My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of: California (no injury - link to traffic accident forum invalid) I'm sincerely sorry if I posted in the wrong forum. :apologetic:
My boyfriend, Jim, was involved in an accident 4 months ago. A guy backed out of a driveway at a high rate of speed and slammed into the front qtr panel of his truck. The impact was so great it pushed him into a parked car and broke the front axel of his truck. The parked car was parked on the street, in front of a driveway (in other words, not parked legally). He contacted his insurance company to make a claim and they called back the next day to tell him that his policy had lapsed. They also gratiously shared this information with the other 2 insurance companies, who are now coming after Jim saying that he is at fault.
We desparately searched for witnesses (went to businesses in the area), posted on neighborhood websites and hung flyers in and around the train station. A couple people admitted to witnessing the accident but didn't want to get involved. We finally found 1 guy who provided a written statement, which basically confirms that the other driver was clearly at fault. We sent a letter to both collection agencies (the claims went straight to collections - they didn't investigate, no one looked at the damage to Jim's truck, they didn't send a demand letter), enclosing photos of the damage, the witness statement, facts obviously not presented to them by their insureds, and a picture I found online of the front of the building where the owners of the other 2 cars work - and the parked car was in the photo - parked in the same spot where she was parked on the day of the accident - on the street in front of a driveway blocking the cars parked in the driveway. We just received another collection notice - it didn't acknowledge our correspondence, just insisted that Jim is at fault.
We tried to find an attorney but PI attorneys aren't interested if you're not injured (two were rude - hey, look, I'm sorry no one was injured, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need an attorney). We can't find an attorney to defend him and they're threatening to sue. At this point, he's not looking to get his truck fixed - it's a matter of principal - why should he pay for damages he didn't cause? I know him not having insurance is a huge red flag but he honestly didn't know the policy lapsed - his insurance card said coverage expired June 15, 2017 - YET they had the nerve to bill us after denying coverage - AND didn't refund our last payment so we basically paid for nothing because his truck isn't driveable. (We're reporting this to the Dept of Insurance.) He drives for a living & there's no way he would knowingly drive without insurance (this whole mess has impacted his job, too).
My questions are: Do we have any recourse in this situation? If he honestly didn't know his policy lapsed (accident was in March; insurance card shows coverage expired in June), can he still be assessed penalties for a UIM? How can he be held 100% responsible for an accident he very clearly didn't cause? (If they had investigated, they would know this) Can anyone recommend a CA accident attorney who doesn't only handle injuryaccidents? Thank you! :concern: (
My boyfriend, Jim, was involved in an accident 4 months ago. A guy backed out of a driveway at a high rate of speed and slammed into the front qtr panel of his truck. The impact was so great it pushed him into a parked car and broke the front axel of his truck. The parked car was parked on the street, in front of a driveway (in other words, not parked legally). He contacted his insurance company to make a claim and they called back the next day to tell him that his policy had lapsed. They also gratiously shared this information with the other 2 insurance companies, who are now coming after Jim saying that he is at fault.
We desparately searched for witnesses (went to businesses in the area), posted on neighborhood websites and hung flyers in and around the train station. A couple people admitted to witnessing the accident but didn't want to get involved. We finally found 1 guy who provided a written statement, which basically confirms that the other driver was clearly at fault. We sent a letter to both collection agencies (the claims went straight to collections - they didn't investigate, no one looked at the damage to Jim's truck, they didn't send a demand letter), enclosing photos of the damage, the witness statement, facts obviously not presented to them by their insureds, and a picture I found online of the front of the building where the owners of the other 2 cars work - and the parked car was in the photo - parked in the same spot where she was parked on the day of the accident - on the street in front of a driveway blocking the cars parked in the driveway. We just received another collection notice - it didn't acknowledge our correspondence, just insisted that Jim is at fault.
We tried to find an attorney but PI attorneys aren't interested if you're not injured (two were rude - hey, look, I'm sorry no one was injured, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need an attorney). We can't find an attorney to defend him and they're threatening to sue. At this point, he's not looking to get his truck fixed - it's a matter of principal - why should he pay for damages he didn't cause? I know him not having insurance is a huge red flag but he honestly didn't know the policy lapsed - his insurance card said coverage expired June 15, 2017 - YET they had the nerve to bill us after denying coverage - AND didn't refund our last payment so we basically paid for nothing because his truck isn't driveable. (We're reporting this to the Dept of Insurance.) He drives for a living & there's no way he would knowingly drive without insurance (this whole mess has impacted his job, too).
My questions are: Do we have any recourse in this situation? If he honestly didn't know his policy lapsed (accident was in March; insurance card shows coverage expired in June), can he still be assessed penalties for a UIM? How can he be held 100% responsible for an accident he very clearly didn't cause? (If they had investigated, they would know this) Can anyone recommend a CA accident attorney who doesn't only handle injuryaccidents? Thank you! :concern: (
Traffic Accidents: Not His Fault; Didn't Know Insurance Lapsed; No Injuries (Ca)
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