Money judgment: Can someone get one against me?

by Guest » Wed Mar 05, 2008 02:03 am

Dear all, nice to have found this forum.

I have a serious question that I need your advise.

I was involved in a car accident recently and there were severe damage on my car and the other driver's car, the other driver also reported severe personal injury to both my insurance company and their own insurance company. I am thinking at I may be at-fault, but need to wait for adjuster's final investigation.

I have full insurance coverage, my liability coverage for personal injury is 30000 per person and 60000 per accident and my liability coverage for car damage is 25000.

But the other driver hired a lawyer saying that my liability coverage for both personal injury and car damage will not be enough, I think they are planning to sue me and ask for a lot of money, I am worried if they could get a money judgment against me and execute against my property, I have bank accounts, salaries, and a house under my name and my title, will they be able to get additional money from me by execute against my bank accounts, salaries, my house?

Thank you.

Total Comments: 43

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 06:14 am Post Subject:

Dear Linda,

This is exactly the situation of a ball-by-ball game watch!
You need to be patient (though I know that its not that easy under the present circumstances).
The first thing that you should do is to seek the help of your carrier & ask them to guide you under the circumstances. Also, don't forget to keep us informed about each step that the other party undertakes. I'd be eagerly waiting whether the verdict goes against you as the party-at-fault!

Keep us fed regarding the money judgment proceedings if any..Plasticmind

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 06:55 am Post Subject:

I have full insurance coverage, my liability coverage for personal injury is 30000 per person and 60000 per accident and my liability coverage for car damage is 25000.

See, I believe if he has maintained a comprehensive cov. then his carrier should be the one he ought to be looking for his compensation. On the otherhand, if he has maintained any Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, that should come into play after the maximum value for your policy is achieved by him eg.

Suppose his total damage for his car is worth $50,000. So, he would achieve $25,000 from your policy benefits & the rest $(50,000 - 25,000)= $25,000 could be revived through his UMI. Am I right?

Regards, Plasmahectic

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 06:58 am Post Subject:

Hi Linda...I do understand your concerns regarding your bank accounts, your home & other personal assets..but you need to hold on for some time..rest assured that in today's world the insurance carriers are too clever to let money spill out. According to them NO-ONE is 100% AT-FAULT!!!
Wish, that explains the the rest to follow!
RomaC

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 07:15 am Post Subject: Getting money judgment is not easy

Lemme assure you first that getting a money judgment against someone isn't that easy. Hence, I agree with the other poster that you need to be a patient watcher of the game. You should consult both your insurer and an attorney to decide the future course of action. Its the insurance company's responsibility to protect the interest of their client. Otherwise, they can face the bad faith action from you.

You haven't mentioned what your insurance company has agreed to pay. Its a very important information that's missing in the post. However, lemme conclude by saying that turn the lawsuit immediately to your insurer. You have insurance on your car and your insurer is responsible to cover you fully through the lawsuit and obtain the release form all the liability certificate for you.

Is UIM coverage a requirement in your state?

Do keep us informed and wait for more responses. Good luck!

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:24 am Post Subject: Money judgment: Can someone get one against me?

Good morning Linda and welcome...I certainly understand your fear about money judgment and other things...but ''maybe'' everything is going to be ok...The one tip off that makes me think that 'possibly' the other party has UIM (UNDER insured motorist) is that you say their atty maintains your limits are too low..Also attorneys ALWAYS over exaggerate a claim, just because they 'say' you don't have high enough limits does not make it so.

Let's start there, first as soon as you can raise your own limits because they are too low...yes it is possible for someone to get an 'excess' judgment and come after your property, easy now girl...it rarely happens...especially if there is UIM on the other side. It is your carriers duty to settle the claims against you 'within' your limits....more than likely what will happen is just that your carrier will secure releases under your PD and BI coverages for the coverage limits then the other party will go to their carrier for their own UIM limits....

First the investigation needs to be completed and liablity determined...Couple of questions, what state are you in? what type of vehicle was this other party driving (25k is a 'decent' amount of PD coverage) what were the fact of loss? What is your carrier saying re: liablity, and limits? How does the other party know what your limits are? Answer these and we will be able to be of more assistance....

Also

Am I right?

no Plasmahectic, you are not...first

I believe if he has maintained a comprehensive cov. then his carrier should be the one he ought to be looking for his compensation

It would be 'collision'' coverage not comprehensive that would cover the vehicle....and the UIM only (not UM) would cover the injury if it is indeed a limits issue.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:24 pm Post Subject:

In addition to what Lori mentioned, please keep in mind that your carrier won't pay _anything_ out of court unless the other party agrees to accept that amount and not pursue the claim any further. Also, a plaintiff attorney's time is money. The more time they spend on a case, the less they make. A money judgment is not worth a whole lot and the attorney would probably never be able to collect on it. So what good is it to the attorney to spend weeks and several _thousands_ of dollars just to get a lien? 99.999999% of the time they will simply take 1/3 of the $30k and move on. But this is even assuming that this _is_ a policy limits case. As Lori mentioned, I've never seen attorneys ask for less then 10 x to 100x what a claim should settle for in their initial demand. It's just their way of playing a game (they are required to make the 1st demand, which puts them at a disadvantage... so they simply ask for the sky. Why would they ask for something less. Think about that). So of course the plaintiff attorney is going to tell everyone that it's a limits case... it's just posturing.

If the other person owns a vehicle worth $25k then they probably have a lien and if so, have collision insurance. Most people with a $25k vehicle will have collision insurance even if they don't have a lien. As such, they can simply file their property damage claim under their own policy and they will then simply transfer their right of recovery for that damage to their carrier... who won't file suit.

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 02:01 am Post Subject:

Dear all, thanks a lot for answering my money judgment query.

from Amazon-hunter,

You should consult both your insurer and an attorney to decide the future course of action

Will my insurance company protect me with the insurance company's lawyer or do I also need to get my own lawyer, I don't think I can afford a lawyer myself?

from Lori,

The one tip off that makes me think that 'possibly' the other party has UIM (UNDER insured motorist) is that you say their atty maintains your limits are too low

How can I know if the other party has UIM? Who should I ask?

Let's start there, first as soon as you can raise your own limits because they are too low

Could you please advise a more proper limits that I should have for my own auto insurance?

easy now girl...it rarely happens...especially if there is UIM on the other side. It is your carriers duty to settle the claims against you 'within' your limits....more than likely what will happen is just that your carrier will secure releases under your PD and BI coverages for the coverage limits then the other party will go to their carrier for their own UIM limits....

Sorry, I am a little confused here, if my carrier could settle the claims against me "within" my limits, but if the other party go to their carrier for ther own UIM limits, will the other party's carrier subro against me later on, if the other party's subro against me later on, but my carrier has already used up my limits, then will the other party be able to subro against my properties and assets?
and worse things is that if the other party does not have UIM, what will happen? will the other party and their lawyer come after my property and assets then?

Couple of questions, what state are you in? what type of vehicle was this other party driving (25k is a 'decent' amount of PD coverage) what were the fact of loss? What is your carrier saying re: liablity, and limits? How does the other party know what your limits are? Answer these and we will be able to be of more assistance....

I am in California, the other party is a lexus, the loss of the other car seems severe to me, because it was a change line issue and both of us was driving in high speed on the freeway so the impact was severe. my adjuster just said that they will investigate more, as to how the other party know what my limits are, I am concerned myself as well, I really don't know how they got my information?

from tcope,

As such, they can simply file their property damage claim under their own policy and they will then simply transfer their right of recovery for that damage to their carrier... who won't file suit.

like my previous concern, if the other party file their property damage claim under their own collision coverage, will the other party's carrier subro against me later on, if the other party's subro against me later on, but my carrier has already used up my limits, then will the other party be able to subro against my properties and assets?

I heard that I could also add Umbrella Liability insurance on top of my auto liability insurance for extra protection, can I still add it now, or it is already too late? and if I could still add the Umbrella Liability insurance, is it recommended that I do so?

Also, I have homeowners liability insurance on my homeowners insurance, will my homeowners liability insurance protect my home if the other party finally got lawsuit judgment to execute against my home?

I also heard that there are some ways for asset protection such as transfer your home, bank accounts, etc. into a living trust, Limited Liability Company, and/or Family Limited Partnership, is it recommended that I do so or since I already have a claim against me, it is already too late for me to do anything to protect my property and assets?

Thanks a lot. :(

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 03:05 am Post Subject:

GREAT question! In order for your carrier to pay your BI limits, they would require the other person's carrier to submit a waiver of recovery. That is, they agree not to pursue recovery of any amount they pay under their UMBI coverage. Usually the UMBI carrier will simply run an assets check on you and unless they find out you have a few houses or a million in the bank, will complete the waiver.

Nope... and situation. Your carrier will offer your limits and they other carrier will need to sign a property damage release in order to collect them. That release means they agree to settle for the money your carrier is paying. It would cost the other carrier more money to try to collect anything from you. Better that they just accept the large $25k payment from your carrier and move on. It's a business decision for them.

I heard that I could also add Umbrella Liability insurance on top of my auto liability insurance for extra protection, can I still add it now, or it is already too late? and if I could still add the Umbrella Liability insurance, is it recommended that I do so?

It would not apply to this situation. Do you have a million dollars in assets to protect? It's unlikely that you have enough assets that anyone would want to forgo collecting the money from your carrier to pursue. If anything, you might want to consider raising the liability limits of your auto policy. It would be fairly inexpensive as higher limits don't get much more expensive.

Also, I have homeowners liability insurance on my homeowners insurance, will my homeowners liability insurance protect my home if the other party finally got lawsuit judgment to execute against my home?

No, two completely different animals.

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:35 am Post Subject:

tcope has answered your questions except the limits one....as you see now 25k Property Damage is not high enough...I personally carry 100k, most could be by with 50k...think of it this way, what if for some reason, you hit one car, sending it into a house? All your fault? You cause 60k in damage? See my point? (actually you see the point in your own claim if the other vehicle damage is over 25k)...same with your BI limits...they (in my opinion) are way too low, 30k per person and 60k per accident is just not enough not given what medical costs are today and jury awards! :roll: I would carry a min. off 100/300k....again with my scenrio of you hitting a car that then goes into a house, lets say there are six people in that car and all are hurt! The way your policy sets now you have to divide that 60k between them meaning 10k each! Not even close to the protection you need.

Please feel free to ask any questions as you go thru this process...do not attempt to hide your assets it rarely ever comes to anything like you are fearing (an excess judgement) unless as tcope said, you are a 'ga-zillionaire' or something.... :wink:

Also since you said it is a lane change issue, could be that you will not be held 100% at fault either! :) Please let us know how you are doing and the liabilitly determination, try to not get too worried your carrier is there to take care of and protect you from any such money judgment ...oh yes, your carrier (if need should arise) would hire/pay an attorney to defend you...

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:26 pm Post Subject:

I did not answer the limits question as there is no way to give a good answer, IMHO. I have a friend who does not have a pot to piss in. He carries the minimum limits (10k PD). If he's involved in a $20k PD accident, what is the other party going to do? I'm not trying to sound mean or recommend lower limits but liability limits are meant to protect the insured... not the people who suffered the loss. If the states thought those people should be protected then they should raise the minimum limits (and I think most states should).

So, if I rent an apartment, drive a 1989 Kia and live paycheck to paycheck, should I have 100k limits? Perhaps not. Each person needs to figure that out for themselves.

It's also another good reason to have collision and UMBI :)

BTW - my friend is actually doing much better for himself now. :)

Money judgment: Can someone get one against me?

Total Comments: 43

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