In January my car and another were hit by a red light runner. The driver produced her Calif. DL and stated to the police that the address was correct.

For medical payments and pain/suffering I have to sue the driver in Small Claims court. Two attorneys stated that the case was too small for an attorney to handle.

I am having trouble getting the woman served. People at the house generally will not answer the door. Eventually a friend, using a ruse, struck up a conversation with the homeowner. Homeowner stated that the driver is a friend of a woman who lives there, but that the driver never lived at the house.

The driver's insurance, AAA, confirmed that the driver does not live at the stated address. AAA checked with the driver, and the driver did not give permission to disclose her actual address.

I am going to speak to my local PD about the situation, but would like to know what laws were broken. I believe she committed a misdimeanor that is only subject to a $1,000 fine. Any recommendations are appreciated.

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

This is why people like you have insurance AND should go through their insurance company for any accident. They know and will go after her insurance.

Not sure about your state insurance laws, but here in Texas if the offender does in fact have AAA auto insurance coverage, they had bodily injury coverage, it’s required by the state. Here you would present your claim directly to AAA and if they start giving you the runaround, you’d file claim against your own carrier under the under or uninsured coverage. Your carrier would most likely will get AAA involved to avoid paying under your own coverage. Good luck

Slow it down Jimmy.

I encountered something similar a few years ago. I just turned the individual in to the state as an uninsured driver. You would be amazed at how fast things worked themselves out after that. The state came back and gave me all the information I needed to resolve the issue.

Okay, the driver does have insurance. I did not see the insurance card, she stated that she did not have it with her. Most likely she had it, but it showed her actual address and so she kept the card in her purse.

AAA is low balling me on payments, so I have to sue the driver. AAA will then represent her in small claims court. Med payments were $3,100. I had concussion symptoms for 3 months, plus neck pain and sciatic pain. I checked with my Insurance, Amica, and they had no suggestions.

c1steve I'm going to send you an email to the address in your profile that may help.

quote:

AAA is low balling me on payments, so I have to sue the driver. AAA will then represent her in small claims court. Med payments were $3,100. I had concussion symptoms for 3 months, plus neck pain and sciatic pain. I checked with my Insurance, Amica, and they had no suggestions.

Shouldn't your own insurance be handling this for you? That's what you pay them for...unless you're only carrying Liability

quote:

I did not see the insurance card, she stated that she did not have it with her. Most likely she had it, but it showed her actual address and so she kept the card in her purse.

Did the other drive not give their correct address to the reporting officer?

Did you not get a report?

My insurnace is not responsible for pain/suffering caused by the other driver. The other driver's liability coverage will pay for it, but I have to sue the driver and not AAA. AAA gave me a low ball offer, that is why I have to sue the driver.

I have the police report, the other driver gave a false address. That is a criminal misdemeanor.

I have left a message for the officer who wrote the report, but his next shift starts on Monday so I have not heard back yet.
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Update, local PD gave me additional address they had in the system. The most recent address is very close by, so this is probably correct. Now to get her served.

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

She has a license with a false address? I'd call the DMV. I'm sure they don't look kindly at that and may suspend her license.

If you have not already done so, file a form SR-1 with the DMV. Add a letter stating that the address provided was false.

Been through a similiar dance. Finally got it to court, judge took less than five minutes to find for me, instructed the defendent to pay up.
That's when the fun started. She kept making excuses, denying the court had any real power, so on, and so on. Got an attorney to go after her and he got a lien against her new car. I wound up with it and sold it to recoup expenses. That left her making payments on a car she didn't have. Doesn't sound like much, but the trouble wasn't worth it. At some point i didn't care about the money. I just wanted her as miserable as I was.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSAC:
If you have not already done so, file a form SR-1 with the DMV. Add a letter stating that the address provided was false.

Yup, that will get the ball roling

A similar incident happened to my parents about 25 years ago. They were driving on the local interstate in a torrential rainstorm at night. They were traveling in the right lane, about 35 mph, flashers on, safe distance following another car in the same lane and speed, also flashers on. Traffic on the opposite side was also travelling slowly, many with flashers on.

Another car, travelling at high speed, hit them from behind and knocked them off the interstate into a ditch on the right side. The impact completely crushed the rear and trunk section of their car (1990 Dodge 600), broke the back window, and caused the seat back of the passenger seat to dislodge. My father was in the passenger seat and was knocked unconscious. Emergency vehicles arrived and transported my parents to the hospital; luckily their injuries were minor. Their car was totalled.

The other driver was a female Corrections Officer on her way to work. The Highway Patrol estimated her speed at 90+ mph, due to the damage to my parents car, as well to hers.

Then the SHTF. The CO gave a P.O. Box as her address (later found to be made up); she claimed she didn't have her DL with her at the accident scene, didn't have a phone, blah blah, and the HP let her do this. My parents later thought the CO knew the HP responding to the scene. You know what happened next.

It took several months for my mother to track the CO down in the state employee network; my mother was a state employee as well. My parents insurance company had to sue the CO for damages, and because of her being a state employee, some sort of state employee association defended her. Eventually, my parents received compensation for the damages, but it took at least 2 years IIRC.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
This is why people like you have insurance AND should go through their insurance company for any accident. They know and will go after her insurance.

This hurts to say. But I agree.

quote:

Originally posted by walker77:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
This is why people like you have insurance AND should go through their insurance company for any accident. They know and will go after her insurance.

This hurts to say. But I agree.

Not true. For the personal injury, my insurance company does not go after the other insurance. I have MedPay, which paid the health care bills. Once I collect from her insurance I am expected to reimburse at least some of what my ins. paid out for my injuries.

Can you sue the other driver's insurance company, and serve them?

Alternately, do a public records search to find the driver's real address.

Every phone has a camera.
Take pics of the other persons documents and license plates!

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Can you sue the other driver's insurance company, and serve them?

No.

Hire a good process server. They will track her down. There are methods of alternate service, but you have to exhaust the regular way first.

Update:
My day in court was last Friday. In the mail today was the judgement. They gave me the full $10k I asked for, plus all the fees for the 6 process servers.

I suspect that part of the reason that the judge gave me the full amount was that I had evidence that the other driver worked hard to hide her address. Also it was pretty obvious that her insurnace was low balling me on the settlement.

Nice. Good for you for fighting the good fight.