Need some legal advice on a car accident

[MigAce312]

Yesterday, I was rear-ended by a drunk, PREGNANT woman as I was going down an off ramp. She hit my van so hard that it caused my car to hit the cadillac in front. When the lady who hit me walked out of her car, I could tell she was drunk out of her mind (man was i mad when I smelled the liquor and saw the belly :| ). Turns out this would be her 3rd DUI, thats right THIRD DUI, and she was driving with a suspended license. The van I was driving is insured under my mom's name, but she doesn't exactly have the best insurance in the world. Another thing is that its possible that this drunk lady might not even have insurance on her car...the insurance card the police officer saw was expired. Unfortunatly, my mom doesn't have coverage against underinsured or uninsured motorist. I went to a lawyer today and he told me he didn't want to take my case because my mom's insurance agency wasn't really good and neither was the agency of the drunk lady (in other words, he didn't see any money in it for him). The people in the white cadillac also have the same insurance my mom has. BTW, the insurance company that insures my mom is United Auto Insurance. So now I can't go to the hospital (yes, my neck hurts...she hit me going about 50mph and then I hit one of the heaviest cars in the world) cause I have no health insurance or money to pay the bills. My mom's insurance company only covers 80% of medical bills after a $2000 deductible (things just went from bad to worse). The accident screwed up the van pretty bad so now I'm on the verge of losing my transportation to school. So far I've seen a lawyer who gave me no hope, reported the accident to my mom's insurance agency and to the drunk lady's insurance agency (if she has any insurance at all...they told me they would investigate it cause I gave them her old policy number and there were no other numbers on record for her).

So this is where you guys and gals come in. I have no idea what to do next. I really have other things to worry about like school, but no car = no school. I need some advice on where to go or what can I do?

 

[Zugzwang152]

you're in sh!t luck if your insurane won't cover it. thats just how it works. you might want to check whether there are state laws protecting victims like you, but its doubtful.

 

[Vette73]

You take her to small claims court AFTER her court date for the accident(i assume she got a ticket).

You should have her name and address. Drive by where she lives and see if she has any accests.

But call HER insurance company again and check to see if she is still there or not. If she has no insurance, then get back upo with the cop at the accident and make him write her a ticket for no insurance. Tell him you need that for your court action.

 

[Azraele]

Oh man, that makes me mad. I've no idea how to help, but I wish you the best of luck.

 

[notfred]

Hey, now that she has 3 DUIs, she's got more than our vice president!

 

[Aceshigh]

Makes me mad too. What an irresponsible woman.

 

[MigAce312]

Well, maybe if I sell that geforce and some playstation systems I'll make enough money to get myself another car or fix half the car I was left with.

 

[white]

how bad are your injuries? is your car still drivable or was it towed? you need to get a copy of the police report. once it says you're not at fault then you shouldn't worry about the cadillac at all. did you file a claim with your insurance company? if you file a claim with your insurance company, they should do something for you (although it wouldn't surprise me if they did the minimum even if you're not at fault). inspect your vehicle and take pictures of it. if you have a digital camera, take loads of pictures. you never know whether a certain angle or having certain features all in one frame could come in handy. you need to find out whether she's insured or not. did you get all of her information at the scene or do you have to wait for the report? if she doesn't have insurance, you'll probably have to sue her. then if you win, you have to enforce the judgement. you can do small claims court yourself, but if the dollar amount is larger than the small claims limit, then you might have to keep shopping for a lawyer. good luck. currently i'm being screwed by my insurance company for an accident that i'm not at fault for but it's not as bad as your situation.

 

[Harvey]

A police report is mandatory in most states. File one, and include all the details. It's also your first step in forcing her to take responsibility for the damage she did to you and your car. While you're at it, see if you can get some advice from someone at the station.

I don't care how pregnant she is, she deserves to be arrested. If her unborn child is lucky, it isn't too late to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome by getting her away from all alcohol, and jail may be the only place that will happen.

 

[StageLeft]

Goodluck man. Freaking pregnant women shouldn't be drinking but that's for another thread.

 

[Bullhonkie]

We went through a similar situation recently, although all three parties involved were fully insured. A drunk driver took a right turn too wide at the 4-way stop intersection by our place, ran into a van that was waiting to turn left, and pushed the van all the way into our car that was parked alongside the curb.

Police came and made a report, we got a copy of the case info and number. Contacted our insurance company to see how to proceed, found out that we'd still have to pay our deductible up-front and wait for the at-fault party's insurance to reimburse our insurance company before reimbursing us. So instead we went after the at-fault party's insurance company and they've taken care of everything. They gave us a rental car and our car should be fixed up by early next month.

Relatively painless compared to prior experiences with insurance companies, but it could be because the DUI driver was very obviously at fault here, or Farmers Insurance in this area is real easy to deal with.

 

[Ime]

I'm not sure I can offer much advice about what to do in your current predicament, but I can offer this advice:

Go get new insurance with a reputable insurance company, and make sure you have uninsured motorist coverage.

UIM coverage works. It saved my wife a big wad of $$$ when a drunk dude with no insurance did a hit and run on her. The police caught the guy, btw. Last I heard my wife's insurance co. was sueing him for the money back.