Legal Question in Personal Injury in Texas

Re: Driver claims to not have insurance

I agree with the previous answer and would add to get a copy of the police report. If there is insurance available, the defendant will tell the police office in order to avoid a ticket. The PR can be obtained at the police department for a small fee. Does your mother in law have Uninsured Motorist insurance and PIP? Have her call her insurance company to verify. Since your mother in law is injured,I recommend contacting an attorney who has experience in personal injury, as soon as possible. There will be a fee if an attorney is involved, but usually only if a settlement is made. If insurance is involved, again it is better to have an attorney negotiating for you.

Re: Driver claims to not have insurance

i am sorry this happened and i hope your mother in law is okay. unfortunately in texas there is no one central data base to which we can go to to find out if someone really has liability insurance or not. there are some private investigator type businesses that, for a fee, will try to chase down insurance information but i view that as an option of last resort. many times people will disclaim having liability insurance in order to discourage a claim being made. there are some obvious ways to confirm the existence or not which include: 1. call the driver and owner (definitely call the owner and speak with him or her directly on this issue) you might remind both of them that driving without liability insurance can result in a complaint to the tx dps and administrative action to remove or suspend the driver's license!) and bug them until you get a good answer; i recommend that if they continue to deny having insurance to ask both to submit notarized letters to that effect.

2. if they refuse to cooperate, i would make sure that you file complaint with the tx dps. also, the fact that neither have insurance (if true) does not alleviate their potential legal liability to you mother in law. you can still file a lawsuit against them directly (collecting on the lawsuit is another issue though).

3. if they are truly uninsured (and they will admit this)and your mother in law has auto insurance containing uninsured motorist coverage, she is entitled to seek both property damage and personal injury damage compensation from that coverage. if this is the case, the claim should be reported to her auto insurer as soon as possible.

i hope this helps and please fell free to email or call for more information.

sincerely, bill featherston (713.522.4773)