Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
We're wondering what's the best way to hand situation where the other party's insurance company may not be processing claims properly.
After backing my car out from space in a perpendicular parking lot, with my car entirely out in the main lane and straightening out wheel to move forward, car 2 spaces down on opposite backed out and her passenger side rear bumper hit my rear bumper on corner of driver's side. We exchanged information and I took photos showing the damages and her car halfway out of the space. This occurred Sunday evening.
The next morning, I spoke to my agent (Farmers) who told me to call claims because he had already heard from the other party and she wanted to know what exactly Farmers was going to do for her. The adjustor took my statement then said I needed to put in a claim with the other party's insurance as she was at fault for not yielding the right of way, did not honk or do anything to avoid the accident. He then connected me to the other insurance company (Chubb). I was put through to the voice mail of an adjustor and left a message. Over the next 12 days, I called several times and left 3 messages. The adjustor never called me back. Finally, first thing in the morning the following Friday, he answered the phone. I said I had been trying to reach him and explained why I was calling. He said he didn't need anything from me and that it's not covered since it's a parking lot accident. By this time, my insurance company got the other party's statement and determined that she was 80 percent at fault. I told this to the adjustor but he stated that he didn�t agree nor would he provide any additional information or instruction on how to proceed.
So, I went back to my insurance company's adjustor who advised me to contact this guy's supervisor. She sent me a letter which didn't address any of my concerns. Instead, she claimed he had called and left messages for me 3 different days. She also said that he told me that they were not accepting any liability because their insured started to back out of her parking space when she noticed my vehicle and stopped and that she was slightly out of her space when I struck her. That is not how the conversation went at all.
Again, I went back to my insurance company. Our adjustor said nobody from the other company ever contacted or spoke to him or anyone else at Farmers as far as he knew. Since we have a high deductible and the damages are just below the deductible, he informed us that our insurance company wouldn't be able to go to subrogation on our behalf but strongly urged us to file a complaint with the California Department of Insurance for their unprofessional conduct and refusal to cooperate. In addition, our agent advised us to request copies of the phone records and the audio recording of my conversation with their adjustor.
Is the other insurance company legally bound to provide that sort of information? Also, with all the budget cuts in the state of California, we're wondering whether the department of insurance can truly be helpful and what may be our other options, if any.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Your long recitation of the "ins and outs" of the carrier 'unfairness' is not necessary. What you need to understand is that the other party's insurance carrier has no obligations towards you, only to protect their own insured ethically. If they don't want to settle, or pay you, so be it. They are free to tell you to pound sand, see you in court if you want. Any legitimate complaints about their conduct would be from their own insured, not you. If you can't settle your claims against the other party through the carrier, with or without the help of your own insurance company, you have the right to bring a timely lawsuit, against the other party only, not their carrier. You should do so if you can reasonable prove liability and think you can win. If the case has sufficient value to justify hiring an attorney to represent you, feel free to contact me.. Otherwise, file in Small Claims court.
I have to disagree with the previous comment to s certain point, but not very much. The California Insurance Code imposes obligations on insurance companies for ALL dealings with claimants, whether they are policyholders or not. These are part of the "Fair Claims Practices" law. Most particularly, insurance adjusters are required to return calls "promptly" and handle claims without "undue delay."
The problem is, the laws really have no teeth. If the insurance company doesn't follow the rules, there's really nothing you can do about it. The Department of Insurance has been deprived of any real enforcement mechanisms--not because of budget cuts, but because of political lobbying by the insurance industry.
Your solution is simple, really: sue the lousy liar in small claims. So now she claims she stopped and you backed into her?? Seems to me that SHE is the one you should be more angry with. Forget the insurance company--go after the one who's really caused the problem, the one who's truly not taking responsibility. What do you care about some adjuster not returning your calls, as compared to the lies this lady is telling?
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