Last fall I witnessed a rollover crash that happened to the vehicle behind me. We were driving on a 45mph single lane road when a vehicle about 3-4 cars ahead of me stopped around a bend to turn into a driveway. The vehicle behind me had been on my radar for about a half a mile because he appeared to be speeding and too close for comfort. Anyway, I slowed to a stop as I approached the other stopped line of cars, but was aware of the vehicle behind me that appeared to be not slowing down at all and about to crash into me. I panicked and pulled forward slightly to the right of the vehicle in front of me to avoid the impact. Vehicle behind me finally slammed on his breaks and ended up rolling his vehicle into the ditch. Myself and multiple others got out of our cars to make sure he was ok. He was conscious but shook up obviously, and when EMS/ Police arrived we all gave statements and that was that.
Back in December I was notified by my insurance that an attorney had filed a claim against my policy for this. I let my insurance rep know I was a witness and she made it go away, claim effectively closed. Fast forward to last week, the attorney representing the guy that rolled his vehicle sent a demand letter stating I am liable for his wreck and cited the statutes I allegedly violated including speeding and recklessness or something to that affect.
Since my closed claim is now escalated to the legal department of my insurance company to investigate because of this recent demand letter, I had to talk to my insurance company rep and recount what happened. She said this whole thing is strange that it has escalated this far, but she still has to investigate and that the guy who crashed must “have something on me” for his attorney to be sending a demand letter at this point.
My question is, how on earth could I be found liable when myself and the multiple other vehicles in front of me were not involved in the collision besides being on the road at the same time? I’m worried my insurance company will pay this slime ball off just to get them off their back, but now my rates will go up? How is this practice even tolerated or allowed?
Demand letter for bodily injury claim against my auto policy for accident I witnessed.
byu/WatermellonSourPatch inInsurance
Posted by WatermellonSourPatch
3 Comments
The Attorney is doing the shotgun method of filing suit against everyone involved to see what sticks. If you weren’t involved in the accident then your insurance will defend you if the suit goes through. Keep in contact with your claim handler for any updates.
Well, in the demand letter, they usually will go into detail as far as why they feel you are liable. Who knows what creative liberties the other driver is taking when he gives his statement as to what happened. Unless the injuries are very bad and you have low limits, I would imagine your insurance would fight this.
People can make any accusation they want, but they have to prove it. Just let your insurance handle it and follow up with them to get updates.
The attorney is being a prick and making the situation harder for you all to try and get as much money as possible for themselves. Just let insurance handle it, it’s why you pay them.