A female driver ran a stop sign and T-boned my daughter. Daughter extricated & transported via ambulance to local ED - Whiplash, Bruising, Glass Cuts - out of work/school until Monday. Daughter's car, totaled. Offending Driver was driving a borrowed car that did have insurance. However, she is unlicensed and undocumented. Local PD stated that he was charging her with the unlicensed status, no seat-belts for her or her +/- 3 y.o. child, excessive speed (? mph over?), running the stop sign and some additional offenses. He stated that he was referring her to our local immigration team for determination on the undocumented status.
MY QUESTION: I have already filed a claim against the vehicle owner's insurance. What else should I be doing?
FOLLOW-UP QUESTION - Can the car owner's insurance company deny my claim because the car owner chose to give the keys to an unlicensed driver?
Not sure how I put this under "Divorce"...thank you to Mr. Finnecy for offering to shift it to the proper forum.
Unfortunately, we did waive PIP last year for financial reasons.
I, also, contacted the claims office this morning seeking information on a rental car for my daughter to return to work on Saturday. That was, obviously, a bad decision. No more contact.
Scott R. ScherrCar / Auto Accident LawyerLutherville, MD ·
I am sorry to hear about your daughter's accident. You should file a PIP claim with your own insurance company for payment of medical bills and lost wages assuming that you did not waive the PIP coverage. This does not reduce or eliminate the liability of the other driver under the collateral source rule.
Do not let your daughter speak with the insurance company and no one should give a recorded statement to them. Instead, you need an attorney to represent your daughter and protect her rights. An attorney will be able to achieve the best possible result.
The other insurance company will have to pay the fair market value of your daughter's vehicle, plus 6% sales tax, and the cost of tags. An attorney can help negotiate the total loss.
There will be a separate traffic court proceeding where your daughter will likely be subpoenaed as a witness.
Be sure that your daughter appears at the trial for Driving Without License, it may be important to the civil claim, and I'm sure a civil lawyer would tell you to appear and testify and try to get a conviction.
It sounds like a serious accident, and I would hire an attorney to work on it for you. He could provide real value to you. The lawyer would work on a contingency and receive a share of what your daughter receives. He could be a real asset negotiating with the other insurance company.
Kevin Michael RowePersonal Injury LawyerPhoenix, AZ ·
Im sorry to hear about your daughter. You are correct in opening a claim with the adverse carrier. If you daughter carries PIP coverage with her insurance then you should do so. If her injuries are substantial and her damages would be in excess of the adverse carriers liability policy limits, then you should open an Under Insured Motorist claim under your daughter policy as well if she purchased the coverage.
Depending on how the investigation is going with the adverse carrier, you may want to have your daughters vehicle repaired by her own insurance to speed up the process. She may be able to have the deductible waived by her carrier.
Good luck!
Lawrence Steven GreenbergPersonal Injury LawyerBaltimore, MD ·
I strongly recommend your daughter hire a qualified lawyer to help her through this unfortunate mess. Things can get real complicated real fast and the insurance company will take advantage of your daughter being unrepresented
The other insurance will in all likelihood try and deny liability coverage for this accident due to the non-licensed status of the driver. It can get complicated with this factual and legal scenario. You should consult and retain an attorney to represent your daughter. There is some investigation which will need to be done and you shouldn't delay.
Wow! I think there is a lot more to be said regarding your situation. First and foremost, your daughter should get all of the medical attention she thinks she needs to return to her pre-accident status. I find, particularly with younger drivers, that they tend to say "Oh, I am alright" rather than properly treat their injuries. While you don't want to run up the medical bills needlessly, by the same token you want her to get full treatment.
I do think you need to hire a personal injury attorney immediately as this is complicated for the following reasons:
1) There is a claim via a lawsuit to be made against the owner of the car for negligent entrustment of their vehicle to the driver. You can't just let anyone drive your car and if you do and they cause an accident, you can be held liable.
2) Chances are the owner of the vehicle doesn't have enough insurance coverage to pay for all the damages both from a property damage (to your daughter's car) and personal injury to your daughter. This is just a guess based on the facts you've presented but if the owner turned the car over to an uninsured, undocumented driver my guess is that they have minimal coverage. In which case, you may need to also file a claim via a lawsuit against your daughter's insurance company for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM).
3. You may also have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) available to your daughter under her policy that will pay some of her medical bills and lost wages.
As an aside, the other driver's undocumented status has little or nothing to do with your daughter's claim. It is problematic for the other driver though. So you need to file your lawsuit as soon as you can before the other driver "disappears".
So my strong recommendation is that you contact an attorney as soon as possible.
