Toward the end of last year my family were in an accident where I was driving and at fault. I made a left turn at a light thinking it was clear and it was not – we were t-boned by the other car. Everyone walked out of both cars but were transported to a local ER, and left after a couple of hours. Some time later I received mail saying the other party was suing me. I contacted our insurance (same carrier for both parties) and heard nothing more about it. Now they say they are settling with the other party for our policy limits (100k). That surprised me considering the other party did not initially appear to be very injured, but I understand there may have been ongoing injuries or emotional/mental health issues.
Insurance has asked us to sign a release form so they can give other party the $ and close the file. We do not understand if signing this fully absolves us from being sued again by the party in future, as the form *seems* to say that it does but then it isn't entirely clear, and I cannot find a lawyer to give us advice (have contacted 5 and they all say it's not their area – I don't understand who I should be contacting.)
I assumed insurance had a lawyer on our behalf but I've only ever spoken to the adjuster and she isn't being clear about it either. I just want to know if we should sign or engage a private lawyer before signing. And if so, where do I find such a lawyer?
Should we sign release after at fault accident?
byu/Ordinary-Soup-8025 inInsurance
Posted by Ordinary-Soup-8025
2 Comments
If it’s a full and final release of all claims against you you should definitely sign it. Ask your Adjuster to send you a copy. Perhaps someone at legal , legal advice or insurance can review it. Or, any general practice Attorney should be able to review it for a small fee.
>Insurance has asked us to sign a release form so they can give other party the $ and close the file.
What kind of ‘release form?’ Like an affidavit of no other insurance? Asset disclosure? It this something that’s coming from the other person’s attorney?
You don’t sign releases to keep the other people from suing you. That’s what they will be signing.
Since it doesn’t sound like there’s an actual lawsuit, just a settlement demand that your insurance is trying to settle, it would seem like the attorney just wants to ensure you have nothing else to pursue, that this limit is all they will get.
Any attorney your insurance has, who likely wouldn’t be involved anyways absent an actual lawsuit, can’t give you ‘legal advice’ that is outside the scope of their representation. So if you were sued, they can speak to you about the case against you and offer advice within the limits of your policy. But for personal financial or legal advice for something outside the scope of your policy, they can’t and don’t represent you, then you would need your own attorney. A general civil litigation attorney is likely what you would need, but it doesn’t seem like that’s necessary at all at this point. Unless you really have a concern about disclosing something on this ‘form.’