Auto Insurance Claims: Claim denied despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, citation number, denial letter

Question
QUESTION: Hello:

I was hit by a driver who ran a red light.  Fortunately, no one was hurt, and there is minor damage.  The police arrived at the scene, and an unbiased third party witness stopped and gave a statement which corroborated my story.  The policeman issued the other driver a citation and he was given a mandatory court date.  I have a $1,000 collision deductible with my insurance, and thus decided to file a third party claim against his insurance.  In the interim, I received an estimate for approximately $500 from his insured's body shop.  I also faxed over the police report, the contact information for the third party witness, and a copy of the traffic court docket sheet which lists the other driver's citation number to his claims adjuster.  I appeared as a witness at the man's court date.  He failed to appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest.  I just received notice from his adjuster that my claim was denied despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary (i.e. police report, citation, unbiased third party witness, failure to appear at court).  I was told that after speaking with their insured, they felt that I was more than 50% at fault, hence the denial of my claim.  One of my arguments was that the other driver had every opportunity to plead not guilty to his citation at his mandatory court date, but decided to skip it.  I was then told that this company considers police reports, but doesn't base their decision on them, and doesn't consider the traffic court proceedings at all.  While I could pursue, and probably obtain,  a judgment in small claim's court against the other driver, collecting on that judgment would most likely be time consuming and perhaps futile.  I am awaiting the denial letter, but are there any appeal options, and will a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner do any good?  What options do I have at this point?   I live in Georgia; the company in question is Allstate.  Please let me know if you have any questions or require any additional information.
ANSWER: Hi Evan,

You are correct that an insurance department complaint will not do much but you should do it anyway just to get it on record. You should also consider filing the law suit. The other drivers liability policy says that they will pay for anything that they are legally liable to pay for. If you get a judgement in court that the other driver was at fault then you would present that to Allstate for payment. You should consider speaking with an attorney, if not to represent you, at least to provide some procedural instruction.  You may also want to visit www.nolo.com they have some information on preparing for a court case.

You will also need to obtain estimates for the repairs or the actual paid bill if the repairs have been completed. You should present all of this in court. Then upon a successful decision, you will have a court order for not only who is liable but also for how much.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you Richard.  I had one follow-up question.  Should I consider filing suit directly against the other driver, or both Allstate and the other driver?  Thank you.  

Answer
Hi Evan,

Generally you would file against the at-fault driver since he is the one that damaged your car. The only reason you are dealing with Allstate is because that person has insurance coverage with them. Allstate did not damage your car so you would not sue them.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixnebaugh