[Jeff Higgins]

Update: Chris was confused concerning the other accident when he phoned me; it happened in May 2005 - three years before Chris hit his trailer.

I called our insurance carrier, not really expecting to do anything other than leave a voicemail on a Saturday. To my surprise, a live person answered. She explained the whole thing to me, and really went a long ways to putting my mind at ease.

The claim is closed. Chris was at fault, by the way. The other party never made any attempt to contact our insurance. Our insurance has a record of six voice mails and one letter sent in an attempt to contact him. Chris actually opened the claim himself, giving our insurance all of the information he got from the other party when they exchanged licenses and insurance information. They did all of this, by the way, in the presence of the State Patrol officer who responded to the scene (there were about half a dozen cars scattered across the freeway, with at least one on its roof in the median. Neither Chris nor the truck/boat trailer collided with any of the others; they were already there).

The insurance agent tells me exactly what island said above - it's common practice for lawyers to "bundle" on a claim like this. She told me that they (the insurance company) has a whole department for "attorney represented claims" that will handle this. She suggested Chris just run the whole folder down to them on Monday, drop it off and forget about it. They will let us know if they need anything, like a statement from Chris, or an interview with the attorney, or whatever.

Anyway, it looks like it may not be as big of a deal as I had at first thought. One hell of a way for a 20 year old to start his Saturday morning, though. And me, pulling weekend support duty (basically twittling my thumbs and waiting for a panicked phone call from an overseas AOG crew), so I have to be at the office. Wish I could have been there to make him feel better. So, thanks for the replies. The panic has subsided.