Need some help :/

[inanecathode]

I got hit today in the Fee-air-o, i was trying to pass a few cars out on the flat (could see for miles and miles, noone coming) and a guy in front of me who previously on the road cut me off (within inches, i could see the bugs on his tires), swerved violently into my lane (dotted yellow, i was in the opposing lane) hitting the front corner of my car, pushing me into the shoulder where i somehow launched off a berm or something. I landed on the front corner (not sure which, eyes were closed :D) tweaking the whole car like a twizzler (radially?)
I'm perfectly fine, car's pretty jacked up. Although it looks fine, the windshield is popped loose, the top of the car is buckled, the alignment is off, and pretty much all the geometries are wrong now.
This has never happened to me before, i'm 100% sure it's his fault, but the insurance company says that if he denies he caused the accident then i have to pay for my car by myself?
Is that right? I can't afford to pay to have my car fixed, it easily exceeds what the car is worth i'm sure. Even if you can straighten a bent unibody (which as far as i know you can't)

Guess i don't need legal advice, i dunno maybe i do, but this dude has *got* to pay, he could have killed me easily.
I dont even want to think about what would happen if i was on the V :/

[mdskinner731]

ya last january coming back from georgia (in virginia on I-81)my brother was driving some a$$ hole..(excuse my language...) with those bright blue exxon headlights was followong us w/ his high beams on for a lil while. finally when my bro got room to move over he moved over also.. so time went on and we moved back in to the left lane the guy passed us on the right and cut back in front of us and when he did he almost hit our front passengers fender... so my bro swerved and when he did he clipped the gaurd rail and spun us around and we hit the other one... tractor trailers comming at us and were facing the opposite way on 81 my bro slams the car in reverse and whipps it arond on to the shoulder of the road... the damage was we ended up paying for a car damage (totaled the car so we had to get another), like 2500ft of gaurd rail and, got an improper lane change ticket out of it...

[kwells]

sounds like you might need a lawyer

[Lucky]

Not my usualy advice, but sounds like a case for one of those tv lawers...?

[inanecathode]

I guess. My insurance company probably wont pay for it, his definitely wont pay for it, and i can guarantee he wont pay for it. Guess i'm just out a car.
Drive as safe as i possibly can, be as nice as i can to everyone and this friggen happens.

[Night Vision]

mean people suck

[inanecathode]

Mean people do suck. But it sucks when money just vaporizes because someone decides to destroy property.

[Aelwulf]

For the rail one yeah, I can see how they'd make you pay.  The other guy didn't connect.  Sucks but it's like when I was listed at fault in one in Colorado because I stopped to avoid running over a pair of jaywalkers and got popped on my front bumper.

As for inane's though if at all possible I'd go the lawyer route.  The guy hit you, you were in the lane thus had right of way (it's not a rear-end deal since he hit you and it was ont he side), and if you got the plate number/info from him they can do a body comparison to show that he hit you moving into your lane by how the damage is done (dent angle, direction/type of paint scrapes, simple impact location on each vehicle, etc).  Get all that shown and the rest of the damage should easily be shown as a result of his impact pushing you over.

[inanecathode]

Yeah i was thinking that.
Given the speed and wheel rotations it might be possible to show speeds by the wheel scrape marks...
The whole lawsuit thing is kinda scary for me though, i always lose fights :/

[h2olawyer]

Way out of my areas of knowledge.  However, if an insurance company refuses to pay and it is determined in a trial that they should, they are often liable for 3x the damage award.  It's called Bad Faith & the ambulance chasers really love those cases.  You can go talk to a couple lawyers & find one you are comfortable with.  You hire the lawyer to win the fights you think you might normally lose.

You would have had your insurance company behind you if Colorado still had "No Fault" insurance laws.  By eliminating those provisions, instead of your insurance company paying your damages & then suing the other driver & his insurance company, it's now up to you to do it.  More of a pain to the consumer, but it did lower overall premium costs by about 15%.  Fewer cases get into the courts & insurance companies pay out less in claims / judgments.  Overall, it was a good thing.  Just sucks when it happens to you.  Your insurance company is NOT a good source for finding out what your rights & claims are.

Did the other driver even stop and if so, did he receive a citation?  If he got a ticket, a big chunk of your winning argument is done.  Sounds like he had a major case of road rage going on.  There was a driver on E-470 who got a long prison term for causing a fatal accident through road rage driving.  Find a lawyer & get this guy off the roads for a while.

Glad you weren't hurt - too bad the Fiero is totalled, though.  Hope things work out well.

H₂O 

[Aelwulf]

Also when looking for lawyers many will give you a free consultation and quite a few will take their pay from your winnings (might even be able to get legal fees paid as part of the settlement, bonus for you).  Heck, much as I hate to say it since his commercials annoy me try someone like that Frank 'The Strongarm" what's-his-name there.  He was supposedly involved in one of the big national cases lately and I believe I recall he's one who doesn't get paid if you don't.

[inanecathode]

How do i find a lawyer (other than you h2o hah)? Family doesnt have one :/ I guess it is more about comfort than anything. All i hear is how expensive lawyers are though :(
The guy is totally at fault, i know it 100%

I was thinking it was odd that my insurance company isnt really on my side, i mean they have no reason to give me anything.

Other driver did stop, pulled behind me after i pulled off the road, stayed in his truck, i stayed in my car till csp got there. I let csp deal with the guy. No tickets to anyone, the officer basically told me we were both full of it.


If his insurance company will pay, thats cool, if they dont i'll talk to a lawyer or three and see if it's financially viable to sue the insurance company. If it isnt it looks like i'll be bringing the guy to small claims.
I really want to make him pay though, he could have easily killed me.

[h2olawyer]

The best way to find a lawyer is through friends or acquaintences of your family.  The Colorado Bar Association also has a website where you can research lawyers.  Another method is to use the Martindale-Hubble directory (available online or in most libraries.

This type of case would likely be handled on a contingency basis - if you don't win, the lawyer doesn't get paid.  If you win in a pretrial settlement, the lawyer takes a percentage of it.  If it goes to trial, and you win, the lawyer gets a larger percentage than if you had settled pre-trial.

To your insurance company, you are just another customer.  If they start telling you how to go about suing the guy, they run the risk of giving legal advice (practicing law without a license).  If you get counter-sued, they will become a party in the suit as well.

You can obtain a copy of the accident report from the CSP to see what the officer wrote up and what his (seemingly minimal) investigation revealed.  Did any of the other cars stop to act as witnesses?

www.cobar.org/directory/index.cfm

www.martindale.com

Hope this helps - at least a little bit.

H₂O

[inanecathode]

No nooone stopped.
I'll stop by the csp office tomorrow and see what i can find.

I'll keep everyone updated.

[YellowJacket!]

not to sound mean and nasty but you said you were trying to pass a "few cars".  All at once?
Also, you said the guy that caused your wreck had passed you earlier.  Did you flip him off or give him a nasty look or gesture...a reason for him to retaliate?
If there were no witness's and he wansn't cited, then you have a difficult task.  If he hit you, did he leave some paint on your car? Any visible damage to his car and some of your paint?
The main thing though, isthat you are ok and did not get hurt.  Im sorry for the bad situation and am glad you are ok.

David

[inanecathode]

Yeah, pass all at once (never did though, although thats what i was going to do) didn't flip him off or anything, honestly i have no idea why he did what he did. Didnt get a look at his car, i do have wheel marks from his tire though...
Got a copy of the police report and it's fantastically vague. Brought it up with the lieutenant there and he basically told me its not their problem and they dont want to get stuck in court to hurt their reputation, thats also why there was very little investigation (wtf?)
His insurance person called today, i wasnt home, as did mine saying something about getting together and seeing who pays what.

[h2olawyer]

Well, at least the insurance companies are talking about paying something!  Probably seeing if they're going to end up in court.   ::)

H₂O

[inanecathode]

If they dont pay anything i can almost assuredly say they will be :D

[Ron_McCoy]

Glad you're OK Ben, oops,I mean Shaggy.

[inanecathode]

Lol Zoikes!