Legal Question in Insurance Law in North Carolina

Re: No one will respond

The other responder is largely correct. It is not clear from your response whether you submitted the claim to your own insurance company (e.g. collision coverage) or to the other driver's insurer (i.e. liability insurer). I too will assume you are talking about the other driver's insurance company. They (probably) have no duty to respond to you. They do, however, have a real interest in responding to you. They generally want to resolve your claim, and close their file. You should probably simply continue to contact the insurer; letter or phone call is OK. It may take a few days (or a couple of weeks) for them to assess the claim. They may need estimates to pay for your car. As for rental car, you are entitled to that for a reasonable period of time. The other responder is quite correct, however, that they have no direct duty to you (technically until you obtain a judgment against the other driver!). They do not, however, really want you to go to a lawyer, so they probably will respond to you (if they have not done so already). (They last thing they want is for you to go to a lawyer, and even worse, a chiropractor!) And yes, inconvenience is generally not compensable.

Re: No one will respond

You didn't say if you filed a claim with your insurance company or the other driver's insurance. I assume it was with the other drivers. In that case, the reason you have not heard back from them is because they would prefer that you just go away and not pursue the claim. They are under no obligation to pay you unless they are ordered to by a court. Since you are not represented by an attorney they probably assume that you will not file a law suit. Filing a law suit or the threat of filing usually gets them motivated to pay your claim. "Loss of convenience" is not a legally recognizable claim. However, medical bills, pain & suffering, loss of wages, and other things are recognized. You would be much better off having an attorney contact the insurance company for you. Good luck. Robert Johnston 843-828-1137 [email protected]