Legal Question in Personal Injury in Pennsylvania
How to retain right to sue defendant before settling for PA policy limits.
Hello and thank you for providing this service to the public. I have a personal injury question regarding retaining the right to sue a guilty party beyond the insurance policy limits in pennsylvania.
My sister was made permanently disabled by the defendant as the result of a car accident. Without a lawyer, we have on our own been offerred the policy limits of $100,000 by both the defendant's insurance company and my sister's own insurance company due to her new permanent injury. This however is no where near the amount of money my sister will need for her future medical bills and is a pittance for her pain and suffering, which continues relentlessly. In the letter from the defendant's insurance company, it states that if we accept their offer of the policy limits, we agree to wave all rights to further sue the defendant and release the defendant of any and all future obligations. This is NOT acceptable!
Please tell me if there is any way to retain the right to further sue the defendant for his assests, wages, future income, lottery winnings, inheritance, etc. before we sign the settlements.
Thank you very much for any information you can give me
-Brother of a recently disabled sister
201-370-5036
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: How to retain right to sue defendant before settling for PA policy limits.
You do not have to accept the settlement offers of the insurance companies. Instead, you always have the right to sue the "bad guy". But your chances of collecting any money from a human are remote. When you take the money offered by the insurance companies, you sign a Release stating that in exchange for the money, you are forfeiting your right to sue. You can either take the money and give up your right to sue, or you can reject the money and sue. Most people take the money b/c they realize that their chances of getting more than $200,000 (in your case) are virtually impossible. Feel free to call if you have any questions.
Richard Senker (find my phone number on my website--www.senker,com. I'm not permitted to list it here)
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