Auto Insurance Claims: Who is Correct & What To Do, transmission specialist, fluid leak

Question
Our 2000 Honda Accord (100mi.) was hit on the drivers side Dec 26 2007.  The other vehicle speeding, ran the red light, hit us, & left the scene of the accident.  Our front bumper was all over the road (air bags did not go off) - both cars were damaged - no one was hurt. Both our Ins. & the other drivers Ins. said "It looked worst than what it really is - our car is not totaled". Both Ins. mentioned that the fluid leaking(we brought to their attention) was ac free-on. The car was repaired Jan 2008, body/frame & ac radiator.  4 months later we started having transmission problems (never had a problem with the car, & always maintained the car every mileage service maintenance check up).  So we took the car into a transmission specialist who replaced the seals (wear n tear) however, the fluid leak again and immediately mentioned to us that there's a problem, so we paid for the transmission to be torned down, to find out that ONLY ONE BEARING ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE (where the car was hit) was shattered and the specialist indicate they found metal scrapings there and this is most likely caused from the accident....that usually one bearing does not go like this, and we would of known this was happening prior to the accident and that the car is in excellent condition for this to happen.  Our claims Ins. Adjustor is stating this is not from the accident, there was no transmission or axile damage that this is a result of the Honda being a 2000 with over 100mi. and this is normal wear N tear for this to happen.   Now I have an Expert Technician Transmission Specialist stating this is from the accident and I have OUR Ins. Adjustor disagreeing.  I need a third party opinion (an expert).  Is it possible for only one bearing on the driver side (where the car was hit) to shattered due to 100mi.;wear n tear and likely to happen or could this be very unlikely to occur and most likely caused by the accident. Our Ins. should provide a supplement claim into the other Ins. (driver who hit us) but they seem to not care or not want to go to the trouble because they are stating there is no sufficient proof that the accident caused any transmission problems.  They do not see any transmission damage from the accident to cause the right bearing to shatter.  We have never had any transmission problems with any cars we owned even in late models with higher models, our son has an 96 Honda accord with higher mileage and no trans problems, so if this is a common problem of one bearing to go in Hondas and this has happened often that is okay, but if this is very unlikely to happened and the expert agrees with the specialist that it is from the accident we would like to know the honest opinion of a 3rd party.

Answer
Hi Linda,

Unfortunately I am not a transmission expert. In these situations it is very difficult to get the insurance comapny to pay. You would have to file a law siut against the at-fault driver. You will also have to get the mechanic from the transmission shop to come to court to testify as an expert witness. He will have to be able to describe the damage and be able to prove that it was a direct result of the accident.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely your expert would be willing to testify let alone be able to absolutely testify that the accident caused the problem.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh