Ouch

[MaximusTX]

I'm not even going to reply to an email for $20 a week, let alone pay my lawyer and waste my time with court nonsense lol

By the time we'd have spent in court, trips to the court, driving back and forth, fussing with attorneys, YEARS later, we might have gotten 20 bucks a week. But - at what cost to us?
We were given examples of the length of time such cases take - it's not days, weeks, or even months. It's often longer. Our attorney loves money, of course, but explained it would have cost us a lot up front to deal with it, and then to be dragging out the pain over months and years instead of being done with it.
I'm usually a "just for the principal of it" sort of guy - but in this case, it was a lose-lose thing.
And the way wages are attached, no, it wouldn't have been any weekly reminder to anyone (but us, maybe). To him, just another bill, and people don't miss the money they don't receive, so the check is 20 bucks lower - so what. It's not like he gets a Klingon pain stick applied with every check. He'd forget about it soon enough.
There's also the jury or judgement thing these days........... amazing how many people walk away, literally, because they are also seen as a hardship case.
Naw, not worth it.

My case took 5 years to date almost and that was only because in CA were the accident happened there is a 5 year limit where if it is not settled in 5 years then it goes to trial and even then there all kinds of other things to think about at trial like the cost of expert witness and then the defense can file a motion that if you get awarded the same or less than what they offered you to settle you have to pay their court costs. Mine was a school district and they paid their attorney by the hour so he had no incentive to settle in under 5 years so he did everything in his power to prolong everything and at the end of the my total settlement amount was pretty good but after 5 years of lawyer fees, medical bills and then my ex wife who wasn't even in the car and left right after the accident because quote "she didn't sign up for this" after finding out I needed multiple surgeries and then suing me for the settlement I didn't walk with much. The defense I am pretty sure was just trying to get me to drop the case and walk away.

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[WestwallNF104A]

My case took 5 years to date almost and that was only because in CA were the accident happened there is a 5 year limit where if it is not settled in 5 years then it goes to trial and even then there all kinds of other things to think about at trial like the cost of expert witness and then the defense can file a motion that if you get awarded the same or less than what they offered you to settle you have to pay their court costs. Mine was a school district and they paid their attorney by the hour so he had no incentive to settle in under 5 years so he did everything in his power to prolong everything and at the end of the my total settlement amount was pretty good but after 5 years of lawyer fees, medical bills and then my ex wife who wasn't even in the car and left right after the accident because quote "she didn't sign up for this" after finding out I needed multiple surgeries and then suing me for the settlement I didn't walk with much. The defense I am pretty sure was just trying to get me to drop the case and walk away.

That's the MO. A friend of mine got rearended from a semi. The damage was so bad the CHP assumed anyone in his Explorer was dead.

Fortunately he survived but the trucking company insurance tried like hell to get him to settle for 50k.

I supported him for 5 years till they figured out he wasn't going to go away, he ended up with just short of a million.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That's the MO. A friend of mine got rearended from a semi. The damage was so bad the CHP assumed anyone in his Explorer was dead.

Fortunately he survived but the trucking company insurance tried like hell to get him to settle for 50k.

I supported him for 5 years till they figured out he wasn't going to go away, he ended up with just short of a million.

Trucking company as opposed to a 20 year old living with parents, driving cheap car owned by parents, not even owning a home.
Apples and rocks. One has something,the other a young immigrant kid with zip and unlikely to ever have anything. Yeah, I'd go after the trucking company forever, too.

 

[WestwallNF104A]

Trucking company as opposed to a 20 year old living with parents, driving cheap car owned by parents, not even owning a home.
Apples and rocks. One has something,the other a young immigrant kid with zip and unlikely to ever have anything. Yeah, I'd go after the trucking company forever, too.

The point being insurance companies fight tooth and nail as well. Whether they should, or not.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Trucking company as opposed to a 20 year old living with parents, driving cheap car owned by parents, not even owning a home.
Apples and rocks. One has something,the other a young immigrant kid with zip and unlikely to ever have anything. Yeah, I'd go after the trucking company forever, too.

Grew up poor as hell. At 20 I was making $7/hr and driving without insurance. Assuming where you start is where you'll end up is just dumb. And if the worst case had happened back then and I got a judgement for $1 million for liability... it would have been long paid off by now. Is that guaranteed? Of course not. Would it likely force a young man in that situation into a life of off the books, cash work and purposely never becoming successful? Maybe. Personally I'll throw away $10s of thousands to prove a point.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Assuming where you start is where you'll end up is just dumb.

True, but in that town, it's pretty much the rule.
Other places - the guy who does concrete work for the city and retaining walls by interstate overpasses proves your point. Paco Constructiobn. Worth millions. He paid cash for a custom built house. He does better than good work. He came here with nothingt.
(but he's also self-insured in many areas because of troubles he's had getting paid, contracts gone bad and so on)
It can go both ways. Not in Perry. Everyone who went there for the great jobs promised them are now struggling just to get by. The place closed down.

My middle brother and I talked to the kid's church members, his family, pastor, teachers and others. Scot wanted to go after him for life, even see him in jail forever. I'm not so sure that would have been the best course of action in his case.
Nightmares, church almost daily, praying, he totally stopped the partying, took down all of his social media and basically became a hermit in pain.
I've come to the conclusion - he's already got a life of hell.
Part of me wanted to side with Scot and go after them ourselves, but Bob wasn't for it at all - not even a little. After some meetings with people who knew him - I wasn't totally with Bob, but I had lost some of the anger.
He pledged to do community service in honor of our father, community can drives in his honor and other things. His pastor said it had already started.
Sometimes I guess I see past my own anger and wonder- what if I had killed someone? How would I live from then on? He was so rattled he basically let the deputy record him, no one had to get any warrants or records, he handed everything over.
Some people do stupid stuff and learn.
Did we do the right thing? Only time will tell.
There are times where I'd have both pistols out blazing and in full attack mode, nothing could pull me away. Other times, meh, not so much.
Prior to the accident -
Clean record, straight A student in HS, church every week, honors in night classes after HS, top player in the soccer team.

 

[DylanM]

Is that a Nissan Altima that hit you?

It was a 2019 Civic. Had to look at the accident report to figure out what it was since all the badging disappeared when both the front and rear end got ripped off.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

It was a 2019 Civic. Had to look at the accident report to figure out what it was since all the badging disappeared when both the front and rear end got ripped off.

Ouch for real. Look at that vs. yours. Granted, yours might have hidden things, bent frame or other damage, but still - which would I rather be in? Your Gladiator!
Please just make sure You are ok. Your Jeep is easy to get replacement parts for. Backs, necks, not so much.
That's quite a jolt, a lot of energy transfer.

 

[Koolcarguy]

Headed into town earlier this week, only a couple miles on the interstate and cruise set at 72mph, when I suddenly caught a glimpse in the outside mirror of a silver car closing fast and veering towards me. Absolutely no time to react or even say anything and the truck got nailed in the left rear corner. The car spun around and its rear end hit the left side of the cab and bed shortly thereafter, then we both headed into the grass off the right side of the road and came to rest.

Thankfully injuries were only minor, but holy hell, can't anybody drive worth a damn anymore? Is it asking too much for folks to pay attention to where they're going as they hurtle down the road? Maybe even slow the hell down and not act like they're trying out for a role in some idiotic road race flick.

The truck held up pretty well considering the lady hit me hard enough to set off all her airbags and shove her right front passenger wheel back almost into her door. Best part is (surprise surprise) she had no insurance.

So now I take some Aleve and wait for word from the body shop whether the truck's going to get fixed or totaled. At last word there is some frame damage and cost estimate is already near 50% value.

Glad everyone is ok the Jt is replaceable!!

 

[Toothgnasher]

I only look at my phone while stopped at a traffic light, maybe a stop sign, or when the road is empty and the car is in self-drive (not a jeep). Until now.

I just got a ticket in Stewart BC for touching the phone more than once. In a town of 500. Extended stop at a stop sign. Off the main drag.

Anyways a 365$ ticket will “slow me down” so to speak at least until the pain wears off.

Yup. I got a ticket for distracted driving for picking up my phone at a red light. Ironically I was muting it because a work incident was blowing up my notifications.

 

[BCC]

Glad everyone is ok the Jt is replaceable!!

This.

Glad the op is fine. Health is the most important thing we have.

 

[Lunentucker]

That sucks. Other drivers suck. Impaired drivers SUCK!

A family of seven I know were coming home from a birthday celebration outing two weeks ago.
A pickup blew by them, flying and weaving in an out of lanes on the Interstate.
Seconds later, the truck and another car were both tumbling and crashing.

As they and others came to a stop, the impaired driver fled his destroyed vehicle and stumbled into the woods. He was apprehended a bit later.

The father and the oldest of the family I know rushed to help if they could.
A young mother, father, and baby were inside the overturned car and struggling to get free.

The second oldest was told to stay in the family van with his younger siblings, but he's 15 years old, 6-4, and weighs 230.
He could see the others didn't have enough horsepower to get the car safely on its side, so he told his mom, "I have to go!", and rushed to help.

They the car on its side and got the baby out first, then the parents.

The mother was showing signs of possible internal injuries and head trauma. so she was airlifted, while the others were ground transported to the same hospital.
Last I heard, everyone's fine.

I sent the guys a Jersey Mikes (their favorite) $100 gift card and texted each one individually to let them know how proud I was of them.

They are the three on the front end of the car.

I hope you get a total and a good settlement. That truck will never be worth what it was before that crash.

 

[grein46087]

Best part is (surprise surprise) she had no insurance.

So now I take some Aleve and wait for word from the body shop whether the truck's going to get fixed or totaled. At last word there is some frame damage and cost estimate is already near 50% value.

Does the state your in suspend/cancel tags and/or license when insurance is not taken on a car?
I hate it when stupid things like this happen

 

[Sandman 4x4]

That was the case in the incident where Dad was killed. Immigrant family, renting a crappy house, cheap car (he was driving his father's car), and just basic minimum required insurance. We had to go through Dad's under-insured to get anything and even that, BARELY covered things. There was nothing for personal losses. The cost in time and money to sue and go after wages? What a joke. Years and years and then - some things are protected. He didn't make much money so there was really nothing to go after. They had nothing and in the future, would likely have nothing.

In this case, no one died, and hopefully - no long-term injuries, but man, watch out for that. One of my wife's sisters was hit by another driver. Seemed fine for a while, but later, ended up with neck and back pains that weren't present in the day or so after the accident. Such things can show up later - so best to not jump on any settlement, get checked over THOROUGHLY, and be thankful it was a vehicle and protected the occupants. Things can be replaced - health and life, not so much.

My condolences for your Dad. That really sucks, there needs to be a law that would cost someone with nothing to lose, that would require the folks who cause such destruction and death to pay with their own freedom!

 

[MaximusTX]

That's the MO. A friend of mine got rearended from a semi. The damage was so bad the CHP assumed anyone in his Explorer was dead.

Fortunately he survived but the trucking company insurance tried like hell to get him to settle for 50k.

I supported him for 5 years till they figured out he wasn't going to go away, he ended up with just short of a million.

Yeah, mine was the freeway came to a stop but the bus drive wasn't paying attention and slammed into the back of me and pushed me into a truck towing a boat and sent the boat off the trailer. It totaled my brand new F-150 that I hadn't even made a payment on, the boat, trailer and the truck towing the boat. The bus didn't even have a dent on it. The bus was loaded with 63 High School Kids plus 3 teachers the were 5 hours away from their home town touring a local college. At my first settlement hearing they offered me $30K after I had already had 2 neck surgeries, spinal cord stimulator and SI Joint Fusion. They came up to $35K and then we walked out and didn't came back to settlement for another 3 years right before we would have gone to trial.

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