In January a woman ran a red light, hit my car and she totaled a second vehicle as well. Police report confirms woman was 100% at fault.

Her insurance is AAA, and they are offering a super low amount for my acute concussion, plus pain and suffering.

I plan on suing the woman in Superior Court, Marin County, CA. Will do this myself, as the case is probably too small for an attorney. Small claims here does not award for pain and suffering, so I have to use the Superior Court.

My injuries were limited to acute concussion, back pain, pelvic pain. Total med bills were $3,100. Auto damage $2,500.

My questions are:
Do I sue just the driver, or also her insurance?
Is there a method of showing to the court that 3-5x med bills is reasonable for pain and suffering? What else do I have to do to prove my case?
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Update: hiring an attorney.
-Steve

This message has been edited. Last edited by: c1steve,

In my case the gal had purchased a certain level of insurance. That is all the insurance co it's liable for.
To do a discovery on the gal presented that she had "nada" ... I got all the insurance offered and choose not to spend money to only have her file bankruptcy. I'd be deeper in the hole when it was all over.
It certainly sucks that I couldn't be made whole financially.

In this case, the minimum amount of insurance coverage would be sufficient. However I do not know if I should name AAA as a defendant.

When lawyers settle these claims they do it out of court with a process already in place. I’m not a lawyer so when I have a legal issue I find a lawyer who specializes in the particular service I need.

If I were you I would find a lawyer who specializes in accident claims. This is not a DIY project.

Get an attorney, an injury attorney, there are things you have to do to qualify, and there are more benefits there generally than most laypersons know.

Since you have physical injury its important that you get proper representation, they don't charge you up front or hourly, it's based on the recovery

There is no reason to not be represented...

Get an attorney.

Down here...we can't seem to get Alexander Shunnarah off our TV or Billboards and the running joke is that his family must certainly own a billboard company.....

"Call Me Alabama!"

Seriously though, the insurance company representing the other driver would love to settle the case directly with you both quickly and inexpensively. I suspect that as soon as they receive a representation letter from your attorney that they then know the game has changed and so does their payout.

Get an attorney.

Lawyer.

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
However I do not know if I should name AAA as a defendant.

You're planning to bring a lawsuit, representing yourself, and you don't even know who you should sue?

Yeah, I can see this going well

If you insist upon being your own legal counsel, I'd strongly suggest purchasing a book from nolo.com. Specifically: https://store.nolo.com/product...jury-claim-picl.html

I used them for my first divorce, invaluable. Good luck and please keep us posted!!!

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
Do I sue just the driver, or also her insurance?
Is there a method of showing to the court that 3-5x med bills is reasonable for pain and suffering? What else do I have to do to prove my case?

This is why you hire a lawyer who already knows all this. Even if you don't have any money available right now for a retainer, there are personal injury lawyers who will take your case on a contingency basis (that is where they get paid when/if you win).

Get a personal injury attorney.

The other side's insurance company will keep calling you hoping you settle with them for peanuts. If your condition gets worse, or later you find out you should have gotten a lot more, too bad, you already settled.

Once you lawyer up, the insurance company can only talk to the lawyer, which will save you a bunch of time.

PI attorneys do this all the time and most will take a good case on contingency basis (which means the atty takes a cut only if you win, no up front fees).

Most PI claims settle so it's not that big of a commitment.

I can't speak to California, but in Oregon, there is a statute that provides for legal fees to be paid by the other side as a matter of law under certain conditions. For instance, under ORS 20.080 if you are offered $1000 by the other side, normally your attorney would take 33%, so your net would only be $666. For most people, that really takes the motivation out of seeking compensation for damages (i.e. the insurance companies can work the system against you). But under ORS 20.080, if you go to court and win $1001, the other side has to pay the 33% of your attorney's fees, so you get to keep all $1001, because you beat their initial offer of $1000. ORS 20.080 only applies if the claim is 10,000 or less, and was specifically written to protect folks who suffered damages, but would otherwise have given up on their claims because of attorney fees making the pursuit of such smaller claims unviable.

That's just Oregon, but California may have similar legislation.

This really is something you want to give to an attorney--and if they take the case on contingency, you lose nothing because your attorney only makes money if you win.

Don't try to do this on your own, there's a lot of ways to mess up and get nothing.

With an actual injury, the type that could re-occur in the future, you are crazy to insist on doing this yourself.
Do not discuss this in any way with AAA. They will use anything and everything you say against you.
Get a real attorney and not the guy on the back of the phone book.

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
Lawyer.

Yeah, it's fracking obvious.

Hire a lawyer. Would you take out your own appendix? There are so many traps for the unwary or ignorant that you could literally kill your case by failing to act or meet some deadline.

AAA will hire a lawyer to defend her, and their lawyer will shred you if you represent yourself. And enjoy doing it.

I won't even answer your substantive questions. The fact that you have to ask them, and then ask them on a gun forum (no offense, boys), proves you need a lawyer.

In Texas we have Jim Addler, the Texas Hammer...I know about him because of all the obnoxious ads....but I'm sure he wouldn't be around if he didn't have some amount of success...lol.
As others have said, best bet in this case is a lawyer.

I do not think you'll be suing the other party - you will be suing her insurance company and hence, they will have lawyers present.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
I do not think you'll be suing the other party - you will be suing her insurance company and hence, they will have lawyers present.

Wrong. You sue the other driver. You, the injured party, have no legal relationship to the insurer. The insurer has a contractual relationship with the other driver to indemnify her for the damage she causes others. That relationship is not with the injured party. It is the other driver who did you harm. Therefore, you sue the other driver.

(Some states do have direct action statutes. It is a small minority of states, and none are on the west coast, which is where the OP is.)

Does this help make the point that you should not take this on yourself?

Another vote for--leave it to the lawyers. Going alone could really screw yourself!

what is the old adage...one who serves as their own attorney has a fool for a lawyer

Get an attorney and let them go to work for you. Typically in a case like this, they will take a set amount of the settlement they get for you at the end so you have no out of pocket. When dealing with the insurance companies there are many additional things that they will bring into the negotiation than just your present bills & damages. Things like lost future earnings, quality of life effects, potential future medical issues due to the injuries you sustained, etc. It's likely AAA will end up settling for much more that you're looking for to cover you current expenses, even after the legal fees. Typically that's who they will go after, the insurance company with the deep pockets, not the policy holder.