Legal Question in Personal Injury in Illinois
I am a plaintiff who lost my small claim trial to defendant only because it was filed incorrectly: I was suing a State Farm Insurance for damages induced by its insurer who committed a car accident with 100% of his fault. On court documents I didn�t include the insurer�s name only the State Farm insurance, thus the lawyer for insurance claimed that the insurance had no �direct� impact in the accident and the real person, the insurer, was not included onto the court documents. In the result I lost my court filing fee and the balance of $570 which remains unpaid by the State Farm Insurance.
What are my options? Can I appeal court�s decision or re-file a small claim again for the same case?
Thank you.
Asta
2 Answers from Attorneys
You can appeal and spend some more money. You will lose on appeal since the law is the law and the court has properly followed it. You cannot sue the insurance company for the action of the insured.
You should have asked the court to grant you leave to amend your complaint at the hearing where your compliant was dismissed. if it is less than 30 days, you may be able to bring a motion to reconsider and then ask the judge to grant you leave to amend your complaint. If the judge goes along, you will save the filing fees.
You are guaranteed 100% of losing if you continue down this path. State Farm did not have the accident with you. It was their insured, and that person is the only appropriate defendant. If the verdict was less than 30 days ago, you may file an appeal, but you may also want to call the State Farm Claim rep and try to beg a settlement. I'm afraid your options are very limited.
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