Auto Insurance Claims: Insurance company wont cover injuries, small claims court, insurance comp

Question
I was involved in an accident about 9 months ago where a car hit me from behind when I was stopped at a red light and about to make a right turn. No police was called and no police report was filed because there seemed to be no injuries at first. I took down the other driver's information and notified his insurance company of the accident. After taking statements from both myself and a friend (who was also in my car) and the other driver (I assume), his insurance company admitted the other driver was at fault. A couple of days after the injury, my friend (in my car) and I started noticing neck pain. We alerted the other driver's insurance company and sought chiropractic treatment for over the next 2 months or so. After sending a copy of the bill for the treatments to the insurance company, they decided to treat this incident as a minor impact claim (because the assessed damage to my car was not too great). However, because my head was turned to the left looking for oncoming traffic prepared to make a right turn, my head was turned to the left at the moment of impact, which resulted in more damage than if I had been facing forward. As a result, the damage done to my car underestimated the extensiveness of the injury. The same was true for my friend also in my car. The insurance company ultimately made a settlement offer to both my friend and I that was well below the cost of our treatments. As a result, we turned it down and are thinking about taking the case to a small claims court. But before doing so, I am thinking of writing a letter to the driver demanding a settlement that would cover our costs associated with this accident. If he ignores this letter and we bring this case to court, can I win without any official police report? I do have written copies of the car damage assessment, the chiropractor's bill for my friend and I and the insurance company's settlement offer on our bodily injury claim that we turned down.

Answer
Hi Larry,

The insurance company is acting as the agent for the at-fault driver. If you send him a letter it should state that you have been trying to work our a settlement with his insurance company but they are not offering a fair amount. You shoud further state that if you and his insurance company to not reach a reasonable settlement within the next 15 days, they you will have no choice bu to file a law suit directly agains him.

If you do end up filing a law suit, you and your friend would have to each file seperate law suits for your individual damages. However you may be able to get the two suits linked so that they can both be heard at the same time.

You will need to check to see if in your state you can introduce your bills as evidence. In some states you may need to subpeona the doctor to come to court to testify.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh