Help!!!!

[RRevak]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL

Just over a week ago my car was involved in an accident. It is a 2005 Dodge SRT-4. It was being towed on a car trailor by a Dodge Durango. The reason it was being towed was because we were bringing it to orlando in order to use it in a car show. Our friend was driving the Durango. We were in a lane on the I-4 highway in Orlando. It was approx 11:20 pm ( i looked at the clock as we entered orlando). The driving conditions were clear as the traffic was light and the road was dry with clear weather. The highway was also well lit. We had just passed an exit with a very long lane that merged into the highway lane we were on. To our right, a woman driving a toyota corolla came and went to merge onto the highway in front of us, only she was merging into our friend driving the durango. Our friend laid on the horn and she swerved to the right. When she realized she was driving in to the gaurd wall, she immediatly swerved back to correct herself. She over corrected and her car clipped the tire of the trailor towing my car. The trailor fishtailed which forced the durango to swerve to the right causing it to hit head on into the concrete gaurdrail. The toyota went with them and ended up being sandwiched between my car and the concrete gaurdrail with the right side of her car on top of the gaurd rail and the left side of her car resting on the top right half of my car. After we were able to get to the side, my husband ran to pull her from her vehicle and i ran to help our friends. She was injured and rushed immediately to the hospital and so were our friends. My question is with florida being a no-fault state, will her insurance company be liable for the damages to my car since it was a vehicle-in-tow? The current amount of damage to my car is $7,000 and the insurance company isnt even finished with their estimate. This is just the cosmetic cost i.e body damage etc. The blue book value of my car is between $16,000 and $18,000. Also, my husband who was cited by the on scene officer as a direct witness, recieved a letter yesterday from her attorney (they said they were representing her) stating that they were representing her for injuries sustained in the accident. Does this mean she is suing our friend for her injuries?? She was completely at fault!! Her attorney's office wants my husband to contact them to give them a witness statement. Should he or should he just avoid them as couldnt his statement be used against our friend if she is indeed suing?? And can she sue if she was the one at fault??? Please let me know as i am afraid this is going to cost me a world of money i dont have. The durango was totaled, her car was demolished, and the trailor that was towing my car was also totaled. Now i'm just waiting to find out what my insurance company wants to do with mine. Oh, i have Progressive with minimal coverage and no GAP insurance. I had just purshased this policy and decided to go with the minimum as i was in the process of selling my car and had stopped driving it often. Is this going to haunt me?????? Please give me advice!! Thanks everyone

 

[moburkes]

We can't tell you what she is suing for. The crystal ball out of of order. As long as you have collision and the towing vehicle has collision and she has property damage liability, the damage to your vehicle is covered. Based solely on the above explanation, she was at fault, and her insruance company will pay for the damages to your vehicle.

 

[RRevak]

reply

The letter states that "our firm has been retained to represent the interest of *the woman who hit our cars* for injuries sustained in an automobile accident which occured on 11/15/2008." When i looked up the name of the firm the letter was sent from i found that they were Personal Injury Attorney's who worked with personal injury and wrongful death claims. With this information, would retaining this form of attorney for this type of accident be a normal practice or again, would this mean she was considering suing for her injuries. I know there is no "crystal ball" as to what her intentions are, but with this information it sounds to me as if she is considering a lawsuit. Am i wrong? If there were attorney's who picked up her case, does that mean she has one??? How can one sue for inuries in an accident they were at fault for?? And again, should my husband respond to their request for a statement or should he just ignore it and let the insurance company's deal?? If she does indeed sue, i dont want this to be a situation where its a he said she said without a witness. Yes, there were accident reports filed on the scene by the orlando police department, with all the necessary information stating that we witnessed her drive into our cars, but is that adequate if she wished to pursue a suit? One more thing, the insurance company she was using was a company we had never heard of. If its one of those, "pay 20 dollars a month and we cover your two front tires" type of company, would they be able to cover all the damages to my car? In other words, if its one of the "small" insurance companies, will they be able to cover the expenses for my car if my insurance company decides to fix rather than to total it out?? One more thing, with the accident with my car happening without a driver, will my insurance premium go up and is there a chance they will drop the car altogether?? I'm sorry if i'm sounding a bit repetitive, but this situation has me worried both for myself as well as for our friends. Please understand. This is the first auto accident i've been confronted with so i'm in the dark as to how these situations are handled.

 

[ecmst12]

Forward the letter to your insurance company and don't worry about it. Make sure that whoever was driving the durango reports it to HIS insurance company too. You don't appear to have any potential liability here, but he does.

 

[RRevak]

reply

Whew. Ok, i was really worried for a moment that there might be some way she could maybe say that he "came out of nowhere and thats why she hit him" or something of the sort. The way we saw it, and again we were right behind as this was happening, was that she was either blind or driving with her eyes shut to not have seen a giant dodge durango towing a giant dodge srt-4 on a giant car trailor. Ok, so i'm going to forward the letter to my friend so he can talk to his insurance company, and i'm going to talk to mine when i finally hear from them regarding their intentions with my car. That should be in the next couple of days or so. I wasnt worried about possible lawsuit on my part, just on behalf of my friend. So i'm guessing that my husband should not respond.

 

[ecmst12]

When someone files a lawsuit, they sue EVERYONE. When someone hires a lawyer, they notify EVERYONE that she could POSSIBLY have a case against, no matter how remote the chance.

Florida is a no fault state with $50k PIP coverage minimum. She may have hired the lawyer to help her collect from her OWN policy, and that lawyer is going to contact every other person that was involved in the accident. You should notify your insurance, just in case.

 

[RRevak]

reply

Ok then we'll just wait it out and see. I'm going to forward a copy of the letter that was sent to my husband to both the driver of the durango as well as to our insurance company, just in case. That way we have it documented. My insurance company should be in contact with me in a couple days so when i hear from them i'll talk to them about the situation. Thanks a lot guys for your responses. Again, i've never been in an auto accident before and even though i wasnt directly involved, i'm still in the dark as to how this will be handled. Esp since there wasnt anyone actually driving my car. I wasnt sure if it was my insurance that would cover it, or the durango's drivers insurance since it was a vehicle-in-tow but its looking like my insurance will take care of it....hopefully. And hopefully the woman driving the toyota wont leave everyone at a loss for her carelessness. Thanks again everyone

 

[ecmst12]

If you didn't have full coverage, your insurance will NOT pay anything for your car.

Between the driver of the durango at the other driver, it should be covered. Any portion of the liability not accepted by the other driver will fall on the person driving the towing vehicle.

 

[RRevak]

reply

Oh no, so you're saying this could possible fall on our friend if the woman who hit us doesnt have adequate insurance???? It wasnt his fault??? Can you explain to me how the "no-fault" deal works? Or is it self explanatory...nobody is at fault regardless of the circumstances?? Are there varying stipulations? I wasnt using the car much for the last couple of months because i had chosen to place it for sale, so when my previous policy expired and the time came to renew i decided to go with minimal coverage as i felt full was too much for a car that was primarily under a cover. Lets just say i wont make THAT mistake again.. If the car is deemed "totaled" does that mean its their insurance company that will pay out or mine? Thanks for you patience with me. I just want to make sure i'm clear on all of this so when they call me i fully understand the situation and whats going to transpire. I also need to know if any out of pocket expenses other than my $1000 deductable might come up.

 

[ecmst12]

No fault only applies to injuries, not property damage.

I'm saying that your friend lost control of his car prior to there being any contact with the toyota. Depending on whether there were any witness statements and what the police report says, the toyota's insurance might not accept 100% of fault. If they accept, say, 90%, then the other 10% will fall on your friend.

Now being that your car is a show car and might have a value higher then everyday driving cars, you should have had SPECIAL insurance on it, to cover that extra value. You may have to fight with the insurance company to get them to recognize the extra value.

 

[RRevak]

reply

The dodge lost control because it was hit by the toyota. When the toyota hit the trailor it caused it to jackknife the dodge into the wall and take the toyota with it as the toyota was directly paralel to the area between the midsection of the dodge, and the midsection of the trailor. She basically did a large serpentine. Merge left, veer right, and veer back left into them. If the toyota had not over corrected back to the left, the dodge would have been fine and only the toyota would have hit the wall. But again, since she hit the trailor, everyone went into the wall. As far as the insurance is concerned, this is the laughable part (yeah, its one of those deals where its just so sad all i can do it laugh about it now), i had literally just changed the policy from full to partial. It was both a street car as well as a show car ( i used it on a daily basis but when the maintenence became just too tedious i decided to park it and sell) I parked it BECAUSE i was afraid something would happen to it before i could get the for sale ad posted *grrr*. Thats why when i was bringing it to orlando i opted to trailor rather than to drive it. Oh the irony of it all. But i digress.... Coming back to percentage of fault, so if the dodge would not have hit the wall without being hit by her first, then does that mean she is 100%?

 

[ecmst12]

Your original description made it sound like the toyota came TOWARDS the truck, so the truck swerved to avoid, and then lost control. If the toyota actually HIT the truck prior to it losing control, then yes 100% of fault should fall on the toyota.

 

[InsaneJane]

1st- Once your vehicle (vehicle # 2) was placed on the trailler that was connected to a towing vehicle (vehicle #1), vehicle #2 liability insurance is no longer responsible. vehicle #2 liability insurance covers both vehicles for liability.
Vehicle #2's (yours) liability insurance company won't be very much help to you because they are not liable and are basically bared from spending stockholders money by getting involved.
Vehicle #3 (the toyota) that has liability insurance, is respossible for damages that it is at fault for causing to others. If the damage exceeds the States min and the max of what the policy covers then the driver and ownner may be responsible for the difference.

If vehicle #1 could not avoid the collision with vehicle #3, and vehicle #3 is found to be at 100% fault, then vehicle #3's insurance company is responsible for the damage for vehicle #1 and vehicle #2 that was being towed by vehicle #1.

One note: I know that you can't speak for your husband, but I think he ran up to the car to render aid, not with the intention "my husband ran to pull her from her vehicle."
You should talk to your husband about that.

I also recommend calling vehicle #1's insurance company, not giving them your name but asking to talk to their legal department. You don't have to give them your name or the name of the person that owns vehicle #1. Expain the situation. When it comes to rendering aid, that's all you did was render aid. Do not admit to pulling anyone out of any vehicle. That's what the fire department and paramedics are trainned to do.

As for the other lawyers requesting a statement, ask what you should do.

Good luck.

 

[ecmst12]

And once again, an insane person comes along to post a long block of text with ZERO correct information.

If YOU are named in a lawsuit, which is not impossible because your vehicle was involved, your insurance company is obligated to defend you.

You can call the truck's insurance company and talk to the claim adjuster. You will have to identify yourself and there is no reason not to. You will NOT be able to talk to any 'legal department', especially without identifying yourself.

In some states, if the toyota's insurance was not sufficient to cover all the damage to your car, the truck's insurance could be responsible for the rest under 'joint and several liability', because your car was an innocent bystander and did not contribute to the accident in any way. However, florida does not follow the joint and several doctorine, so if the truck is found to be 0% at fault, his insurance will not have to pay anything for your car. If the toyota's coverage is not enough, then you will have to either take the loss, or try to recover from the at fault party directly. You would need a lawyer for that.

 

[RRevak]

reply

I'm sorry. I tend to be bad at descriptive writing. No, the Dodge didnt in any way swerve as when the toyota began to merge into them, they hit their horn causing the other driver to swerve to the right and then back to the left therefore hitting them. Again, if the toyota had not swerved back to the left, the dodge would have driven on their merry way...ok not really as the toyota would have been in the wall by then and we would have stopped to help..but thats beside the point . Yeah, i am going to try to call my insurance company tomorrow and see if they've finished their estimate, and at the latest monday, and see what they plan to do with my car. I think you may be right though as with her insurance being questionable i fear they may not deal well with the amount of damage which was done to my car. I'm going to contact the orlando police department on monday and inquire about the police report and verify whether or not they faulted the driver of the toyota with 100% or any other percent. Wow this is so frustrating. Thanks so much ECMST, you've been very helpful. When i speak to the insurance company as well as the police department, would it be alright if i post you all of the information and see what you think i should do?