Auto Insurance Claims: False Accusation of Injury, minor fender, false accusation

Question
I like in Texas and own an SUV.  I was in a minor fender bender recently in which a car, making a right hand turn, swung across two lanes and into my lane. I was also turning onto the road--making a left hand turn, but was well within my lane.  Speed was not a factor--both of us were going slow. Her mirror left a long scratch on my passenger door and her bumper left a very small dent in my passenger front panel. Her car suffered a scratch on her front left bumper.  Because the damage was SO minimal, no police were called, (I know, BIG mistake!) and no witnesses stopped. My 15 year old was in my car, however. While I made a claim on her insurance, I am not worried about collecting it--paying for a repair will cost hardly anything.  However, I was informed that she is not only claiming the fault was mine, but also that she has suffered an injury. (Hard to see how she could claim this, as no brakes were used, there was no jarring impact, and there was no airbag deployment; our seat belts did not even lock.) I am freaking out a little because I have never been wrongly accused of anything, ever. I think my insurance company will back me, but what happens if they don't? (They are a major insurance company and I've been with them forever.) Likewise, what happens if they do, and she decides to sue because she doesn't get what she wants?  If she lied about this, I can see her making up all sorts of things. The vehicles have not yet been looked at by either insurance company, and I do recognize that the only evidence of what happened is the damage on the vehicles.  Do I need to start thinking about a lawyer at this early point? Thank you for your help.

Answer
Mary,

  You have a common scenario.  Trust me, do not worry about it, let your insurance handle it and try to stay out of it.  Simply cooperate with your insurance company and you'll be fine, that's why you have liability insurance!

1.  There is nothing you can do to keep the other person from filing a claim.
2.  There is no way to prove the other person didn't suffer injury.
3.  If you have insurance they will definitely defend you or settle the claim if they think you're at fault.
4.  If the other person sues, your insurance will hire an attorney and defend you or settle the claim.

   There's evidence to support the fact that people can sustain an injury in a low impact collision, and your insurance policy will have an insuring agreement similar to the following:


"We will pay damages for "bodily injury" or "property damage" for which any "insured" (you) becomes legally responsible because of an auto accident . . . . . We will settle or defend, as we consider appropriate, any claim or suit asking for these damages.  In addition to our limit of liability, we will pay all defense costs we incur . . . "


I hope that helps. . . in summary, don't worry, let the insurance handle it, she probably won't get paid because she can't prove whose fault it was, and neither can you, it's just word against word.