QuestionDear Dr. Settlement,
I have read almost all the answers in this section; most of them are so educational and informative. But I could not find the one fitting my case. Therefore I post my question here.
A. Accident and liability
During the rush hour, in the car pool lane of the freeway, the traffic got jammed and I made a full stop following all cars in the front and kept a safe distance away from the front car. Suddenly I was rear ended and pushed into the front car. No police report or witness. our car was a total loss and we were seriously injured (only found our later on). The photos I took at the scene clearly show that the front hood of my car pushed underneath the rear bump of the front car. Unfortunately, the statement from the first car driver indicated that he was rear ended by me FISRT and INSTANTLY I got rear ended by the 3rd car, he heard the sound but ONLY FELT ONE IMPACT, therefore he believes me at fault for rear-ending him due to not stopping in time. I know it is not true, and my own insurance company provided me a letter confirming that after investigation they found me at no fault for this loss. However, the insurance company for the 3rd car offered me a settlement for my property damage by accepting 100% liability for my rear damage BUT ONLY 50% LIABILITY for my front damage, by presenting me with the 1st car driver's statement. Being worried that it will affect my personal injury claim (so far my wife and me have accrued $7800 bill for chirotherapy), I don't know if there is anything I can do to put pressure for the 3rd car insurance company to accept 100% liability, besides following:
1. Stay firmly on my version of the story
2. Emphasize that the 1st car driver ONLY FELT ONE IMPACT even our cars stuck together, therefore dispute his conclusion that I hit him first.
3. Provide the conclusion from my own insurance company that I am at no fault.
4. Provide the photos that I took.
5. I could not find witness, or police report
6. State that my front damage is less severe than rear damage (I don't have any idea on how to compare the extend of the damage).
B. Hire an attorney or DIY?
I have done about 30 hours home study from various websites and talked to 8 different attorneys. I have learned a lot by reading information from your website, http://www.settlementcentral.com/ I am pondering if I should file the claim by DIY or hire another attorney (I hired an attorney immediate after the accident on the same day, but was screwed up. He pushed me to accept the property damage settlement without providing any evidence of investigating my case or debating on the liability issue. He did not even make a count offer by asking the towing and storage fee for me.
I firmly believe that "Knowledge Is Power" and am considering to register for your website membership.
Thanks in advance.
Answer Dear Jason,
Thank you for the nice comments about how helpful was the accident claim information at www.settlementcentral.com We try to have free information of some value for visitors, and of course we reserve the real examples, templates, strategies, and information for our members.
But I am not here on this Board to sell memberships in our website: I am here on my own time to help injured victims because I believe that without information they are at risk for abuse by the insurance industry. (And sometimes by attorneys, as well.)
So, let me answer your question by posing one of my own, and then making a comment about your claims, and third, a comment about YOU and handling your own claim.
FIRST, how satisfied are you with the representation given by your attorney? It seems as if he did not want to get involved with your property damage claim, and that you hold him at fault for that. But on his side, I will bet that your fee agreement has no provision for him to help with the property damage claim. Hence he would be doing a free service to write to the company, and so forth. At least that is HIS opinion.
My opinion is that how the property damage claim is settled is of paramount importance in setting a precedent for how the injury claim will be settled. Hence, I would have jumped right in and fought for you to be TOTALLY ABSOLVED OF ANY INANE ATTRIBUTION OF FAULT AGAINST YOU. By agreeing to assign fault to you in the property damage part of the claim, your attorney is conceding valuable ground when it comes time to negotiate on the personal injury part of the claim. Hence, I would want you to fight against any assignment of liability to you.
SECOND, you have gathered EXCELLENT evidence to fight for what is right. I would make a witness statement from your wife and put it under oath. I don’t have the time to check to see if we have any of those forms over on the free side of www.settlementcentral,com but I will give you a couple of witness pages since witness statements help win insurance settlements http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0196.htm Insurance adjusters like something to put into their file. Even though you and your wife are prejudiced toward your side, I would make up written witness statements and I would make them under penalty of perjury. A bit more on insurance claim witness statements http://www.settlementcentral.com/format.php?Page=8016
Another thing about your claim as it now stands is that you are entitled to a rental car for all of the time until they make you a fair offer. Since assignment of fault to you is NOT a fair offer, you should inform them that you are including a daily rental car charge until they pay fairly. You might consider filling out a complaint with the state insurance commissioner http://www.settlementcentral.com/links.php Don’t send it just yet—but make it go to the supervisor of the insurance adjuster.
I am presuming that your insurance commissioner is somewhat in favor of consumers versus insurance companies, but the reverse is the case in about twenty states. How to tell whether your state is one? Go to the website of the nation’s best consumer protecting insurance commissioner, Washington’s Mike Kreidler http://www.insurance.wa.gov See all that Commissioner Kreidler offers to consumers and if your state does not measure up, write to your legislator and your commissioner and ask why they do not feature all of the benefits for consumers as Mike Kreidler does for Washington.
Anyway, you will use that form as a threat to get them to pay up right now. Also, combine it with the right to a rental car. There are a lot of pages on the free side dealing with auto repair, body shop owners, hiring an independent expert to negotiate for auto repairs, diminished value, and the like. Here are some of these pages, so you don’t have to go hunting them on your own.
Diminished value FAQ http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0454.htm
Diminished value insurance claim http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0455.htm
Auto body shop and insurance adjuster relationships explained by Dr. Settlement http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0456.htm
Hire your own auto repair expert to negotiate and oversee the repair process http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0457.htm
Rights to rental car in auto accident claim http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0458.htm
THIRD, is this something you can do on your own? Well, that depends upon you and your ability to do the work. In your case, you have gone far and above what most people do for preparation. The fact that you have done so much leg work shows me that you are perfectly capable of a self help insurance claim settlement that is fair.
Plus, you are a good writer, and THAT in and itself is worth something. You might have to get a narrative letter from the doctor since she might be using just marks on your chiropractic record. Be advised that your doctor will charge for a GOOD report, but the investment is worth it since narrative reports get good insurance claim settlements http://www.settlementcentral.com/page8003.htm
If you want to fire the attorney, then write to me at my website “contact us”. Mention where we met so your e-mail will be routed to me. I will show you how to get your file back without having to pay cash up front for the lien of the attorney on costs. It is doubtful that the attorney has done anything much toward fees at this point. Hence, you will want to act quickly before he spends some time that he may think should be compensated.
Mostly deal with the adjuster and the attorney in writing. Stick by your rights and you will be fine. I trust that my extra time here has been of benefit to you, and hence I respectfully request that you take a moment to find the feedback forum on this website and leave some feedback for me.
Best wishes.
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
www.SettlementCentral.Com
