongful death claim settling for 100k even with questionable liability is not uncommon
Let your insurance company handle this. It ain’t their first rodeo.
This depends on the state as well. Some states have laws that require civil suits like this to show the respondent must have had some negligence or inaction in causing the accident, even if not criminally at fault.
I was in this exact same scenario except without the police chase.
I didn’t enjoy hearing it but as it was explained to me the deceased family will get the 100k because in a civil suit you can only be 1% at fault but the court can and will find against you for millions sometimes.
So my insurance paid it out, and it has never gone against raised or effected any of my insurance. You can’t stop your insurance from protecting their interest however they see fit.
I am NAL btw, just shareing an opinion
While the police may have deemed you not at fault the insurance company will conduct their own investigation to determine who is at fault. Right now it’s the insurance’s money to pay out what they ultimately settle for. If the family of the deceased doesn’t like the amount they can escalate to a court case which the police determination and other factors will play into the final judgement.
You may not like the insurances decision but they are looking out overall costs: better to settle now for x or fight it out to pay less/nothing at all but wrack up more in legal fees than settling.
It’s all up to your insurance company. Let them take care of it. That is one reason to have insurance. You pay for that.
It’s not up to you it is up to the insurance company to make the decision.
Note that your insurance company’s decision to settle a claim isn’t really your decision to make.
The bigger question is whether they consider you to be “at fault” such that they will raise your rates. You should ask THAT to your insurance company.
Are they paying to fix your car?
I mean the insurance company runs their own odds. If they decide the cost of litigation + likely jury verdict = more the policy then they will settle.
Also, keep in mind that when the police look at things they are looking if you’re criminally at fault. This is a different standard than civil liability. You don’t say your state and there are different standards. It’s possible in your state that you could be only 10% at fault. No criminal liability. However, if his life was worth 5 million dollars the that is a liability of half a million making the insurance companies decision to pay out 100k a good business decision for them and you.
Not to sound cold or anything but legally the deceased is at fault. If you wanted you could legally go after his estate. I’d look at getting an attorney’s help in drafting some sort of correspondence advising as such if they refuse to back off.