Insurance company not claiming liability in an accident (yet)?

Question

I was making a left hand turn with a green turn signal and a driver heading the opposite direction ran her red light, did not see my car in the intersection and t-boned my vehicle, totaling it and causing me multiple bodily injuries. She was issued the citation and I also have a witness who stated seeing her run the red light, yet her insurance company is not yet willing to admit liability in the accident.

I am already dealing with the issue on if being a Canadian car insurance company while the accident occurred in Florida. I have a lawyer since I have no comp/collision coverage on my vehicle through my policy so therefore I have to individually seek out their company. I'm also 38 week pregnant.

In cases like this - ticket cited, witness to the fact - and the insurance company is denying liability, what are the chances they'd be able to prove this or will they drop it and just pay up without going to court.

Re-read what I wrote, I stated that I already have a lawyer. I know this is what he does and I shouldn't worry, but I'm still curious what people's personal experiences are.

This isn't the same question as before. I'm inquiring the liability issue, not into Canadian policies in general.

Answer 1

Is this the same one you just asked about in your previous question? If so, my previous answer stands. Since you have hired an attorney, listen to the attorney and quit asking here.

That's why you are paying the attorney.

Answer 2

First off, a lawyer has NOTHING to do with liability. a lawyer will not change liability. a lawyer cannot touch liability. That being said..

Generally in a word vs word case if a witness agrees with one side of the story.. insurance carriers usually accept. Is the witness biased for some reason? (such as a passenger in your vehicle or a friend following you?)

Regardless, insurance companies have the right to investigate and that can take some weeks. There is nothing you or your lawyer can do to speed it up. And the fact that you have a lawyer means you cannot do anything to speed up the process (such as call the other carrier politely daily and ask) b/c they cannot speak to people who are attorney repped.

People always think its such a great idea to run to a lawyer and they have no idea how much slower it makes the process.

Answer 3

Here in the U.S., you have what's called a duty to mitigate your damages, i.e. prevent your damaged vehicle from incurring further damage, accruing unnecessary storage charges, and/or running up unnecessary rental car charges. The law doesn't care if you have insurance to cover it or not, it sees it as you made a decision not to properly cover your property but the at fault party can only be held liable for so much.

Most likely, her insurance company hasn't been able to speak with their insured yet. Until they do they will not issue any payments, nor will they accept liability, no matter how much factual evidence you have (citations do not prove negligence which is what this is about, it only proves the cop had reason to believe she violated a vehicle code) they MUST, through a contractual obligation to their insured, verify the facts of loss & verify this is in fact a legitimate claim. Before you say that's bull....people's license plates and insurance cards are stolen every day & used in accidents. The insurance company isn't denying liability, but they haven't accepted it either...their investigation is ongoing.

Answer 4

I think you should get yourself a personal injury lawyer. The accident clearly wasnt your fault. The insurance company may just still be putting together all the data to decide how much of a settlement to award you... but I would still get a lawyer.
There are many personal injury lawyers that dont get any money until you get a settlement.

Answer 5

You are probably going to have to lawyer up and challenge the insurance company before they will pay up. You have all the rights but without an insurance company to go to bat for you, you will need to have the lawyer do that part of the work.

Answer 6

Without knowing why they won't accept liability (have they not talked to her, do they not have a witness statement, etc) it's hard to say. If they have all that evidence in their file then the chances are good they will pay the claim.

Answer 7

With the hot computerised MOT equipment they examine right away to verify if the motor vehicle grew to become into MOT'd. As somebody else reported you made your coverage void by technique of parking it on the line without it being MOT'd (highway legal). Your neighbour if its minor injury might pay for the wear and tear himself without entering into the direction of the coverage. by technique of regulation the motor vehicle should not be on the line if it has no MOT or highway tax till you're taking it to a prebooked MOT attempt. This consists of parking on the line too. Your motor vehicle could in basic terms as definitely have rolled into somebody elses motor vehicle and that they may be paying out of their very own pocket for uninsured losses.