Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
financial responsibility to wrecking yard
About six and one half months ago, my friend's husband was killed in a single car accident in Sacramento county. His car was totalled. The police kept the car for one week, then had it towed to a wrecking yard. The day after that happened, my friend's insurance company called to ask her what she wanted done with the car. She told insurance to junk it. Insurance said that they would handle it. Well, in the mean time, the wrecking yard sent a bill via registered mail to my friend's old address where the new owner of the house signed for it. All of this was not known by my friend. Now the wrecking yard has magically got my friend's current address and they are billing her 1500 dollars because they said that she never responded to anything in the past. When she told them that she didn't receive any other correspondence from them, they told her that they did all that they were supposed to do to get ahold of her and because someone even though it wasn't her, signed for it, that in the eyes of the law, she had been notified. She told them that she was willing to pay the original bill of 240 that was sent to the wrong address, but she since her insurance told her that they would handle everything, she feels duped.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: financial responsibility to wrecking yard
The answer is have her contact the insurance company by letter -- not phone -- and demand that they cover all of the storage facility's expenses, especially since they promised to do it. She should give them a reasonable date to get back to her about whether they will or not. If not, bring all documents to a lawyer to review and follow-up.
Re: financial responsibility to wrecking yard
Your friend should do the following: 1) mail a legal validation of debt letter to the creditor at issue if she disagrees with what she is allegedly being billed, 2) send the insurance company at issue a legal claim letter, providing them with the verified outstanding debt, and 3) initiate further legal action, if need be, against one or both parties thereafter if either fails to provide what was legally promised or unvalidated. If your friend would like prompt, affordable legal assistance in one or all of these areas, have her contact us directly for a free phone consultation.
Re: financial responsibility to wrecking yard
You should send a letter to the insurance company and demand that they pay the costs immediately. You can read about this here: http://www.calpiblog.com/2006/02/storage_costs_w.html
If you need help or would like to discuss this further, please call me. As a former insurance adjuster, I know the ins and outs of how the insurance companies handle these matters.
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