Pedestrian Accident And Liability Limits
Q: About 2 weeks I was hit by a car as I crossed the street in dowtown Chicago. The driver (very old) ran a stop sign and hit me, then a bus that was in the intersection, with me between the two. Not a pleasant feeling really. I am now the proud owner of a titanium rod in my tibia and a really colorful set of legs that are about 50 shades of yellow, red, black and purple. Sort of psychedelic actually. With around 20 or so witnesses and the obvious bus already occupying the intersection it was relatively easy for the police officer to establish that the driver was 100% at fault. He received three tickets. Based on this his insurance company is more than eager to offer the full policy limit as settlement. In this case it is $100,000. The adjuster was seemingly honest in pointing out that if it went to trial it would be worth significantly more. This was kind of obvious to me as the medical bills that have started to roll in are adding up REAL quick. They are at around $25,000 so far for the ambulance, emergency room, surgery, hospital stay, etc. and still going. There will most likely also be some rehab to go along with my rather entertaining limp I'm sure to have for a while. Now I'm not into suing someone just because I can get more money. If the medical bills are paid and I get a reasonable amount for pain and suffering (which I think my wife is going through more of than me) I'll be satisfied. Herein lies my question: If the policy limit for liabililty is $100k and I know I could get $150k+ easily at trial, does any judgement over $100k come out of the driver's pocket or does the insurance company have some leeway to go over the policy limit? I don't really want to ruin some old geezer's retirement unless I am forced to by bills, etc., but I would be probably be willing to settle out of court if the insurance company was going to take responsibility. As of now I will be wating several months before agreeing to anything to see how the leg heals and if there is any further damage that may show up (my ankle and knee have started to really kill me as the swelling has gone down). I just want to know if the policy limit is a "hard" limit or if there is some flexibility to negotiate?
A: If you choose not to accept the policy limits here is what would happen: You would file a suit in court. This does require some work and you also would need to either represent yourself, or pay an attorney to do this ($100k puts this well out of the range of small claims court). I also do not doubt that you would be awarded more then $100k. The other person's insurance company would send their attorney and the attorney wold simply offer the court the $100k against any decision made. Let's just say the court awarded you $200k. You would be paid $100k by the insurance company and have a judgement against the other person for $100k. You would then need to obtain this $100k from that person. Getting the money is a completly different story. In the meantime, any attorney bills you might have get paid out of the $100k the insurance companty paid you ($33k, leaving you with $66k). Now, it's also possible that an attorney could lower your medical bills by negotiating with the doctors but I doubt this would amount to a $33k reduction. If you obtain the service of an attorney there is a _very_ good possiblity that the attorney will recommend that you accept the $100k from the person and not go to court (as the attorney might realize that they won't see the person paying the excess judgement). In that case, your still out $33k