Legal Question in Insurance Law in Texas

Car Insurance Claim

My firm handles ERISA claims for benefits. That is, if someone is disabled and cannot work they may hire us to help them obtain disability benefits from their employer. I say that to let you know I do not do personal injury law.

My advice, not legal but practical, is be happy no one was injured. The you need to make sure you have copies of all your statements and addresses, etc. Then contact my own carrier and file a claim with it. Give your carrier the information it wants. Get your car fixed and let your carrier worry about recovering from the other driver. You may be concerned your rates will go up. They may be true but how much money are you losing and how much aggravation are you enduring because your vehicle is not fixed?

Re: Car Insurance Claim

My firm has handled only automobile accidents and other personal injury claims for over 24 years. What you have described has become a common occurence--insurance companies refusing to honor even clear-liability claims. The reason is that the Republican-dominated Texas Supreme Court (all nine justices are Republicans) has ruled repeatedly that the injured victim has no right to sue the reponsible party's insurance company, no matter what they do or don't do. There is no such thing as "bad faith" settlement practices in Texas when it comes to "third-party" claims (which is what every automobile accident case is called when the other party is at fault and has insurance). The Republicans have basically sold down the river the little guy in favor of big business and insurance companies (who give them massive contributions). A recent study revealed that the insurance company won 94% of the time before our Republican Texas Supreme Court over the last three years. What does this mean to you, the consumer? Obviously, if the insurance company knows that you can't sue them, they know you don't have a case for "bad faith," and they know that, even if you do find a way to sue them, they will win 94% of the time, they can and will do whatever they want to do with impunity. The only way to fix this is to throw the bums in the black robes out of office. (Most people don't even know that, in Texas, even though the governor appoints most Supreme Court justices, they still have to run for election every four years. People need to start voting in these "down-ballot" races and replacing these insurance lawyers with justices who will be fair and impartial.)

Now to answer your question specifically: due to what I have said above, there is no time limit on how long the other party's insurance company has to repair your vehicle! And if you file suit, you cannot sue the insurance company at all but must instead sue the other driver. In fact, if you go to trial, you can't even tell the jury that insurance exists! The jury has to be made to believe that you want them to order the other driver to pay you personally! (Is our system screwed up or what?) You also cannot be awarded attorney's fees in this kind of case.

My best advice to you--even though I know you hate to do this and it will probably cost you money in the long run--is to go ahead and file a claim on your own collision coverage, pay your deductible, and INSIST that your insurance company go after the other guy's insurance. And if you are injured, hire a personal injury attorney (you honestly don't need an attorney if there are no injuries).

I wish you the best of luck, and please know that I feel your pain (I deal with it every day). Again, the only way to fix this is to throw Rick Perry and all of his minions out of office. We can start this November . . . .