Off-road jeep incident, what's your opinion?

[1fastredsc]

Originally Posted by competentone

Your insurance company's interests is currently not aligned with yours.

You need to determine what those points on your driving record are going to cost you and decide if you should hire an attorney to represent your interests.

That said, we are only hearing your side of the story here, if you and your wife are telling it like you explain it here, and your two relatives are telling a completely different story about the accident to the insurance company (and you have the evidence about the location in your GPS, and obvious lack of damage to your vehicle -- which pretty much proves your two relatives are lying) I do not know why the insurance company has suddenly decided to believe your two relatives and not you, your wife and the physical evidence which corroborates your description of the events?

Have you not explained to your insurance company that you have the GPS record of your trip and there is no "4 foot cliff"? Has your wife not given a sworn affidavit to your insurance company the matches your explanation of what happened?

I really think you need an attorney.

As i understand it, i was asked to give an interview over the phone, my wife was never asked at all, and the other two gave an interview to a rep who came out in person and talked with them.
When i say 0 vehicle damage, i mean that the leaf springs are not bent, frame is fine that i can tell, no strange noises at all since i've been out in the desert with it a few times since then, and the inherently "weak" dana 35 rear end that is supposed to be "known" in the jeep community for snapping like a twig isn't even bent.
I also have photos but i need to resize them before i post.

[1fastredsc]

For reference my tires are stock sized so the diameter is somewhere around 27" i think.

[stomachmonkey]

Dude,

Some good advice here.

You've learned one lesson already.

Don't learn another one the hard way.

You need to go speak with an attorney, now.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

States with contrib. neg. laws are few. I believe only VA, MD and DC and maybe one other have them. They state that if you're 1% responsible then your own insurance pays for your side. So, if you're a jaywalking pedestrian and get hit by a car, you can't sue the driver. My fiance got hit pretty hard while stopped to make a left turn. Cops found the other driver at fault and even gave her a ticket. Too bad. Other driver's insur. told my fiance they weren't gonna pay because her being on the road at all constituted 1% of responsibility. And since she didn't have collision, her car was totalled and she didn't get a dime out of it.

That's just plain wrong. As in messed up.

[Rick Lee]

Well, as usual, the contrib. negl. laws had some unintended consequences. They were designed to cut down on lawsuits and that they did. But victims are just about totally SOL because of them.

[1fastredsc]

BTW, i made a mistake with the payouts, it's actually worse. He got 3700 for medical bills, but 6700 to settle, meaning that the 6700 was seperate from the 3700 which originally i thought was part of that amount.

[stomachmonkey]

I'm at a bit of a loss here.

You lost your insurance, your rates will go up, you may get points on your license, you could very well be perceived by others as an accomplice to fraud and face possible legal issues down the road.

Your deadbeat relatives are gettin over at YOUR expense.

STOP TALKING TO US. GO SPEAK WITH A LAWYER.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

I'm at a bit of a loss here.

You lost your insurance, your rates will go up, you may get points on your license, you could very well be perceived by others as an accomplice to fraud and face possible legal issues down the road.

Your deadbeat relatives are gettin over at YOUR expense.

STOP TALKING TO US. GO SPEAK WITH A LAWYER.

STOP TALKING TO US. GO SPEAK WITH A LAWYER You really need to do this!!

[1fastredsc]

Well looks like i'll have to no matter what now........
One of those pieces of trash are actually trying to sue me...... personally.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by 1fastredsc

Well looks like i'll have to no matter what now........
One of those pieces of trash are actually trying to sue me...... personally.

We warned you to nip this in the bud from the start, you ignored us

[1fastredsc]

This is a big learning lesson, and yes you guys were right........

[legion]

How can you get points when you were off-road?

Also, most insurance does not follow you off road.

[berettafan]

get lawyered up and start tossing the 'f' word around. your atty may wish to get statements from hospital workers, etc. regarding alcohol smell and such. if this is the case time is of the essence (in a non-legal sense)!

[competentone]

Originally Posted by 1fastredsc

Well looks like i'll have to no matter what now........
One of those pieces of trash are actually trying to sue me...... personally.

You still want an attorney, but I would expect that if your insurance company settled with them, the terms of the settlement would prevent them from taking further legal action against you.

I'm trying to remember -- without reviewing the thread -- maybe you said one has settled and the other is the one suing you now?

Whatever the situation, I think the money spent on an attorney will be well worth it in the long run.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by berettafan

get lawyered up and start tossing the 'f' word around. your atty may wish to get statements from hospital workers, etc. regarding alcohol smell and such. if this is the case time is of the essence (in a non-legal sense)!

And this time listen to us!!

[1fastredsc]

Originally Posted by competentone

You still want an attorney, but I would expect that if your insurance company settled with them, the terms of the settlement would prevent them from taking further legal action against you.

I'm trying to remember -- without reviewing the thread -- maybe you said one has settled and the other is the one suing you now?

Whatever the situation, I think the money spent on an attorney will be well worth it in the long run.

Yes one settled right away, the other apparently wasn't "satisfied" with whatever the insurance offered him and so now is suing us personally.

As far as the points, i'm not sure. This was what the rep told us, and i've heard that there's a separate "insurance points" system which may be what she is referring to.

[1fastredsc]

So i thought i'd bring this thread back from the dead and end it properly. I'm not sure where to start, but there were a lot of things i learned afterward which sort of tied up the loose ends. To start, what i had been told about liability during the accident was a mistake. Our first rep at the time was based out of el paso, tx, and in texas if you refuse to wear your seatbelt under your own will then you are responsible for whatever happens to you. This as i understand it is also how it works in AZ, but in NM the rules state that the driver of the vehicle is responsible for buckling in everyone in the car regardless of age. Oh but wait, we are only scratching the surface.

See while the first rep was an idiot who in my opinion wasn't doing her job very well, and gave me false information at that, the second rep to handle the situation was much more thorough. When idiot #2 decided to press legal action regarding the incident, this guy was given the case. He's a legal rep for our insurance company out of albuquerque, and he cleared a lot of things up for me while also letting me know what was going on as it happened. I got to know the whos, whens, and whats of what had been going on, and what was at the time currently going on. This apparently was the fifth time idiot #2 had brought legal action to sue someone/something. But the funniest thing about the whole ordeal, was when idiot #2 had the balls to try and lie to the legal rep. As had been the case already, with all the extreme lying and story telling from their statements of what happened, he tried to lie about the scare on his head. At first since this was a new case, legal rep was giving the benefit of the doubt i think. And so idiot #2 told him that he had an 11" scare going across his forehead from the accident. The legal rep thought this sounded a little much considering all the other facts, so he called me and asked about the scar, i told him it was about 1-2" over one of this eye brows similar to the cut a boxer would have over his eye. So then he proceeded to request photos of this scar, and once received that's when it was game over for idiot #2. Because he had lied it forced the legal rep to go through every detail possible, and comb through all the medical reports before he would make a decision and offer instead of just going through the basics and spitting out a normal by the book offer. Where idiot #1 got 9600 out of the deal by accepting the very first offer given, idiot #2 was forced to take the legal rep's offer of 5000. This figure is what he got before his lawyer took a cut.

Also as recommended here i did see a lawyer about the whole ordeal. They told me that because i have medical records and more proof on my side that i could work the negligence angle (2 drunks getting a free ride who are voluntarily not wearing their seat belts) and probably win with only 5-20% negligence ruled as being my fault. But after sitting on it for awhile, i decided not to pursue it, because it really wasn't about the money. I understand that they needed the money to pay the medical bills and such, health care ain't cheap these days. But what really pissed me off is how badly they were lying just to try and squeeze extra money out (as in more money then needed for medical care). I guess in the end it was for the best though, i was forced to sell the jeep, so i sold it alongside my VW at the time and used the money to buy my Mazda. No big deal i guess, i'm currently on track to graduate in december. Then i can move somewhere else so that i don't live next to the ****heads in question.

[legion]

Now you understand why insurance is so expensive.

It is exactly these kinds of idiots (and the lawyers that support them) that steal from the rest of us.

What should have been just two idiots learning their lesson about wearing their seat belts the hard way turned into them getting $14,600 out of the deal. Hardly what I would call fair to you.

[1fastredsc]

It's ok, you live and learn. I'm actually happy that i learned this way instead of another. I probably would have had something much worse happen to me had i kept socializing with them, considering the type of **** they get themselves into. Plus this is one of those times in life when the true character of someone stands out. I got to see it and it didn't cost me as much as it could have.

[Dantilla]

You've earned a degree in the school of hard knocks. Congratulations. May it serve you well.