Back in January of this year, some of you may have remembered that I got into an accident on my old Busa @ 9 PM. The wifey and I were riding two up on a continuous north/south 2 way road with a middle island for left turns. Long story short, As we were traveling at 45 MPH (posted 55MPH) I see a Chrysler Crossfire parked on the side of the road but in the middle of an intersection traveling east/west. Her intersection had the STOP sign while my southbound lane was a continuous lane. Law states that she had to yield to traffic b4 proceeding thru the intersection. Anyways, her car is parked on the side of the road just short of the intersection. I guess she was on her cell phone asking for directions or something. As I see this, I've already had covered two fingers on my front brake and my foot covering the rear just in case something happens. Last 90-100ft she decides to u-turn right in front of us and she did it with enough speed that I had no time to emergency swerve. All I could do was slam on both brakes hard to the edge of locked (I think my rear was locked and my fronts were close) and we end up broadsiding her driver side front fender. My wife and I go over highside over the car and my Busa lands on her hood (might have been a good thing since most cagers who are responsible for motorcycle accidents end up running. There was no way she could've gone anywhere with a 500 lbs bike on her hood leaking fluids!!). Paramedics and police where there in a matter of 10 minutes and witnesses to the accident were directing traffic and one off duty paramedic was helping out me and my wife. Get this, the lady who caused the accident is a nurse and she was just getting off of work. She didnt do a damn thing to help us although she claimed to have "taken our vitals and comforted us." B.S. Anyhow, 3 days later I obtained the police report and they determined that she was 100% at fault and the cause of the accident for not yielding right of way.
Fast forward to 6 months, thousands of dollars in damages, medical bills, many delayed medical services, therapy, credit card bills, MRI's, X-rays and 1/2 a year later, her insurance Allstate still haven't disclosed to my attorneys her policy limit. Today was the deadline or we file a lawsuit today. I guess in California, we're supposed to sue the driver and the owner (it was her boyfriends car) for damages, etc. I guess the insurance company will eventually step in with their attorneys as well and try to make a case.
My question to any of you involved with law, courts or who have been in a situation like this is: what's next? What exactly can we sue for? My lawyers are giving them a last chance offer to pay settlement of $100,000. If they don't take it or accept, the policy will still remain an "open policy" which means we can request for a much higher settlement in court. My other question is since it will be a trial by jury, what are our chances for winning? What is the maximum amount we can sue for? Well, that is all for now. I just want this thing to end!! thanx for your help guys and stay safe...
ryan
Fast forward to 6 months, thousands of dollars in damages, medical bills, many delayed medical services, therapy, credit card bills, MRI's, X-rays and 1/2 a year later, her insurance Allstate still haven't disclosed to my attorneys her policy limit. Today was the deadline or we file a lawsuit today. I guess in California, we're supposed to sue the driver and the owner (it was her boyfriends car) for damages, etc. I guess the insurance company will eventually step in with their attorneys as well and try to make a case.
My question to any of you involved with law, courts or who have been in a situation like this is: what's next? What exactly can we sue for? My lawyers are giving them a last chance offer to pay settlement of $100,000. If they don't take it or accept, the policy will still remain an "open policy" which means we can request for a much higher settlement in court. My other question is since it will be a trial by jury, what are our chances for winning? What is the maximum amount we can sue for? Well, that is all for now. I just want this thing to end!! thanx for your help guys and stay safe...
ryan