Should my friend hire an attorney?

I was involved in a very serious accident some years ago and was being sued. The car was a business car and the lawyer who represented me was selected and paid for by the insurance company that insured our commercial vehicles. He was excellent, came with me to the deposition (which was intimidating) and stood up for me there at one point when they wanted to restage the accident. There was an eventual settlement but I did not have to go to court.

The insurance company doesn’t want to pay out any more money than they have to so they have a vested interest in your interests as well. At least that was my experience.

If I was in that situation, I would hire a team of attorneys to protect me.

The insurance attorney is there to protect the insurance company.

“Maggie” needs a good legal team that is there to protect her 100%. It isn’t cheap but it may be well worth the expense.

@janbb, @gondwanalon, thanks, your comments touch on what’s troubling me about this story. If the insurance attorney’s job is to minimize the payout, could Maggie get stuck with some huge liability? I realize that you and I don’t know the terms of her insurance agreement, but it seems to me that there’s an inherent risk if protecting Maggie and protecting the insurance company turn out to be in conflict.

Maggie is a retired person of limited means, so attorneys’ fees could be a serious drain on her resources; but not as serious as if she turns out to be held responsible for some expensive award to the plaintiff.

I don’t think she has thought of this, and I don’t want to give her bad advice; but if she winds up in great difficulty over this business for lack of a dedicated advocate, I will feel that I have let her down but not saying anything.

She should look at her policy and even could talk to her agent. If they are not suing for more than the limits of liability she has, there’s no way they can come after her.

I meant ”by not saying anything.”

I would defiantly get an attorney. You need someone to see through the arguments and get to the truth….they’re gold diggers.

“Lawyer up.”

I think it’s probably safest and best to have your own lawyer for that if you can afford it.

I did have one experience somewhat like that. I once hit someone’s car at low speed (I was blinded by sun and exhausted and a stinging insect flew in my sunroof when the driver who had zoomed ahead of me stopped closer than I thought she could be). I agreed I was at fault and paid her insurance company in installments… and then after a few months her insurance company told me to forget about paying them, and that the person I hit was claiming excessive damages, and they were just going to handle it from that point out. So at least in my case, one insurance company wasn’t out to screw me in that situation, and actually let me off the hook. (Part of the consideration may have been that I didn’t seem to have much money to go after. And I certainly wouldn’t trust most insurance companies not to try to get as much as they can from people.)

I usually go with the insurance company’s rep as the insurance company will generally protect you from outside sources because it means that they will probably be paying the claim & they will protect themselves from any loss!!!

Throwing their own customer under the bus would bring bad publicity & run off potential new customers; so she should be safe with her insurance cxo’s rep!!!

Good point. Talk to your insurance company. They may even lawyers who specialize in this kind of stuff.

@Dutchess_III They do. That’s the point of carrying liability insurance.

@Jeruba This is what insurance is for. She can always go to a private lawyer at some point if she needs to but as I said, the company’s interests are hers unless she doesn’t have enough coverage. She should talk to her agent or her claims rep before spending money on a lawyer of her own.

And I do have some expertise in this area having been an agency owner for some years.

Personally I would get a lawyer. If they try to claim recklessness, the insurance may not have to pay anything which may leave her hanging with the damages. I’m not sure how car insurance works compare to personal insurance.
I know for personal life insurance if you mountain climb and fall off a cliff, they won’t pay any thing. Or if you were drunk and driving, then your beneficiaries won’t get anything either. So if your friend was speeding, I’m not sure if the insurance would pay. They could just cut her off. Now if it was something like bumper to bumper traffic then her insurance will cover her.
Unfortunately, the injuries could also depend if the person already was frail and maybe had a weak back or something. But it does sound like a scam.

I would get a friend or family member to go by their house and drop a 20 dollar bill next to them. As they quickly bend over to pick it up, record it. If this person shows up in a wheel chair and neck brace, I will call bull.
I would also get a lawyer for me.

Perhaps you can read her policy with her. I don’t think anyone here, perhaps even me, knows what they are talking about.

If “Maggie” doesn’t have very much resources then the other driver’s attorney is going after the insurance company. That’s where the big bucks are.

If Maggie had a lot of resources then she would be targeted also. Since she doesn’t then she is pretty safe with just the insurance attorney.

You can’t get blowout of a turnip. Their after money where ever it can be found.

If Maggie’s means are as limited as you say (and she may not have revealed all of her finances to you, so you may not know what you think you know about her status), then the plaintiffs here are attempting to defraud the insurance company – and everyone knows that. By the time this makes it to any kind of adjudicating body, a mediator or judge, even they will know that it’s an attempt at fraud – it happens every day.

But let’s assume that Maggie really does have limited means – and assets (don’t forget that if she owns a home, then that’s an asset that a lien can be applied against in a judgment, so even if she doesn’t have much income, she would never be able to cash in on the value of her home if a judgment goes against her and the insurance is somehow obviated). But that’s not to say that she should get an attorney; I think she should consider the defense that the insurance company will mount, her relationship with the insurer (that is, that her policy is paid up to date and she hasn’t made significant other claims – the insurer will have had experiences where both parties in the fraudulent claim are in on the scheme, so if there’s any doubt about her own bona fides, they may not worry about throwing her under a bus.

But that’s all speculation: Assuming Maggie is straight up with the insurer, not rich, not hiding any assets, and an innocent party in an apparent attempt to rip off the insurer, then all of their aims align (hers and the insurer’s, that is), and the insurer will certainly not want to pay out a bogus claim. (They might settle for a token amount just to avoid the cost of a trial – that happens every day, too – but Maggie won’t have any part in that.)

Even if the case goes to hell and the insurer is somehow obviated from paying – for whatever reason – the old saying applies: “You can’t get blood from a stone.” Maggie is what is commonly known as “judgment-proof”. If she has nothing much of value to lose, then she can’t lose what she doesn’t have.

I think if I were Maggie, and the straight shooter that you believe her to be, then I would urge total cooperation and alignment with the insurer and their attorney. A separate attorney of her own might set off alarm bells with the insurer (why does she need an attorney of her own when their interests are in alignment?), and it’s a cost that she doesn’t need to bear to protect retirement income (I presume) that can’t be taken from her, anyway.

I would want to know what the suit is asking for, and if the amount is covered by my insurance. If it’s covered, I probably wouldn’t bother with having my own attorney.

It sounds like truth is on her side. Don’t let the other lawyer put words in you’re friend’s mouth. If the other lawyer asks her a yes or no question, and it doesn’t fit what happened, she can say, “I would say X X X.” The other lawyer will try to box her into answers, she just needs to show she is not easily manipulated while sticking to the truth. That means that in court, she will perform well, and so they will likely be reluctant to take it to court.

One example is during my deposition the other lawyer asked me about my injuries, my vertigo lasted over a year. When he said, and your vertigo is gone now? I replied “it finally got better in March.” I wish I had some better examples where he used a word that I would never use to describe something, and I wasn’t willing to say yes to it, so I used the descriptive word I would use to answer. Not every question. Some were fine yes or now.

If your insurance will cover it, they’ll pay it, then drop you as a customer, or, at the least, raise your rates.

It’s very much dependant on the jurisdiction. In some there is absolutely no point in having your own counsel, as they have no standing in these matters. Has your friend already been served with a statement of claim against her? If not, it is very possible that the insurer is trying to settle matters before a statement is issued. My experience with this is that insurance counsel will let people know if their personal assets are at risk. it wouldn’t hurt to have a friend/family member attend an initial meeting between your friend and her insurer’s representative. Personal defense counsel are rarely involved in these matters in North America unless the SOC has multiple millions of exposure.

Years ago I was involved in an accident where the other driver pulled something similar. He claimed to be severely injured. In the end I didn’t need a lawyer and from what I understand that’s what insurance is for. The guy didn’t come after me or my personal assests. He went after my insurance and settled with them.

Damn girl! Where you been?! ♥

@Dutchess_III Hiding under a rock ;)