Advice Please

[ZeeCee1234]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

Hi, about two weeks ago I was driving with my friend. We hit heavy traffic which started moving again, I turned away for a second and next thing I know there's more traffic up ahead and I rear end the car in front of me. I know I'm at fault. The person I rear ended has only claimed the damage to the car for now from my insurance. The problem is my friend had her foot up on the dashboard and her foot went into the windshield. She was brought to the hospital and left the same day and was found to have two small fractures on her foot. From what I understand she's being covered through no fault from her own insurance because my insurance said that it can't since it didn't happen in NY state. She also was about to start a two month summer job that would have paid her $2,000 and couldn't because of her foot. Her foot is healing well so far but her doctor told her she should sue my insurance company. She told them she didn't want to sue me or my family and they told her that she wouldn't be as long as she told her lawyer that she doesn't want to go to court. The insurance policy is under my father and my parents are very upset about where this is going. I'm extremely upset but at the same time, since the accident was my fault, I feel bad and know that she has a right to be careful with her injury. Could this turn ugly? Should she wait and see how her foot heels before thinking about doing anything? Could this go on to involve my family and I or is it something where we should just let the insurance company take care of?

[ecmst12]

Was this in your car? And where did it happen?

[racer72]

her doctor told her she should sue my insurance company.

The insurance company was not negligent, she will lose such a case. If she wants to sue, she will have to sue you and the owner of the vehicle. Your insurance company will defend you up to your policy limits and pay out any judgments up to these limits.

[ZeeCee1234]

Thanks for your replies. She told me today that she wouldn't do it and not to worry but it's good for me to get a better understanding of all this as I was never in a major accident before and neither have my parents. It was my father's car and I was driving. I'm insured under his policy. The accident took place in Connecticut.

[ecmst12]

OK, you have a couple of incorrect statements in your original post.

Her PIP coverage is paying her medical bills because PIP always follows the PERSON, not the vehicle. If she did not HAVE any PIP available, your PIP coverage would *probably* have covered her, since she was a passenger in your vehicle. If she'd been in the OTHER car, your PIP would not provide coverage for her under any circumstances. But it has nothing to do with where the accident happened - it would be the same if it happened in NY.

She has a lawyer now, and that was probably the right thing for her to do since she does have broken bones. But of course that means she doesn't have 100% control over her claim now, her lawyer is in control. Yes, it will probably drag out for years - the statute of limitations for injuries in NY is 3 years and it will likely be close to that before settlement is reached. And her lawyer may decide to file suit, even if he doesn't intend to go to court, because it allows him the ability to do things like find out the policy limits, which he wouldn't be able to otherwise. But it's very unlikely in any case that it will go to court and for something like this, a lawsuit may not even be needed. Most likely it will be between her lawyer and your insurance, and you won't hear anything else about it unless she decides to tell you.

Even if you have minimum coverage, 25k should be enough to compensate her sufficiently for this injury unless there are serious problems with healing. Most likely she will make a full recovery and have no major permanent issues from it, she is young and resilient.