Articles Posted in Automobile Accidents

I was hit by a drunk driver – he ran a red light and broad-sided me.  He told the cop that he was drinking at home all day, got in an argument with his wife, left the house, and then had the wreck with me. I spent seven days in the hospital and have missed four weeks of work so far.  I still don’t know when I can go back to work.  I just found out that the drunk did not have any liability insurance on his car.  Now what?

You will have to rely on your uninsured motorist insurance coverage.  Look at the declarations page of your insurance policy and see what amount of coverage you have.  It is designed to protect you in this situation.

If you have uninsured motorist coverage (and Tennessee law requires your insurance company to sell it to you unless you right it in writing) you will have to collect your damages from your own insurance company.  Your company cannot raise your rates because of an uninsured motorist claim.  

 What types of insurance may apply in a car accident case?

Several different types of insurance coverage apply in a car accident case. First, the at-fault driver’s automobile insurance may apply to cover the damages you sustain in a wreck. In Tennessee, all drivers are required to carry a minimum amount of automobile insurance, specifically $25,000 per person with a cap of $50,000 for each wreck. If two people are injured in a wreck, and the at-fault driver has minimum insurance policy limits, generally speaking the most the insurance company could ever have to pay is $25,000 to each person. If three people are injured in a wreck and the person at fault has minimum limits, the insurance company generally will not have to pay more than $50,000 to all three people combined, and each person cannot recover any more than $25,000. Of course, many drivers break the law and do not carry the required minimum car insurance limits. 

In the driver that causes the accident does not have insurance, your own automobile insurance coverage may also apply in a car accident case. This type of insurance coverage is called uninsured motorist coverage. Subject to certain limitations, you may recover under that portion of your own policy if the other driver is proven to be uninsured.

I was in a car wreck and spent four days in the hospital because of the injuries I received.  I also will need several months of physical therapy.  When I got out of the hospital I updated my status on my Facebook page.  A friend of mine e-mailed me and said I should be careful about what I post on Facebook about the car accident and my recovery.   Is she right? 

Yes, but not just because you had a car accident.  What you say on social media is there to stay.  Forever.  People who read it will make certain judgments about you based on what you said on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media outlets.  Thus, one should always use good judgment when utilizing social media.

This is also true after you have been in an accident of any type.  Your adversary will read your social media page.  Your adversary will look at your photographs and videos.  Your adversary will be looking for inconsistent statements or other documentation that indicates that your injuries are different than you claim or affect you differently than you maintain in a lawsuit.  The inconsistency may be minor, but your adversary will try to make it look like a lie.

I was hurt in a car wreck in Tennessee.  The other driver was also from Tennessee.  How much time do I have to file a lawsuit?

You have one year from the date of the wreck to file a lawsuit.  Failure to file suit within the one year period will result in a loss of your rights.

However, you should not wait this long to hire a lawyer.  A lawyer needs time to investigate the case ad sometimes critical evidence can disappear if the lawyer is not hired early in the case.  Also, it is possible that the lawyer can negotiate a settlement on your behalf, thus eliminating the expense that goes with filing a lawsuit.  Thus, it is recommended that you hire a promptly and not wait until the one year deadline for action approaches.

The police accident report says that I was not at fault in my wreck and that the other driver was at fault.  Can I used the police report as evidence at a trial to prove the wreck was not my fault?

Not in Tennessee state court.  A rule of evidence specifically excludes police accident reports from the types of public records that can be admitted into evidence at trial to show how an accident occurred.

Why?  Because unless the officer actually saw the accident the police report is only the officer’s opinion about what happened.  That opinion may be based on solely on whether the officer believes one person or the other and may have little value in determining what actually happened.  

I was in a car wreck several months ago.  The other driver’s insurance company called me and asked me some questions.  I then asked him how much insurance his driver had, but he refused to tell me.  He said that in Tennessee I could not find out how much insurance the other driver had, even if I filed a lawsuit. Is that true?

Yes.  Tennessee is the only state in the nation that does not require an insurance company to disclose the amount of liability insurance in place for an accident.  This is a result of a powerful lobbying effort in the Legislature, led by Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company.

Sometimes an insurance company will voluntarily disclose the amount of coverage it has.  However, in the ordinary situation, the only way you can discover how much insurance the other driver has is to win a lawsuit and start the process to collect the money you are due.

My car was hit at a local intersection.  The guy that hit me ran the red light – and admitted that he did so – but he police officer didn’t even give him a ticket!  Why not?  I have called the officer four times to ask why but she won’t return my call.

Police officers have discretion about when they write a ticket, and sometimes they simply choose not to do so.  I must confess that I don’t always understand why tickets are issued in some cases and not in others,but the fact of the matter is that police officers do not issue tickets in many automobile wreck cases when they would have the perfect right to do so.

The fact that no ticket was written will almost certainly not hurt your case, especially if the police report indicates that the other driver admitted fault.   A statement by a police officer in a police report that the other driver admitted fault will carry a lot of weight with his insurance company as it decides whether or not to promptly resolve the claim. 

 I was in a car wreck last week.  I  spent five days in the hospital and am now recovering at home.  I am getting a couple calls a day from the insurance adjuster for the driver that hit me.  The message he left for me is that he wants to take a statement from me about how the wreck happened.  Should I talk to him and give him a statement?

We do not recommend that our clients give a statement to the other driver’s insurance company.  There are several exceptions to this general rule, but even then we do not permit our clients to give a statement without adequate preparation for the interview.

We do not prepare our clients by telling them what to say or encouraging them to lie.  In fact, just the opposite is true:  we encourage our clients to tell the truth about the circumstances giving rise to the wreck, the nature and extent of their injuries, and everything else.   Preparation is necessary because insurance adjusters are trained in asking questions, and may ask questions in such a way that the unprepared witness will make mistakes.   These statements are almost always tape-recorded and can be used against the person in court.

I was hurt in a head-on automobile accident.  The driver that crossed the centerline and hit me died in the wreck.   Do I have legal rights against him even if he is dead?

Yes.   Although you can’t sue someone who is dead, you can sue his estate.   If an estate is not opened for him, you (through your lawyer) can petition the court to have an estate opened so that you can sue it and collect the monies you are entitled to recover.

The fact that the person who hit you died does not relieve his insurance company of the obligation to defend the case and pay the monies to you that you are entitled to receive under the law (up to the liability insurance policy limits).  To the extent that the value of your case exceeds the amount of insurance available, you will also have a claim against the assets of the deceased driver.