Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: Car Accident

You should have gone through yor insurance. They would resolve all bodily injury and property damage claims (as multiple parties in car) and obtain releases to give you the finality of knowing that you will not be sued later on and can put the incident behind you.

Re: Car Accident

Turn it over to your insurance company. If you illegally had no insurance, then work out a deal and written agreement to pay a reasonable amount, or let them take you to court and convince a judge what reasonable is.

Re: Car Accident

If the total demand is $480, the best practical solution is to pay it and get a statement from them that no one was injured and that was the only damage. If they were really trying to rip you off they would claim soft tissue injuries. You can check to see what the blue book value of the car is [your liability is limited to the value of the vehicle or the cost of repair, which ever is the lesser amount]. If you are insured and report it to your insurance company, that may raise your rates, and if it does, it will cost you more than $480. Make a call with identifying yourself to find out. If you go to Small Claims Court, you will miss half a day of work and be frustrated by the results, not matter what it is. And if you told her clearly that you would pay and now you want to back out of the agreement, the judge will not look too favorably on you.

All of us get ripped off, the secret to a happy life is to make the damages as small as possible.

Re: Car Accident

I think you should have contacted your insurance company. My company is great, and when I think an auto accident scam is going on, they call their fraud unit that helps me. The mention of someone being in the trunk sounds suspicious. If they did not have insurance, they would not be able to recover general damages against you.

Very truly yours,