Legal Question in Insurance Law in New York

Re: Claiming damages without collision insurance

You can sue the owner and operator of the SUV that hit your car. You sue them, not their insurance company, but first you may want to contact their insurance company about settling this without suit. If you do sue, they may in turn bring in the bus as a third party defendant. All of the information regarding the name and address of the owner and operator should be in the police accident report, as well as the identity of their insurance company. Please feel free to contact me with any further questions.

Re: Claiming damages without collision insurance

According to the facts as you have presented them, it sounds as if either or both the drivers of the suv and bus are at fault. So sue them all. Moreover, the NY Vehicle and Traffic Law holds the owners of the vehicles liable, so if the drivers are not the owners of the vehicles, make sure you name them as well. As to the school bus, if you have to name a school district, check with an attorney because there may be a requirement to file a notice of claim right away. But also consider how extensive your damages are, because you won't be able to collect attorney's fees, and the fees may exceed the damages you are seeking making it a lose-lose situation to go to Court. If you sue the drivers/owners, their insurance companies will step up and defend anyway, so you don't have to name them as defendants. I would hope that you got all the insurance information either from the drivers or from a police report. The better, more cost-effective, alternative is to make and actively pursue claims against their insurance carriers and resolve the matter with them as best you can.