Legal Question in Personal Injury in Wisconsin
My mom was in a small fender bender accident and needs to get her car fixed. At the accident site, she was asked not to call the police or go thru the insurance company. My mom agreed and took some information down about the lady that hit her. The next day, my mom tried to reach her, but did not answer so she went and filed a police report. The police officer did get a hold the lady and the lady did admit to the accident and said she had insurance to the police. Since they were not answering my mom's calls, my mom decided to contact their insurance company, only to find out their policy was lapsed at the time of the accident. The husband of the lady that hit my mom says he will fix her car, but my mom does not trust them because they have lied so many times before, and feels that she shouldn't have to go to him to fix it. I guess he works for a small auto shop and claims he will "fix" my mom's car because he doesn't have to pay for anything there. Where can we go from here? She wants to get the car fixed, but is afraid to have the lady's husband fix it because she can not trust him.
1 Answer from Attorneys
I would recommend that you promptly have a consultation with an experienced collection attorney. He may advise you to either sue the responsible party and/or vehicle owner or seek DMV/DOT revocation of their license and registration if they fail to either pay or post a deposit which is sufficient to cover your repairs. Unfortunately, however, the responsible parties can avoid both paying and loss of license by filing bankruptcy. You may therefore wish to consider any settlement offer which could avoid such an outcome. While you cannot be forced to accept services in kind rather than money, you would never be paid any more than the fair market value of the services, materials and equipment use required to accomplish the repairs. If you do not trust the husband, you therefore might wish to consult with an independent body shop in order to get an estimate, then see how much the husband�s employer would charge you for the same work. They may offer a discount if the husband does it during his time off and purchases the necessary parts. If the shop takes responsibility rather than the husband, your mother might feel better about reaching such a settlement. Other than advising you to immediately get a lawyer, my comments here do not constitute legal advice and do not create an attorney/client relationship between us. However, you are more than welcome to contact me via my direct email address posted here or by phone in order to discuss arrangements for me to possibly accept your case for full representation.