Can I be Sued by Insurance Company? Strange Situation..

[Mysocalledlyf]

Okay, Here's the deal...

I was in a fender bender, my fault, I hit someone from the rear...Their rear bumper fell off..I told the guy I would pay for the cost(I really didn't think it was going to be that much, maybe 1 or 2 hundred?..it was an old truck!) And also...I didnt have insurance on my car at the time,(but now I definitely do!) I mean I had insurance, but I "took it off" for a while for financial reasons(mine allows you to reduce the type of coverage). And I didnt have the coveage to cover that! So the guy sends me a bill for a little over 1,000 bucks! he wanted his car fixed right away, and I didnt have that right away! Well he had the coverage on his own insurance and his insurance told him they would pay for it and I was supposed to pay his insurance back...Luckily this came at the time I was filing...and I included that bill in my BK.
However, I got a letter in the mail stating state farm, his insurance, had sent the bill to a law office to collect on it...I responded by faxing them my BK papers...So my question is...can they try to sue me? Is this a situation where it wouldnt be discharged? I mean I really didnt have the money to pay them, but I wasnt sure if they had any legal rights...the guy's car is fixed, but his insurance wants to collect from me.

Thanks!

[StaciMM]

I'm not sure...

I found this, stating what is not subject to discharge:

"Fines and penalties imposed for violating the law, such as traffic tickets and criminal restitution"

I don't know if that would apply to damages. I *think* it is just fines, etc. charged by the authorities, but I can't be sure.

[Minnymouth]

This is a tricky situtation.....
If the accident caused personal injury to someone then it's possible that this is not dischargable in BK.....
If no injuries, and the insurance company had not filed a law suit, and you had disclosed this in your bankruptcy case as a creditor..... then it would all be discharged more than likely...
Even if the insurance company had filed a law suit - this too can be dissolved by the bk court.....
Personal injury suits are handled entirely different in bankruptcy....

Minny

[bkfiler]

questions i would be interested in would be:

if we didnt have any insurance at all and we hit someone would that be criminal and not dischargable?

without any insurance would the car debt be dischargable but not any bodily injury debt as a result?

with full coverage insurance would molst likey the insurance would pay for most but in cases of a death then not likley covered high enough so can that be discharged?

then apply a these questions to a accident where it was a DUI and then not a DUI and it gets trickier. DUI related cases under BK are talked about but not sure of the laws.

[StaciMM]

Not really on topic, but here is my no insurance story. Looking back, I admit it is sort of funny...

A while back my insurance lapsed briefly for nonpayment. On a bad weather/snowy night, I went in to work at my part time job-delivering newspapers. By the time I left for my route, the streets were covered w/ a thin layer. I had bad tires, didn't have the $ to replace them. About a 1/4 mile up the road I decided it wasn't gonna work, so I turned around to head back to the branch. On the way back, I skidded into a parked police car. There was no fault assigned, it was clearly a weather issue. This was before GA had a system to check insurance by commputer instantly. He took my info, I went on my way. There was some damage to the police car, but it didn't seem like much to me.

Once they figured out I had no insurance, I had to go in and sign a citation and was advised I had 3 months or so to pay for the damages. My citation could not be resolved if I didn't pay up. In the end that lack of insurance cost me $2000 or so. Some of that was for replacing the door, and re-doing the police decals. Part of it was the fine for no insurance-which isn't cheap! By the time I had to pay it, I had gotten my worker's comp settlement so was able to pay and didn't lose my license, or anything. If I hadn't been able to come up with it all, I would have been on probation. ON top of paying the fine & damages, would have had to pay a probation fee monthly.

So the moral of the story: keep your car insured, and don't collide with police cars!

[bkfiler]

2 kids, a side job and bk posting! nice work. you are quite the catch, if you cook that is?

that story made me laugh when i read you slammed into a police car! lol

regarding insurance, absoloutley have all insurance you can. and escpecially after you file a bk. you are on the hook for everything because it cant be bk'ed until 8 more years.

health insurance is 'cheap' if you get the kind that limits your total yearly max cost to 5-8K. you have to try to make sure you are not going to get slammed with a heart operation or the like after bk so this would cover you and could eventually pay of it needed to.

car insruance is a must, it only costs a bit more to cover your for uninsured moterist too so consider that if you cant afford full coverage. imo drive a cheaper car so you dont really need full coverage if you cant afford it.

life insurance, renters insurance and home insurance too. we all have to plan to stay out of debt and not have to get back into a bk.

[StaciMM]

I thought you'd like the police car/snow story BKfiler!

I actually have 3 kids! (A son who is 7 completes the deal.)

At that time, I was working full time (9-6 Mon-Fri) and part time at the paper (daily from about 2:00 am to 6 am). We were wanting to buy a house, and needed all the income to be on me 'cause DH had 2 judgements-from '97 and '00. I understood that for the PT job to count, I had to be there for 2 years. Working so much was what led to my car accident in 01/03. (Lack of sleep, I fell asleep at the wheel...)

At one point, when I first started the PT job, in addition to working I was enrolled at University of Phoenix online working on my accounting degree. I maintained a perfect GPA, too. For icing on the cake, I was pregnant with my youngest DD at the time as well. I only missed 2 days of work at the pt job, one when I broke my toe and another I asked off for our anniversary. And it was a 7 day a week job! Looking back, I don't know HOW I did that. It did ultimately get to me-I didn't sign up for the next year of classes.

But I rarely cook...

[QUOTE=bkfiler]2 kids, a side job and bk posting! nice work. you are quite the catch, if you cook that is?

[\QUOTE]

[Mysocalledlyf]

Thanks for all the replies...I actually did get a ticket and was charged with folliowing too closely which resulted in a $80 fine with the court(court fee, and the actual ticket)..that was it, the judge didnt question insurance coverage at all. There was no bodily injury..just his back bumper coming off..My car actually had the most damage to my front, which I have yet to fix. So now I just have the problem with the insurance trying to get me for the cost their clients car!
OH Boy..did I learn, yes you have to keep insurance on the car..That was my first accident..and here I am always worried about [I]other[I] drivers. I cant even get my car fixed b/c of that now(or it has to come out of my own pocket)

But I dont think state farm could try to go over the BK and try to get me for not having insurance can they? I kow they're just an insurance company..they actually called my insurance, and mine told them I didnt have the coverage...so that's when they said I had to pay them.

[bkfiler]

broke your toe too? that was besides the 2 legs? good lord. its time you relax and enjoy yourself maybe a bit. you deserve it - besides you only have 6 days you lucky sucker

[StaciMM]

Broke the toe in '01, broke the legs in '03. The toe had healed by then, LOL!

After the car accident in '03, it was about 2 1/2 months or so before I drove again. At that point, my kids were 1, 3, and about to turn 5. My two oldest ones gave me sound advice:

Don't fall alseep.

AND

Don't break the car.

[davids]

Insurance...

Okay, Here's the deal...

I was in a fender bender, my fault, I hit someone from the rear...Their rear bumper fell off..I told the guy I would pay for the cost(I really didn't think it was going to be that much, maybe 1 or 2 hundred?..it was an old truck!) And also...I didnt have insurance on my car at the time,(but now I definitely do!) I mean I had insurance, but I "took it off" for a while for financial reasons(mine allows you to reduce the type of coverage). And I didnt have the coveage to cover that! So the guy sends me a bill for a little over 1,000 bucks! he wanted his car fixed right away, and I didnt have that right away! Well he had the coverage on his own insurance and his insurance told him they would pay for it and I was supposed to pay his insurance back...Luckily this came at the time I was filing...and I included that bill in my BK.
However, I got a letter in the mail stating state farm, his insurance, had sent the bill to a law office to collect on it...I responded by faxing them my BK papers...So my question is...can they try to sue me? Is this a situation where it wouldnt be discharged? I mean I really didnt have the money to pay them, but I wasnt sure if they had any legal rights...the guy's car is fixed, but his insurance wants to collect from me.

Thanks!

is this how insurance works? ive never had an accident that was my fault, but i thought that was what insurance was for, I did not know they actually bill the other party for damages.

I assume if it is listed on BK then they can not do anything, but as the email stated below stated another story, if it is not listed in BK then they may contact for re-payment, but like i said, i never heard of it, or have it happen.

I do know i got hit by a car the other day (his fault) that mirrow knock off and some paint work will cost his insurance about $1,000 and I know my car isnt worth that much, but I would like it the way it was before the accident.

[StaciMM]

Davids-I think the issue is the OP didn't have the coverage at the time of the accident. If you are insured and someone else hits you/at their fault and has no insurance, your insurance will pay. (Assuming you have uninsured motorist coverage.) Your insurance company will, in turn, try to collect from whoever was at fault.