Being Sued

[Julia M]

My daughter's coach is being sued.

SHe was in an accident last week. She hit a child (preteen) on a bike. She was coming out of a parking lot when it happened. Luckily, she was going very slow. The child was taken to the hospital and is apparently fine (as far as she can tell, based on what the insurance company has told her)

She, of course, feels terrible. She said it was the worst day of her life. She carries insurance, plus extra liability insurance.

She was not cited by the police. The child received 4 citations. I believe for riding without a helmet, riding on the sidewalk, riding agaisnt traffic and something else.

I told her coach that it would probably all be handled by her insurance.

Has anyone had this experience before?

Thanks, Julia

 

[mamacatnv]

What grounds are the parents suing on? Its only been a week, wow, sounds like someone is being a bit greedy.

The insurance company will handle it but their interest is in their bottom line not in your friend. The insurance company is likely to settle regardless of fault because jury trials are expensive and juries love to give big rewards to "victims" even when the victim was clearly at fault.
I am sorry this is happening to your friend, I hope her insurance company plays hardball if in fact the child was in the wrong and she did nothing she wasn't supposed to do.
I'm also glad to hear the child is okay, regardless of the circumstances it is still a child and that would certainly traumatize most of us.

 

[laurie31]

Wow - the child was riding without a helmet, and doing lots of other things wrong, and the parents are suing? They should be counting their blessings that they aren't building a wheelchair ramp and making sure all their doorways are wide enough, or picking out a casket.

Thank goodness your friend was driving slowly, and that the child is okay! I know the child is just a child, but next time, the child might not be so lucky! The parents need to review the rules about how to ride safely and enforce wearing a helmet! The child only knows what the parents tell them. If the child is old enough to ride without parental supervision - in traffic! - then they are old enough to obey the rules. I'm don't mean to sound insensitive to the child, but I cannot grasp what on Earth the parents are suing for! How terrible!

 

[allison443]

If the accident only happened last week, it would be unusual for a lawsuit to have already been filed (of course not impossible, but unusual). Was she served with papers already?
It's possible that a claim is being made at this point with the insurance company. Sometimes that is done for medical expenses especially in a no-fault state.

If she does get sued, she is in a very good position by having done what she could to protect herself by having liability coverage and what sounds like an umbrella policy. Her insurance company will hire attorneys to defend her in the lawsuit. The burden would be on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant was negligent, as well as to prove whatever injuries are claimed.

Her insurance company will pay any settlement or verdict up to the limits of her policy. Often settling the case before trial is in the insured person's best interest, rather than going to trial and risking a verdict in excess of the insurance policy limits.

Her insurance company should be able to explain things to her, and she shouldn't be hesitant about contacting them with any questions.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Yes, I have personal experience with this situation.

I hit two pedestrians who walked in front of my car in a non-crosswalk when I had a green light. I was not cited and although they could have been cited for crossing at a non-crosswalk, I don't believe they were. They waited 11 months to sue (after all of the medical bills were fully paid by my insurance).

Just like your DD coach said, it was the worst day of my life too. I suffer from flashbacks and horrible thoughts about the accident and mine took place in 2002.

The lawsuit that was filed said that I had a terrible driving record (I had never even had a parking ticket), my parents told me how and where to drive (I was coming back from my dance class, the same studio I had been going to for 19 years) and that I went out that day with the intent to hurt somebody. Anybody who knows me knows that I won't even harm a fly.

The day I was deposed (SP) was horrible. I still have a hard time watching some TV courtroom dramas because of how rude the lawyers were to me. My insurance company took care of a lawyer. After everything thing was said and done, the two woman who caused the accident ended up getting a million dollars between them from my insurance company.

I won't lie and say it was easy - it was a terrible and stressful time. The wound is so raw for your DD coach that I can't believe anybody would sue that quickly, especially if insurance is taking care of it.

If your DD coach or you want to talk to me more, just send me a PM and I can either talk to you through PM or I can send you my email address.

Please tell your DD coach that she is not alone and there is at least one person who knows how she feels.

 

[Maddle]

The best advice you can give her is to refer EVERYTHING/EVERYONE to her insurance company and/or her own attorney.

Sometimes things get weird and bills have to be paid and the health insurance company for the child doesn't want to pay, so they go after the driver who in turn is covered by the insurance company. Nobody wants the hot potato, and it becomes a game of chicken to see who blinks first.

Good luck to her.

Maddle

 

[Jennasis]

If the kid was riding on the sidewalk, how did the coach hit her?

 

[Mermaid02]

If the kid was riding on the sidewalk, how did the coach hit her?

Sounds like there was a break in the sidewalk because of the driveway.

 

[golfgal]

The best advice you can give her is to refer EVERYTHING/EVERYONE to her insurance company and/or her own attorney.

Sometimes things get weird and bills have to be paid and the health insurance company for the child doesn't want to pay, so they go after the driver who in turn is covered by the insurance company. Nobody wants the hot potato, and it becomes a game of chicken to see who blinks first.

Good luck to her.

Maddle

I agree-tell her to handle everything through her insurance company. If the child was in the one at fault and the parents are already looking to sue, it isn't going to be pretty.

Our youngest hit a little old lady while riding his bike. HE blew through a stop sign and hit the back of this poor ladies car. He had some road rash and no damage to her car. Some people saw what happened and called the police, who then called the ambulance and they took him to the hospital-the accident happened at the intersection of the parking lot FOR the hospital (we got a $900 ambulance bill ). Our auto insurance paid for all of it (since it involved a car) and we made our DS write a letter to this lady (who was 80 according to the accident report) apologizing for being so stupid.

The lady was pretty shaken up, came to see DS in the ER. I felt so bad for her and DS was in SO much trouble at home.

 

[golfgal]

Another story I just remembered-a good friend of our's younger brother was in a similar situation-kid riding on the wrong side of the road, ran through a red light and our friend's brother hit him with a delivery truck and the boy died. There were a lot of witnesses (they actually barricaded him in the truck so he couldn't see the boy) and the boy was completely at fault. He was not sued nor fined or ticketed. It DID take a VERY long time for him to deal with that though.

 

[MushyMushy]

My dad was sued a few years ago. His case wasn't as extreme as Disneygirl's and I'm so sorry she had to go through that.

His was pretty straightforward and not at all dramatic. He had his antique car in a parade and some woman drove from a side street right in front of him and he hit her going at a very slow rate of speed. She waited two years to sue, so of course, nothing was fresh in anybody's mind. Insurance company lawyers took care of everything. I'm not sure what kind of trial it was -- it happened in front of 3 judges in a room at a table. The judges sat at the end of the table, the court reporter at the other end, my dad and his lawyer across from the woman and her lawyer. Nobody was really nasty, although the lawyers did get a little blunt when they were questioning.

The woman ended up winning a small amount of money despite the fact that she crossed a parade route. I'm still not sure why she won that.

 

[onelilspark]

My brother hit someone last year (and the guy hit him too...it was a dual fault, true "accident" as they were both moving into the same lane. No one was cited.) He had Gieco for insurance. The other guy decided to sue because his car wasn't worth as much now that he had repairs. Gieco handled everything, the guy wanted $3600, settled out of court for $1300. He did have liability insurance.

So yeah...I'd direct everyone to the insurance company.

 

[kymmyk13]

She needs to contact her insurance company. I can't believe it was filed so quickly, I work for an attorney who handles car accident cases and we usually don't file for several months to 1 1/2 years due to try to get medical records and try to negotiate a settlement.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

If the accident only happened last week, it would be unusual for a lawsuit to have already been filed (of course not impossible, but unusual). Was she served with papers already?
It's possible that a claim is being made at this point with the insurance company. Sometimes that is done for medical expenses especially in a no-fault state.

I have to agree with this. I wouldn't blame the parents quite yet. Anytime medical insurance is expected to pay out anything, they always seem to want to know if there was some type of accident so someone else can pay first.

 

[cm8]

What grounds are the parents suing on? Its only been a week, wow, sounds like someone is being a bit greedy.

The insurance company will handle it but their interest is in their bottom line not in your friend. The insurance company is likely to settle regardless of fault because jury trials are expensive and juries love to give big rewards to "victims" even when the victim was clearly at fault.
I am sorry this is happening to your friend, I hope her insurance company plays hardball if in fact the child was in the wrong and she did nothing she wasn't supposed to do.
I'm also glad to hear the child is okay, regardless of the circumstances it is still a child and that would certainly traumatize most of us.

 

[JoiseyMom]

This happened to my DS 8 years ago. It was 2 cars, DS was making a left hand turn at a green light (it was like 2 AM) and the guy going straight hit and totalled DS's car. THe guy said he was ok there, but afterwards sued DH(car was in his name) and DS. Our insurance company handled everything, this guy was looking for a HUGH payday, and got NOTHING! Our insurance company offered him 50k but he and his lawyers took it to trial. It took 4 years to get there. The jury didn't believe he was hurt or had suffered any long term damage.

 

[manning]

Sometimes it is better to settle. I worked for a big company and they would always be sued by someone claiming wrongful firing. There was a boss who was so good at documenting firing that every case would be dismissed. Finally the company would settle after the dismissals for a $1,000.

What they figured out was the fired employee would come back with another lawsuit. By settling the case was settled and they could not sue again.