Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Florida
Hi, 2 yrs and 9 months ago, I was in a car accident where serious bodily injury was caused to a father and son. I received a ticket at the time. The father was treated and released but the 3 year old spent many months in ICU but recovered. Myself and my father were both on the insurance policy and both received papers from the injured parties attorney to attend a deposition to find out our financial worth( I guess to see if it was worth it to sue us individually.) I have no assets and my bank acct at the time had $1200 although my husband and I are plaintiff's in a negligence lawsuit currently in litigation. Since then, I have dropped my only claim of Consortium in that lawsuit( without prejudice) leaving my husband with the only other claims ( He was the one severely injured). One of the injured parties decided to accept my ins policies offer of $100,000(I had 100/300) and released my father from any further action against him. However, The younger child did not accept my ins offer and decided to keep the case open against me only releasing my father and walking away from $100,000.
Im assuming that their attorney is gambling that they are going to get more than $100,000 from me when my financial situation changes. I know that they have 3 years to file a lawsuit against me which is coming up in June. My husband is about to receive a partial settlement from our negligence suit and the trial for punitive damages on our case
is set for the end of March. My question is: Can they touch any money that we receive from our current lawsuit? if so, what can we do to protect it?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Despite the amount of facts you included, there still isn't enough information to completely answer your question. You should ask the attorney handling your husbands case for their opinion, or ask them for a referral to an asset protection or debt relief attorney.
Generally speaking though, in Florida, a judgment against you is only against you as an individual and not against your spouse. In most cases any joint assets are not accessible by a judgment creditor of one of spouse where there is no judgment against the other spouse. For instance, in most cases a judgment creditor will be unsuccessful (when challenged) in garnishing a bank account held in both spouses names, if opened as tenants by the entirety, if only one spouse has the judgment. There are a few exceptions to that including accusations of fraudulent transfers and hiding assets. Therefore it is in your best interest to consult with an attorney experienced in protecting assets from creditor claims.
Mr. Gwaltney is correct. Not enough facts to truly answer your inquiry. You need to speak to an attorney with all your paperwork to make sure the assets are protected. Also, your assumption that they are banking on you having more assets after judgment is not necessarily the case. there may have been a delay in the tender and the plaintiffs are banking on the existence of a bad faith claim against your insurance company that you can assign to them. You need an attorney to review the status of the underlying claims by the minor against you as well.
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