Legal Question

[BrianD]

About a month ago, my wife's car got hit by a drunk driver. The car was parked on the side of the street, and nobody was in it. When this first happened, I joked that we should sue the other driver because of all the hassle it would cause. Now that we are nearing the end of all of that hassle, I am realizing that there really was quite a bit involved. There was work time lost with all of the PTO we had to take to get rental cars, and to deal with the repair shop. There was the hassle with having to pay big deductables and wait for the insurance companies to refund that money. Really, this caused a number of headaches and sleepless nights. I'm starting to wonder if there actually were damages we incurred that won't be covered by insurance (like lost income from missing work).

Anybody here been in a similar situation? Anybody actually go through the trouble of a lawsuit? Can anybody share any stories?

I'm thinking that it would be more trouble than it is worth to go after the drunk driver, but I'm curious what others think.

[Swaggs]

I worked as a claims adjuster and this question came up from time to time.

The simple answer is that you probably have no claim for any type of mental duress or pain and suffering from being put out by the accident. Holding insurance, sometimes having accidents, and having to get your vehicle repaired are part of the responsibility of owning and driving a vehicle.

The only thing that struck me was that you said you had to pay big deductibles and wait for the insurance companies to refund that money. I am assuming you called your own insurance company and they repaired your vehicle and then they were reimbursed by the drunk driver's insurance company. Was this because the drunk driver's insurance company failed to act quickly or because you did not want to wait for them to investigate/process the claim, so you turned to your own because it would be less hassle?

If the drunk driver's insurance company failed to act promptly in "making you whole" again, they may have acted in bad faith. If they did not contact you within 10-15 days after the accident (depending on your states' laws), if they did not respond to your attempts at communication (returning phone calls, responding to letters, etc.), or wrongly denied your claim, you may have the grounds for a bad faith claim. The punitive damages for a bad faith claim are oftentimes outrageous, depending on the legal climate in your state and district.

With all that said, your damages--lost sleep, losing a few hours of work here and there, losing your deductible for a short period of time--are pretty minor, and filing a lawsuit based just on them (and not bad faith), would probably not do you any good.

[hhiipp]

Judge Judy would dismiss the case.

[BrianD]

Our insurance company told us we had to pay the deductable for the claim to get started, but that they would collect that deductable from the other guy's insurance and refund our deductable. I'm not sure if we got our deductable back yet, but the last time my wife's car got hit (semi changed lanes into her), I think it took us 3 to 4 months to get that deductable back.

[Swaggs]

The drunk driver's insurance company (provided the guy has insurance coverage) should have contacted you and opened a claim. You are not required to use your own insurance for repairs, unless you are at-fault (which, in this case, you are clearly not), live in a no fault state (not sure if WI is or not), or the other party doesn't have insurance, in either case you pay the deductible. Some people like to use their own insurance company because it is more convenient (less delay due to investigation).

Have you heard from the drunk driver's insurance company at all? If not, you might start worrying that he doesn't have any. In which case, it will be hard for the insurance company and you to require the money lost due to repairs.

[BrianD]

Have you heard from the drunk driver's insurance company at all? If not, you might start worrying that he doesn't have any. In which case, it will be hard for the insurance company and you to require the money lost due to repairs.

We have heard from the drunk's insurance company, and it sounds like everything will be taken care of.

It sounds like we'll just have to put up with all of the other headaches. I thought this might be the case, but it seemed worthwhile to ask. Thanks for your thoughts.