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Lawsuits involving multiple car accidents, please advise CA attorneys!
Anonymous6 views8 answers
Got involve in multiple car accidents and my car is in the front of the line and got rear ended. There are 2 other cars behind me and not sure who hit whom first. My claim has been denied by both driver's insurance co. blaming each other to be at fault. It's been 2 months & I got police report which specified the driver at-fault on the accident in violation of specific CVC & based on all driver's statements during the scene. If I were to sue in small claims for property damage(totaled loss, towing/storage charge & loss of use), who should I include in the lawsuit? Should I just sue the at-fault driver/owner based on police report as evidence? Or do I need to sue both drivers involved in the accident? Pls advise w/c is best strategy to pressure them to pay for property damages they caused,
You need to sue both drivers whether it is in small claims or superior court. Usually the way you can tell if car number two hit you first and then was hit again is that you feel two impacts. But there are of course exceptions to that. I am inferring that you are not injured because you are talking about property damage issues only. If you are injured, then I would contact a personal injury asap.
This is not surprising. Insurance companies will deny when given a chance. Your only real option is to hire an attorney. Handling this yourself will mean two things: 1) you'll be extremely frustrated and 2) you'll get less.
If you file a lawsuit, you'll need to serve both drivers and let them fight it out. Check the jurisdictional dollar limit that you can ask for in small claims court to make sure your total damages is within that limit. Otherwise, you may have to file in superior court. I'm guessing you don't have collision coverage. Otherwise, you would have opened that claim with your own insurance company.
If you have collision coverage, just turn it over to your insurance company and let them deal with it. Otherwise, sue both of the other drivers and let them sort it out.
Sue them both. Bring in the report. Bring in evidence of the fair market value of your car and estimates for repair. If car isn't drivable, seek loss of use damages too.
Dear Sunnyvale- first turn it over to your insurance company. Suing anyone is a job for lawyers and suggestions for you go sue, ignore the reality of the system of filing suit, getting service, attending hearings, filing pleadings, arranging or scheduling etc. are not for the inexperienced. Unfortunately, the innocent party, you, is never fully compensated. Good luck to you.
You need to sue both. They are just going to "finger point" at each other. Haul them both into the case, let them do just that and a judge in your small claims court case can decide.
