Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:48 pm Post subject: Insurance Company needs repayment of Medical Expenses
I was involved in an automobile accident about a year ago in the state of Wisconsin. At that time, I did not have any auto insurance so I paid $2,500 to fix the other car involved.After that, I received a letter from the person's attorney stating that i have been cleared of all expenses relating to the accident. A year has passed and i received a letter from an insurance company requesting me to pay $10,000 to cover for medical expenses for the person involved in the accident.
I have requested for medical bills to verify if this person actually incurred that much medical bills but the insurance company has refused citing privacy issues, and they have threatened to revoke my drivers licence if the money is not paid by March 31st.
Do i have the right to fight this since I have a letter clearing me, and also since they are refusing to provide medical bills? _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Sticky situation and I am not a claims person or an attorney. But if I were you I think I would be seeking the help of an attorney or at least going to get a free consultation to see what your rights are and what the attorney suggests. I woul also think that they should be able to provide you with a bill of some sort even if it does not state all the medical info on it and possibly the name of a doctor and or hospital to at least verify that that person was seen and treated....but without giving specific information....I would def start making some phone calls if I were you.
Who threated to take away your license? The state? or the insurance company....the state is the only one that can revolk your license. Do you have the letter from the other persons attny stating that you are cleared regarding the expenses of the accident? If not you better get a copy of it. _________________ ~Monique~
You don't leave much time for a response and to take action. I'm might have some information that could at least assist you but I won't be able to post it until this evening. I'll write something up then and post it here in case it might help.
If nothing else, nique1221 gave some _great_ advice in recommending that you spend a little money and obtain legal advice in this subject. A few hundred dollars for legal advice vs a $10k debt.... good investment.
Alright, first and foremost I'd HIGHLY recommend seeking legal advice on this matter.
WI does not have No-Fault and they do have Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) coverage, so I'm _guessing_ the other person's carrier considered their insured's injury loss under UMBI and paid out $10k. If so, they would have a right of recovery against you, as the at fault driver. They also have a duty to _prove_ this amount. While they cannot/should not give you copies of the medical records, they _do_ need to give you the medical bills! Keep in mind that the medical bills may not have amounted to $10k, but they also need to consider payment for "pain and suffering", future medical bills, etc. If they paid $10k, the medical bills might have only been around $5k.
I can't speak for their right to _request_ that your DL be suspended... I can say that some states allow for this. If they can, I'm guessing that you'd also be able to show cause why it should not be suspended (I don't really know much about this, though).
There is a _very_ good possibility that you could settle with the insurance company for _much_ less then their demand (it's almost a given). First, if they suspend your DL, how much money are they going to get then? You can't work so you have no money to pay them. You may also be able to make payments to them. Though, I'd _strongly_ recommend that you get a greatly reduced settlement amount if appropriate, and _then_ work out payments. In addition to this, did the carrier pay to much to their insured? You could always argue that the claim was not worth $10k as well.
I'm betting your letter from the person's attorney only released you from property damage liability, not injury. If it does mention "all" claims or an injury, then you could supply this to the person's carrier to show that you don't owe them anything.
There are _so many_ legal issues involved here that I'd again _strongly_ recommend that you seek advice from an attorney on this matter. Yes, you will need to pay the attorney a sum of money for his/her service but you are looking at a $10k debt here and the possibility of a suspended DL. It would be well worth at least an hour of legal advice.
