QuestionLast week on Feb 17th 2011, someone knocked upon our door. I opened the door and he asked for my wife and I told him that she is not at home. He said that he has a parcel for her, and asked for my name. I gave him my name and he gave me an envelope.
When i opened the envelope it had a notice of claim for 1+ Million dollar.
The guy is suing my wife for an accident which he said happened feb 24 2009.
The claim states that he sustained major injuries including broken rib, fingers, ankles and knees etc etc.
I remember feb 24 2009, as I was the driver of the car and it was registered on her name. We had proper insurance. It happened that the hwy was slow and all the cars were crawling and my cars front plate accidentally touched his rear bumper.
We both came out of our cars, examined each others car but didn't notice any damage. We still exchanged information and drove off.
I still went to the collision centre to report the issue and they took a picture of my car and gave me a police report of zero dollar damage.
I am not sure what to do.. I called the insurance company and told them the whole situation.. they've assigned an adjuster... spoken to her and she says they will defend me only upto 1 Mil.
But I told them that this is all fake and made up claim... I also told her that the statement of claim states my wife to be atfault but she wasn't even driving... and the adjuster goes I have to call the counsel of the other party and tell them that actually you were driving so the can send you another statement of claim...
What should I do.. should I hire my own lawyer or should i wait and let insurance company handle it ...
AnswerHello Shakeel,
I am going to assume that Canada's liability laws are similar to the US. Having said that ...
First: DO NOT take the adjuster's advice to contact the other side. No, no. Never assume that the adjuster is an expert.
Second: Your insurance company has a contractual obligation to defend you. This means they have to actually retain an attorney who represents your interests, not necessarily the insurance company's interests.
WAIT for that attorney and have that attorney take legal actions on your behalf.
As to the limits, judgments of even a million dollars are based on serious, permanent, life altering injuries. From your description, this does not appear to be the case. Your limits appear substantial.
As to the "fakeness" of the claim, again you need to share this with your attorney. But aside from that, your adjuster should be conducting a claims investigation of her own, even referring it to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). Conducting that investigation is part of their responsibility to defend you.
If you want to hire your own attorney, you certainly can do that. That is the ultimate protection.
I wish you well.
Jane Pytel
http://SolutionsForYourInsuranceClaim.com
