Small claims court - is it appropriate to ask for the person I'm suing to cover legal costs?

[Ryan]

Long story short - I was rearended by a girl on the 13th, swapped information, filled a claim with her insurance company. I recieved a call yesterday, from her insurance company, telling me that no damages would be awarded because the girl was removed from the insurance policy on Aug. 28th. She's been ignoring calls from the insurance company, and me too.

I have a 500 dollar deductable, and damages are 400 dollars. I've been advised that I have to take this to small claims court if I want to seek damages.

I got a small claims information packet from my county court, and there's an 80 dollar fee to file the case. I'm assuming it's appropriate to include the 80 dollar fee in my damages, seeing as this inconvenience is her fault, correct?

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Yeah, people do that all the time.

 

[Vette73]

The court cost are paid by the loser so you don;t have to add them. If she wins you pay the cost, as you have already. If you win she pays damages and the court cost.

 

[AbsolutDealage]

Yup... $400 + $80 still falls within the small claims limit so you should be fine.

 

[slsmnaz]

Yes and I think you should get to rearend her back!

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
The court cost are paid by the loser so you don;t have to add them. If she wins you pay the cost, as you have already. If you win she pays damages and the court cost.

Same here in CT.

 

[PAB]

I wouldnt even sue right now.

Refer the matter to YOUR insurers subrogation department, and they may be able to take action against the at fault party.

Additionally, I'd file a police report so you can have her charged for driving without insurance.

 

[PAB]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
The court cost are paid by the loser so you don;t have to add them. If she wins you pay the cost, as you have already. If you win she pays damages and the court cost.

This is not correct. You can claim it anywhere, but it's up to the judge to award it.

Another thing is that if you file that claim today, they will make you go to pretrial mediation and then when that fails, you will go to court. If you get to pretrial mediation by Christmas and a trial date by July 4th, I'll be suprised.

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: PAB
I wouldnt even sue right now.

Refer the matter to YOUR insurers subrogation department, and they may be able to take action against the at fault party.

Additionally, I'd file a police report so you can have her charged for driving without insurance.

You can only go through your insurance company if they were going to pay me any damages - my deductable is 500 dollars, so the insurance company has no financial obligation. I've been to the local police dept to let them know she was driving without insurance. There is no other avenue to persue.

 

[PAB]

Originally posted by: Ryan

Originally posted by: PAB
I wouldnt even sue right now.

Refer the matter to YOUR insurers subrogation department, and they may be able to take action against the at fault party.

Additionally, I'd file a police report so you can have her charged for driving without insurance.

You can only go through your insurance company if they were going to pay me any damages - my deductable is 500 dollars, so the insurance company has no financial obligation. I've been to the local police dept to let them know she was driving without insurance. There is no other avenue to persue.

Well, yeah they do - if they pay a claim, and an at fault party exists, they're going to seek remedial action.

BTW - did you get a police report at the time of accident?

I'll run through your proposed plan of action with a few hypotheticals.

You file a $500 claim against the witch.

It costs you say $100 to file, and proof of service.

She gets notice of service and notice of pretrial mediation.

*Wait 4 months*

Pretrial mediation. If she shows up, you mediate. If she dosen't, you win.

If you go to court, it will take another 3-4 months.

If you do go to court, she can countersue you. For whatever reason she wants. No, it dosent have to be true or make sense. Yes, she can still do it.

If you win, you get a judgement against her for $500.

You have to collect on that judgement and send to a collection agency.

The collection agency, depending on agency can charge up to 50% of the bad debt to collect it.

The collection agency gives you a check, less fees - IF they can find her, and IF she has anything worth collecting against. You can put a lien on her car, her house, or other titled items but if she's a total scumbag, which she sounds like she is - all they'll do is hit the credit report wtih a bad judgement and you've still got nothing.

Hope this helps!

 

[DaWhim]

good luck finding her and recover the money.

 

[kingtas]

It was my understanding that you can not take a person's way of providing for their family such as home and vehicle?

 

[PAB]

Originally posted by: kingtas
It was my understanding that you can not take a person's way of providing for their family such as home and vehicle?

You can repo a car and you can put a lien on a house.

In the state of FL, you cannot excute against a lien and force a sale on a primary residence in a BANKRUPTCY. This is how Andy Fastow from enron got his house sized by the feds.

 

[PAB]

Do you have uninsured/underinsured coverage?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: PAB

Originally posted by: Ryan

Originally posted by: PAB
I wouldnt even sue right now.

Refer the matter to YOUR insurers subrogation department, and they may be able to take action against the at fault party.

Additionally, I'd file a police report so you can have her charged for driving without insurance.

You can only go through your insurance company if they were going to pay me any damages - my deductable is 500 dollars, so the insurance company has no financial obligation. I've been to the local police dept to let them know she was driving without insurance. There is no other avenue to persue.

Well, yeah they do - if they pay a claim, and an at fault party exists, they're going to seek remedial action.

BTW - did you get a police report at the time of accident?

I'll run through your proposed plan of action with a few hypotheticals.

You file a $500 claim against the witch.

It costs you say $100 to file, and proof of service.

She gets notice of service and notice of pretrial mediation.

*Wait 4 months*

Pretrial mediation. If she shows up, you mediate. If she dosen't, you win.

If you go to court, it will take another 3-4 months.

If you do go to court, she can countersue you. For whatever reason she wants. No, it dosent have to be true or make sense. Yes, she can still do it.

If you win, you get a judgement against her for $500.

You have to collect on that judgement and send to a collection agency.

The collection agency, depending on agency can charge up to 50% of the bad debt to collect it.

The collection agency gives you a check, less fees - IF they can find her, and IF she has anything worth collecting against. You can put a lien on her car, her house, or other titled items but if she's a total scumbag, which she sounds like she is - all they'll do is hit the credit report wtih a bad judgement and you've still got nothing.

Hope this helps!

With your history of insurance frau- er... "claims" I'm sure you know more about this than me, but explain how he's going to get any money at all out of his insurance company when the damages are less than the deductable?

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: slsmnaz
Yes and I think you should get to rearend her back!

But, but, but...

Ah, nevermind.

 

[goodoptics]

Originally posted by: lokiju

Originally posted by: slsmnaz
Yes and I think you should get to rearend her back!

But, but, but...

Ah, nevermind.

:Q

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: DaWhim
good luck finding her and recover the money.

He can probably find her as he has her number.... actually collecting money from a win in small claims court is the hard part. Especially if she has no money to pay or does not want to pay.

 

[Ricochet]

Originally posted by: slsmnaz
Yes and I think you should get to rearend her back!

I know you're trying to be clever but there's something you don't know about Ryan.

 

[DrPizza]

I think this is one of those situations where the insurance company makes the difference. If you're dealing with a local agency, a lot of times, they may go to bat for you. If you're buying your insurance online or by phone (i.e. Geico), then (although this is only a hunch), I think they're less likely to go to bat for you. However, your local insurance company has a LOT more power and resources than are available to you via small claims court.

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: PAB

Originally posted by: Ryan

Originally posted by: PAB
I wouldnt even sue right now.

Refer the matter to YOUR insurers subrogation department, and they may be able to take action against the at fault party.

Additionally, I'd file a police report so you can have her charged for driving without insurance.

You can only go through your insurance company if they were going to pay me any damages - my deductable is 500 dollars, so the insurance company has no financial obligation. I've been to the local police dept to let them know she was driving without insurance. There is no other avenue to persue.

Well, yeah they do - if they pay a claim, and an at fault party exists, they're going to seek remedial action.

BTW - did you get a police report at the time of accident?

I'll run through your proposed plan of action with a few hypotheticals.

You file a $500 claim against the witch.

It costs you say $100 to file, and proof of service.

She gets notice of service and notice of pretrial mediation.

*Wait 4 months*

Pretrial mediation. If she shows up, you mediate. If she dosen't, you win.

If you go to court, it will take another 3-4 months.

If you do go to court, she can countersue you. For whatever reason she wants. No, it dosent have to be true or make sense. Yes, she can still do it.

If you win, you get a judgement against her for $500.

You have to collect on that judgement and send to a collection agency.

The collection agency, depending on agency can charge up to 50% of the bad debt to collect it.

The collection agency gives you a check, less fees - IF they can find her, and IF she has anything worth collecting against. You can put a lien on her car, her house, or other titled items but if she's a total scumbag, which she sounds like she is - all they'll do is hit the credit report wtih a bad judgement and you've still got nothing.

Hope this helps!

With your history of insurance frau- er... "claims" I'm sure you know more about this than me, but explain how he's going to get any money at all out of his insurance company when the damages are less than the deductable?

Exactly - no insurance company is going to persue getting money back, if they're not out any money.