Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Accident
My husband received a bill of about $1,100 from an insurance company whose name we are not familiar. The bill is related to an accident that happened on a weekend of December before Christmas. We with my parents went shopping at IKEA located in the city of Industry on that day. Our shopping cart hit a minivan or SUV when we loaded our items of furniture. The drivers of that vehicle were very angry with us. They blamed that it was our fault for the few scratches on the vehicle. We disagreed with it but showed them the driver's license of my husband. We were not sure who should be responsible since we did stop the shopping cart. The cart stood still for a while, but it jerked. We did not push the cart before it started to run. We did not know what caused the movement. Please let us know what we should deal with the bill.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Accident
Completely ignore the bill from the insurance company. Force them to file a small claims against you. They will have to prove that you acted negligently in order to recover. Sounds like that will be difficult. These are the same tactics that they use against people like you who have been injured or damaged. Good luck and thanks for inquiring.
Re: Accident
Often, doing nothing only exacerbates the problem. Other times, it might work and goes away. If you are inclined to do something, you might talk to the lawyer and try to negotiate what you consider fair -- or at the very least, palatable. If not, you can wait 'em out and see what they do (probably small claims), and then defend yourself in court.
Re: Accident
Mr. Cohen gave the best advice.