Legal Question in Personal Injury in Illinois

My wife was driving our SUV around the shopping mall access road when suddenly a lady driving a sedan coming out of the parking lot drove all the way to the rightmost lane where my wife was driving. My wife was clearly driving on the outside lane of the mall access road which circles around the mall, just going straight, her right of way, and within the speed limit. The lady's car hit our SUV on the fender and door on the driver's side. The police came but said he will not be able to file a police report since the incident happened on private property. My wife and the lady just exchanged insurance and contact information and parted ways. My wife called the lady's car insurance which was Allstate and reported the accident. She was then advised by Allstate after giving her statement of the accident details to go to their authorized auto body shop for and estimate of damages. My wife got the cost estimate and called the lady's insurance agent. Unfortunately, the insurance agent will not pay for the damages since the lady who hit our SUV denied that she was the one at fault, claiming that it was my wife who hit her car. Again, there was no police report since the police said he could not file one since this happened on private property. How can we make sure that the other lady's insurance or the lady herself will pay for the damages on our SUV? Thank you in advance for the help.


Asked on 1/12/12, 4:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nima Taradji Taradji Law Offices

I always advise my clients not to give a statement (at least none that would be recorded) to the other party's insurance. Adjuster are skilled in twisting around facts. It is not clear how the statement given plays a role in Allstate's denial of your claim. At this point, you have 2 choice: 1) accept defeat or 2) file a lawsuit. If there are no bodily injuries involved, you will have a hard time finding an attorney to take on your case. Without an attorney, chances are your claim will not be successful-=Allstate uses an army of lowly paid in-house attorneys who have nothing to lose by taking your claim all the way through trial (if you ever get that far).

I hope this helps-

Read more
Answered on 1/12/12, 5:50 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Personal Injury Law and Tort Law questions and answers in Illinois