Auto Insurance Claims: i got served, default judgment, financial restraint

Question
i was wondering what the penalties would be in my situation.  early last year i had got into an accident and my insurance was expired two days prior.  after the incident i followed protocol got insurance and went to court for proof and the case was dropped.  anyway as time went on i had received a notice from the opponents carrier stating the damage bill that was to be charged to me.  it was in the sum of 2100 dollars which i had agreed to pay.  now the weird thing is that there was a lot of "loose" connection between the insurance carrier and i.  also another thing to add is that i had informed them that i was on a fixed income because im in construction and work was slow.  so they acknowleged that and gave a break on the payments so all i had to do was wait for the paper work to come in which didn't happen.  and at that time i was in financial restraint.  so weeks went on and months and still no word and i forgot about it. they had called twice three months apart to notify me.  and a year and five months past.  what would be the penalty for non payment?      sorry for the long story i just got served an hour ago.

Answer
Hi Justin,

First thing is to make a written Answer for the court so that they cannot get a default judgment against you.  I will tell you now to make that Answer below.  

Next, let's assure ourselves that they probably will not have any way of suspending your license at this date almost two years post accident.  

There will likely be no suspension of your driver's license for failure to post financial responsibility since they did not bring a petition before your State Department of Financial Responsibility demanding that you post either insurance that covered the accident or a sufficient blocked bank account to pay the amount owning.  Hence, one would think that you are safe from that problem.

Now, let's focus upon the problem at hand, which is how to respond to the lawsuit.

I assume that your acceptance of their demand amount means that there is NOT ANY DISPUTE on either your liability nor the amount of damages that you caused.  You seem to have agreed that the amount they are asking for is not challenged by you.  

If that is the case, then all we are doing in court is trying to make arrangements for payment over time.  Hence, I would prepare a written Answer and file it with the Clerk's Office of the court that is named on your papers.   Look at the top of the papers for the jurisdiction of the court and then go online to figure out its address and how to file an Answer.  

You need not waste the Court's time by denying liability or damages, assuming you do agree with both.  Hence, just make a handwritten or typed paper, titled "Answer of Defendant", and put the court name and cause number on to your Answer.  

You will simply state that you admit the allegations as to liability and the amount of damages, but you do respectfully request relief from the court when it pronounces Judgment in favor of the Plaintiffs in that the Judgment should allow for payments of no more than $100 a month (or whatever other figure you can pay monthly).

You do not have a RIGHT per se to such relief, but by filing this Answer and serving a copy upon the Plaintiff, you will protect yourself against having to pay court costs if the other side felt it had to bring onboard some expert witness testimony of some medical testimony.  

By exposing your jugular, you admit everything and ask for only reasonable relief.   I will bet that the company will agree to your proposal for a monthly payment.  They will want to add in what we call "Judgment Interest", so that from the date the Judgment was on the books, they want judgment interest.  The rate varies from state to state.  But in many states the rate of interest is 12%.  That is a lot these days.  

I would respond to the fact that there was no need for this to be a trial and hence a discounted interest rate should be agreed upon.  

I trust that my time here has produced some information that has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take the time to locate the FEEDBACK FORM on this site and leave some feedback for me.

Best Wishes,

Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
http://www.SettlementCentral.Com