Auto Insurance Claims: denied claim, state insurance commissioner, small claims court

Question
I was recently in an accident. I was driving straight through a yellow light, and a women turning L coming to opposite direction hit me in the intersection.  Her insurance company is denying that it is her fault, regardless of the police telling me at the scene of the accident that there was not question of fault-- it was her's.  what can I do??

Answer
Hi Amanda,

Yellow light accidents are a "he said--she said" version of drama.  It is hard to win.  But YOUR POSITION IS STRONGER because you had the right of way.  I  would tell the other company to go pound sand.  The general rule is that a person cannot move her vehicle until it is safe to do so.  SHE WAS THE DISFAVORED DRIVER AND HENCE SHE HAD A DUTY TO CLEAR TRAFFIC BEFORE SHE MOVED.  In this she failed, and hence she has to pay 100%.

Put that in writing to the adjuster and threaten to complain to your state insurance commissioner http://www.settlementcentral.com/links.php

True, the insurance commissioner is not going to do anything about a third party claim dispute, but at least you might give the other side a bit of incentive to act.

It sounds like the police officer did not make a formal report.  Hence, you might ask her if she could put a couple of sentences together to explain again what she said.  

Other than that, I have no idea what you can so since you never bothered to tell me what happened in the accident.  Is this property damage only or were you injured as well?  How serious were your injuries?

If it is property damage only, or if your injuries are minor, you can just go down to the small claims court (where attorneys are not allowed) and sue her.  THAT will shake some money out of the insurance tree.  Usually the limits are only $4,000 or so.  The process is really simple, and they have the forms all ready for you and the cost is usually less than $50.

Thus, if your injuries are more, you will have to sue them in the district court or limited jurisdiction (the next step up from small claims court).  Limits there are usually around $25K.

My guess is that if you write them as I have shown with my augments, and if you make noises about the insurance commissioner, you should get some action from them.  

Best wishes,

Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
www.settlementcentral.com