What legal action can be taken against an auto insurance?
Question:
However, the insurance company is now harassing me about paying them back for these damages. As far as I'm concerned the matter has been dealt with and the insurance company is just giving me a hard time.
Does the insurance company have a right to be bothering me with this, since the matter is over?
Can I take legal action to have them stop harassing me?
Answer:
Yes, if you were driving another person's car and were at fault for totaling that car, the insurance company of that car does have the legal right to come after you to reimburse them for the damages you caused. The process is called subrogation.
Here's a good article about subrogation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/subrogation...
If you have car insurance yourself, you can file a claim with your own insurance company to have your insurance company reimburse the other person's insurance company.
If you do not have car insurance, the other person's insurance company has the right to subrogate directly against you. In some states (Florida, for example). Your driver's license can be suspended until you have paid the subrogation claim.
It is in your own best interest to report this claim to your own insurance company so that they can reimburse the other insurance company.
If you do not have your own car insurance, then it is in your own best interest to negotiate a monthly payment plan to reimburse the insurance company for the damages you caused before the other insurance company petitions the state to have your driver's license suspended. Some states also allow the petitioning insurance company to garnish your wages and/or put a lien on any assets you may own until the subrogation claim is paid.
It's time for you to settle your legal obligation one way or another with the other insurance company. Continuing to ignore the situation could end up with you having your driver's license suspended, your wages garnished and a lien put on your assets.
Really I dont think you have a say in the matter if the accident was your fault even though you have insurance. The insurance can still give the bill to you. The same thing happened to me. I didnt have a choice in the matter.
You didn't say what that hefty fine associated to that ticket was for. There are certain things that would place you in breach of the insurance contract that was on the vehicle at the time of the accident, IE drinking and driving, leaving the scene of an accident, driving without a valid drivers license, providing a false statement to the police and the insurance company... just to name a few. If it was established that the registered owner was not a party to the breach then they would be paid out for the loss but you can bet the insurance company is coming after you for the loss that was paid. I sense that you feel the insurance company should just pay up and shut up but if you were not in compliance with the terms and conditions of the policy at the time of the loss then the responsibilty ultimately lies with you.
As always, insurance goes with the vehicle. Obviously the person who owned the car had full coverage, and was paid (probably less his deductible) by the insurance company. That ends it as far as he is concerned. However, the insurance is now out a bunch of cash that they have the right to recover from the person who caused them to have to pay out, the person who caused the accident, and that would be you.
You can do whatever you'd like, but I doubt an attorney would be of any help since you have a legal obligation to pay the debt to the insurance.
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