Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

I was in a car accident where the vehicle i was driving didnt have insurance or wasn't registered under me. The other vehicle wasn't even driven by the owner but his teenage relative who didn't have a permit or a license. I was going to call the police but the owner of the other vehicle begged me that he was going to have his insurance pay for our damages because he didn't want us to call the cops because he said he would get into a lot of trouble. Well I felt sorry for him and I could tell the kid was really afraid so I agreed. He called his insurance and they said they would be out in 2 days to look at our vehicle and to make a long story short a little over 2 months later we get a letter saying we are at fault and we need to pay $5,054 in damages as his vehicle was a total loss. I called and argued with the claims adjuster that i couldn't believe the car was a total loss because damages to our vehicle were a lot worse than the other. We asked for proof and if we could see the vehicle the adjuster said that wasn't possible. Honestly we do not have that amount of money to pay and should we pay it? My question is how do we fight it and can we fight and if we do can we win?


Asked on 3/08/10, 2:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

In order to recover anything from you the insurance company has to present proof of the damages. Tell the adjuster that if you were making a claim would he pay anything without being able to look at the car? Also find out the basis they have for claiming you are at fault; you do not provide any information as to what happened although your hint the other driver felt he was at fault.

That you had no insurance coverage and the vehicle was not even registered means that you can not collect for any bodily injuries you may have suffered That the other person was driving illegally does not effect the issue of who caused the accident. Point out to the adjuster that you have no insurance or funds and since liability is in question and a jury would not want to give money to an unlicensed teenage driver.

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Answered on 3/14/10, 11:53 am


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