QuestionI was in a car accident in May of 2009 with a good friend of mine. I was driving my car with him as a passenger on an unfamiliar road when I took a corner too fast, spun out and hit a guard rail. I suffered a minor whiplash but my friend who has had spine problems was injured. His condition was perpetuated which will mean years of medical bills, pain management and resulted in his inability to work.
Naturally, I feel terribly guilty and want him to be taken care of as well as possible but initially, my insurance through AAA did not want to adequately compensate him for his losses. I had liability coverage for up to $100,000 at the time but they did not want to give him anywhere near that amount. With my ok, he has hired an attorney to go for the full $100,000 but AAA is having a hard time settling. It's been over a year now and i just recently received phone calls from an attorney whom AAA has hired to settle the case. This was a shock to me because i was told by AAA (after several conversations where i gave a recorded statement of what happened# that my insurance company would handle it from there on out and that i would not have to be involved in this process any further.
To make matters worse, in conversations with this attorneys' assistant #I can never seem to actually get a hold of the actual attorney) they have made it seem as though I am the one being sued and that I will "be served once the lawsuit is filed and served". They even went so far as to say that if I don't cooperate then AAA could deny coverage of the claim completely!
This doesn't make any sense to me. I had liability insurance for a reason right? Also, since my friend's attorney WILL NOT be going for any more than the $100,000 amount on the policy this whole claim is still against AAA and has nothing to do with me, correct?
Also, I was told, by this attorneys' assistant, that if the case is not settled within 2 years then the insurance company is no longer responsible for the claim and the settlement money must then come from me. Is that true? I'm not familiar with AAA's contract/policy on this matter but I'm pretty sure that's not the case. The Statute of limitations in California only states that the injured person has up to 2 years to file the claim, not 2 years to settle. My friend's attorney said (when my friend asked him upon initially filing the claim) that after the claim is filed there is NO time limit as to when the case needs to be settled.
So, as you can imagine, i am EXTREMELY confused and don't know whether i should trust this lawyer through AAA or not. I feel as though they are only there to try to save AAA from having to pay any settlement money whatsoever even if it means lying and twisting facts to accomplish that.
Can you shed a little light as to what might be going on here?
AnswerHi Alysha,
I will try to explain how this all works.
All claims regarding the injuries incurred by your friend are against you personally since you were the driver of the car that caused those injuries. When you buy insurance the insurance policy contract states that the insurance comapny will pay for things that you become legally liable to pay for as a result of the negligent operation of your vehicle. The items covered by the policy include the medical bills, pain & suffering as well as providing a defense attorney to defend you in the event of a law suit. So if your friend or his attorney are not able to reach a settlement regarding the case then your friend through his attorney must sue you personally since you are actually the responsible party. Your insurance company will then hire your a defense attorney which they obviously have done. According to the terms of your policy/contract, you are required to cooperate in the defense of the law suit or the company can deny you coverage and withdraw the attorney which would leave you to personally pay any judgement the injured person receives in court.
The statute of limitations is not the limit on time to file a claim it is a time limit on being able to file a law suit if you are unable to reach a settlement. In other words, when an even occurs, you have 2 years to file your claim, present a demand for payment, enter into negotiations and acheive a fianl settlement. If no settlement is reached before the end of the statute period then a law suit must be filed in order to protect the rights of the injured party. If no law suit is filed before the expiration of the statute of limitations then the injured party is forever barred from beaing able to file suit regarding their injures. Once the injured party can no longer file suit then their is nothing to compel the responsible party from paying the injured party.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
