Wife hurt in car accident, who gets sued?

ron s

in many states you first need to sue the party at fault. you can not legally file for uninsured motorist if she has insurance. if you do, you insurance company has you for fraud and can refuse all payments, drop you and turn it over to the DA. sister is going to see it hit her in the wallet anyways. deductable and higher insurance rates already. but why are you worrying about sisters money ahead of wifes pain? was involved in wreck in friends car and the first thing they did was to make sure everyone was okay, then told us to sue if we thought there was a chance of us being hurt. do not try to cheat insurance but file to make sure your wife will be covered.

Queen B

her sister is liable for all money and repayment. if she does not carry enough liablity to cover all charges, then you need to contact your agent and see if you can go into your underinsured motorist coverage. if your company pays out anything under it, they WILL go back to her company to subregate payment back to them.

la428282

haha NICE.. suing her sister. How sweet of her.

To answer yoru question.. your wife will sue her sister for policy limits... if her sisters company pays that out... you will then go under your uninsured motorist coverage and get a settlement from that.

Now... keep in mind.. your insurance company will likely then go after her sister to get their money back they paid. They didnt deserve to pay anything out on this.. its your wifes sisters low limits that made them.

Since you are definately going to cause your sister in law very real financial consequences by collecting on this.. i suggest you not be greedy and only take the bare minimum you need.

I cannot believe someone would try to get "pain and suffering' money from their own family! People freaking amaze me!

UM is not just a free coverage- it will affect your sister in law! they will attempt to collect that back form her b/c its her fault!

Pagan Dan

If I were the insurance company, I would be saying that you need, as a condition of their having paid, to pursue a settlement that will cover them.

This is a difficult question, because you can easily appear greedy, and cause a family fight.

YOUR WIFE MAY HAVE PERMANENT DAMAGE THAT WILL AFFECT HER QUALITY OF LIFE (MAYBE IN WAYS THAT WILL NOT SHOW THEMSELVES FOR MANY YEARS).

That is even more important than the pain and suffering. I know that I had a motorcycle accident 15 years ago, and some of the impact of the multiple fractures is just showing up now.

Sorry. My opinion is that you need to pursue your underinsured motorist protection insurance--for your duty to your wife and to keep the insurance company out of your face. They will not leave the decision to sue up to you. If there is money to be had,they will want it.

fighting saints

If you haven't already done so make a under insured motorist (UIM) claim to your own company ASAP. They will work with the sis-in-laws company to get matters worked out.

You do not have the right to determine if your sis-in-law will have to pay anything out-of-pocket. That will be up to your UIM carrier.

Unless your wife has some kind of disability policy she will not get her lost wages paid as they are incurred. They will be included in the final settlement, but they won't be paid before then.

Depending on how much money is available between the sis-in-laws policy and your UIM policy the health insurance company MAY not have the right to get reimbursed if the total coverage does not make your "whole" again. This can vary from state to state.

Good Luck and don't settle with the sis-in-laws company until your UIM carrier has been notified.

lucy

it appears your wife had some serious injuries based on the length of her hospital stay;

as for the health insurance, most likely they have a subrogation clause that states since this was a accident, they would be entitled to be repaid for the amount of their payments and you would owe from any settlement from your sisters insurance company;

you need to call your insurance company asap; they will determine if your sisters insurance is enough and if not, then they will open an underinsured bodily injury claim under your policy; unforturnately, if they pay under your policy, they will do an asset check on your sister to see if she has any assets; if she does, then they may go after her for any payments they make under your policy; even if she does'tn, they still may and try and go after her under a payment plan.

as for lost wages, pain/suffering, you need to talk to your insurance company on what is allowed in your state of AZ; they will be best in guiding you;

that is the reason, we should all carry more than the minimum limits, since all the insurance company can pay is the limits of your policy and if not, then the other person looks to the person responsible and goes after them individually;

the hump

You file on your UIM policy. It is attached to the person, not the car. As far as lost wages etc., you would have to look at your policy and see if that is covered. Also, your health insurer is not entitled to be re-imbursed. They paid because you contracted with them to do so if your wife was injured. Tell them to bite your ***, and use that money on living expenses.

PeppermintandPopcorn

Uninsured will not pay - this only kicks in if someone hits you and has insure or not enough. Your wife was in car who hit someone else...

Depending on the states specifics, you can sue your sister's insurance for liability coverage. If she has medical payments, it would transfer to you. After her insurance is maxed out, then your policy would kick in (if available).

ckcool192000

Since her sister was determine to be at fault, and she was in her sisters car it would either be her, or her insurance company.

tem

If the sister was cited at fault, she would be the only liable party you could sue.

Mildred S

Get off of the internet and ON THE TELEPHONE. You need real attorney opinions , not a bunch of JA's telling you on yahoo.

your wife may be seriously injured 5 days in todays hospital is a lot. look for her to be out of work for more than 12 days.
i know they tell you it will be 12 day s, but if she spent five days there ... she will need more than 12 days. i'd bet on this.

does she have disability insurance at work as a part of her health care coverage ? I would start using your health care coverege at work as a secondary insurance to the automobile insurance that should be primary.

sister should be thinking of cleaning out her checking account and moving her home into someone elses name so you can get what you need . she needs to be broke / if you have to sue her insurance company. SISTER NEEDS TO BE ON THE PHONE TALKING TO AN ATTY TODAY TOO.

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