Auto Insurance Claims: Work accident, what do I do?

Question
I drive a delivery truck at work. While making a left turn at a 3 way intersection a vehicle ran the red and hit me on the driver side.  There was a car to my right at the red that saw the accident.  Now the ins co is saying that their insured claims to have had a green, and that my witness doesn't want to get involved. Even though his statement in the police report says he was waiting at the red. The ins co says I'm 50% at fault, and that they won't pay any claims! Shouldn't my work ins be handling this? What can I do?

Answer
Nick,

   Vicarious liability (where your employer is responsible for your actions) can be tricky.  The witness doesn't really have a choice if you know their name and identifying information as they will be subpoenaed to court to testify if this gets that far.  They can refuse to give a statement right now, but they will be in violation of a court order if they refuse to show due to an official subpoena.  I would let the witness know that will happen if they can't help now before a suit.  

    I tend to agree with you that your employer should be handling this claim, but I don't know who your employer is, and unfortunately there are many self insured entities out there that have no clue how to evaluate and handle claims like this.  Does your company have a risk manager?  If so, talk to that person and find out how they handle these things.  If they refuse to assist you, then you might need the assistance of an attorney.    

   What can you do?  I wouldn't worry about it.  If it wasn't your fault, then it wasn't your fault, just stick to that and let your company deal with damages to the delivery truck and let the other party handle their damages however they would like.  If you get sued, then get worried.  I would be seeking my damages from the other party and denying payment to them.  It seems the insurance company for the other party is simply doing something similar to you by saying you are 50% at fault and refusing to pay.  Since I didn't see the accident, I would need more time evaluating the facts before I could make an opinion on who was at fault.  I suspect that it will take a lawsuit or a very cooperative witness to get this settled the right way.  Especially if you're dealing with certain insurance companies.