Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
can i sue her to pay for my medical bills? please advise
after the car accident, i got push to the ground by the other driver because i was standing next to her car and i was asking her to exchange her insurance but she refused to give it to me. anyway, i ended up in the hospital for pet scan because my head hitted the ground first. my health insurance have paid 2/3 of my medical bills and i have contacted her to pay for the rest but it's seem like she doesn't want to pay for it. ''the police arrived to the scene but i didn't put charge on her. so there was no police report.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: can i sue her to pay for my medical bills? please advise
Yes, you can sue the other driver. My response presumes that the statute of limitations hasn't run and that you have not waived your claims against her.
You should discuss your plans to sue with your insurance company first. It may also be planning to sue her to recoup its payments. If so, both your claims and the insurer's would have to be litigated together. The insurer would likely pick up all the attorney fees and costs associated with this lawsuit.
If the insurer does not plan to sue the other driver, you should ask why. It may be that she has no assets, in which case it might not make sense for you to sue either. If your head injury resulted from a battery by the other driver rather than from the accident itself, her liability insurance would not apply. It would, however, potentially be available to pay for damage to your car and for any injuries that were caused by the collision rather than by the battery.
Good luck.
Re: can i sue her to pay for my medical bills? please advise
Sure you can sue. Anybody can sue anybody for anything. Proving the case and collecting on it are entirely different issues, however. If you didn't report it to police, what proof do you have that it happened, other than your word? Witnesses? And, since it would not be an insurance covered event, what makes you think she has any assets or income sufficient to collect against if you were able to get a judgment? It may be possible to get her to settle to avoid being sued, if your demands are reasonable. Feel free to contact me for the legal help you'll need.
Re: can i sue her to pay for my medical bills? please advise
Yes, you can sue her in small claims court up to $7,500.00 for assault and battery. It was a big mistake not to tell the police what happened and not to get a report.
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