PICS?

 

I can't go tomy insurance company because according to them they are not allowed to get involved since I do not have collision coverage. Some Bu..sh.. law that has to do with New York states wonderful no fault law. Wish my insurance agent had told me this when I purchased insurance.

 

It should be pretty simple:

Person without right of way blows stop sign, realizes that she created a problem and stupidly stops late directly in the path of oncoming traffic that HAS the right of way and NO stop sign.

Scofflaw gets hit because she didn't stop at her stop sign, if she had stopped there would have been no accident.

How could someone defend this?

 

Your reasoning is the same as mine. Somehow though the insurance companies don't see it that way and that is the part i cannot figure out.
I am trying to rationalize how can even be partly my fault. The thing that really irratates me is that my insurance company will do nothing on my behalf.

 

forget about your insurance co for the moment.

two years ago i was in carmel ca with my rented mustang convert. i was parked at a meter. there was a ups truck parked with his nose equal to my rear wheel. i had the door open and was organizing the tourist brochures in the back when the ups started up and took my door with his right front bumper.

local police wrote it up as my fault because i opened my door into oncoming traffic. i wrote a letter to the adjuster citing the ca law they said i broke etc. end result it went from 100% my fault to 100% their fault.

re read what i wrote in my earlier posts, get a copy of the law they say lays blame on you and prepare to fight the insurance co. refuse to accept some dumbass at a desks opinion!

 

It would seem difficult to prove fault because (if I read this right) you lost control and hit the rear fender of her car, regardless of whether she ran the stop sign or not you hit her. Plus, it would be difficult to prove that she didn't stop at the sign. Tough situation. I would think that your ins. co. would be liable for the damage to her vehicle although the two ins. companies might fight that out between themselves.

 

Just two more cents on this one. Keep in mind that the insurance companies are not judges or juries, even if they want to act like it. They are, however, very very good at protecting their own money. If you had the right of way, and the other person drove through a stop sign, and if a reasonable driver could not have avoided the accident, then the insurance company is wrong. The only part that is not clear to me is whether this was on a public or private road. On private land, where public traffic laws do not apply, the rules of the road (and right of ways) are less clear. Find a lawyer friend who owes you a favor to contact the insurance company.

 

not knocking you JC, but Dave has two choices. roll over like you suggest, or paint a picture in the light that is best for him.

stressing that he had the right of way, was going slowly because of the weather, and tried to avoid a vehicle that jumped a stop sign while he had the right of way seems plausible to me.

in the first law class i took the professor said "reach for the stars, you may get a church steeple".

Dave, you have nothing to loose but some time. write your argument, print it, put it down, read it an hour later and edit it. print it, put it down, read it an hour later and edit it. do it about six times and you may have a coherent argument that swings the scales.

either way i don't think you pay a penny out of your pocket for her damage. just yours. swing it to close to 50% and you get $$$ from her insurance co to fix your car. you know what the book cost of parts are. you may come out whole yet.

 

oh, and another thing.

please send me the cite to the code section that says traffic laws dont apply to private property. my buddy got a ticket in florida for blowing a stop sign in a supermarket parking lot.

i dont think it is different in NY. I think the sheriff was just lazy. i believe under NYS law you have to file the accident report no matter where the accident occurs as long as the damage exceeded the floor.

e mail me a draft of what you write, and i will help you edit it if you want.

 

Yes write letters and make phone calls but you probably won't want to take it much further because the amount of loss is fairly small. Courts and lawsuits take forever and drain you mentally and financially. I would pay $2500 to stay out of court, but that's just me. I assume you were prepared to take this loss as you only had liability ins.? Again, this is a very tough situation and I feel your pain.

 

Actually I am not prepared to take the loss and plan to go to small claims court if I am unable to come to a reasonable settlement with her insurance. The reason the sheriff did not write a report is because she called the cops after i had left and there was very little damage to her car. In this area it is policy not to write a report unless the damage to 1 vehicle exceeds $1,000. Since i was not present and there was only very minor damage to her car no report was made. I tried to file a supplemental report but as i did not get the estimate until Friday I missed the 10 day window.
I have already taken pictures of the accident scene and I am prepared to use them in my defense.
I did not loose control of the car. That is what she is telling her insurance company what happened. I was driving in a straight line and was unable to make a 90 degree turn to avoid hitting her.

 

Now that may bite you in the ***. NEVER leave the scene of an accident without a report if there is the slightest bit of disagreement or doubt as to how it may end.

On the private property issue, earlier this year (I think) someone here got a ticket for reckless driving or something comparable on private property, but I didn't hear what the final outcome was.

I wonder if it would sway them any to tell her ins. co. about how yours or your daughters neck has been hurting lately, but all you really want is to repair your car?

 

I met with her insurance companies appraiser today. He stated that he would turn in his report tomorrow and they would be getting back to me in a couple of days with a settlement offer.
Can't wait.