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 Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 5:05 pm Post subject: Can I sue the policy holder if I am not satisfied with insur |
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| Rear ended. Insurance agent said I verbally agreed to settlement over the phone. After I thoughut about it is an insult. Is verbal agreement legally binding in va that what he said |
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ferrellsherry
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| Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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First off you sure this was an 'agent' and not an 'adjuster'? Should've been an adjuster...
What settlement are we talking about? Damages to your car, injuries, what?
What did you agree to?
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Lori
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 2:58 am Post subject: |
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Many states hold a person to a verbal agreement the same as a written contract. With that said, you could probably convince a court that you did not agree verbally.
The other issue is what would happen if the adjuster offered you $1,000,000 to settle you loss, you agreed and then the adjuster called you back and told you no, they would not pay this. How would you react? Would you just say fine? If you back out of this verbal contract how is the adjuster going to address your claim if you are not going to legally honor your agreements? I've been in the situation where an agreement was made, I sent the release to the person and then they obtained the services of an attorney who tried to back out of the agreement. I simply told the attorney he'd need to file suit and I certainly let everyone I knew that he backed out of a legally binding agreement.
You need to understand that it's a 2 way street. You need to be able to hold the adjuster to their word and the adjuster need to be able to hold you to yours. |
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tcope
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 11:38 am Post subject: |
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One would think for it to be Legally Binding the statement would have to be legally & correctly recorded and/or witnessed.
Otherwise I could say that T-cope verbally agreed to send me $500.oo on May 28th 2010 just because I'm a nice guy.
T... will my check be here on time or are you going to deny you said that??
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That's my 2¢ worth for now. ( maybe ± a couple ¢ ) 
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FK
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| Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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FK, you take my insured to court and the insurance companys attorney puts you on the stand he/she going to ask you if you agreed to settle the case for $500. They are also going to ask me if you agreed and is this way I sent out the release in that amount. Are you going to lie under oath?
Like I said, a verbal agreement is only worth the paper it's written on but 1) it would be morally correct and good business practice for the adjuster not to offer any more to the OP and have the OP spend the money to go to court... even if it will cost the insurance company more and 2) will the OP really want to do all of that knowing that it's morally and legally incorrect?
So, for me, it's not a question of will it hold up. It's a question of being right or wrong, playing by the rules or not. Personally I don't try to screw anyone over... I expect the same from other people as well.
I have a question... why did the OP agree to the settlement. But again, at this point its a matter of principle. How about if adjusters started offer a lot of money and then kept backing out and lowering the offer in order to find the claimant's bottom line? |
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tcope
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