La county dui auto accident

[ghung]

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

Hello Everyone,
I need some input, advice, experience, anything will help!!!

Situation:
I was in a DUI auto accident last year september 2008. I was arrested and spent a night in jail. (VERY VERY STUPID OF ME, NEVER DO IT AGAIN). I already went through my criminal trial and got put on informal probation for three years, DUI schooling and fines. Last month the person I crashed into filed a lawsuit against me on Oct 2009 for $100,000 in both general and punitive damages.

Background on the accident:
I was making a illegal u-turn and a car crashed into me. I was ready to make a u turn so my car was slow. There was no ambulance called, airbag didn't deploy.

My problem:
My Mercury insurance policy covers up to $30,000 for bodily damage and the insurance estimator evaulated the case w/ full payment to plaintiff at $17000(lawsuit for $100000), they told me they are not responsible for punitive damage. I only had liability coverage only, so my policy limit is very minimal. My insurance company got a lawyer for me to defend me, but since they are not responsible for any punitive damage, I was wondering if the lawyer will even represent for me with full faith or leaning towards the insurnace company (conflict of interest). ?? Should I get my own lawyers? What can i do to protect myself from excessive penalty? I'm 25, full time student, very broke right now, almost graduate though. I'm in debt already with no asset, so what can i do now?? I have alot of uncertianties ahead me, any inputs will help. (eg, court process, amount of fine im facing, protecting myself....well anything will help)
Thank You!

Grant

[FlyingRon]

The insurance company is either going to fight the charges or settle. If they settle they can give damages, punitive or otherwise, that you'd have to pay without your agreement. I wouldn't worry too much about conflict of interest.

[ecmst12]

Punitive damages can ONLY be awarded by a judge in court, and even then it's rare; merely being DUI would not likely be enough to get you punitive damages. And if by some very small chance, they WERE to be awarded, they wouldn't be covered by the insurance anyway (otherwise it wouldn't be punishment, if it wasn't coming out of your pocket). But don't worry about punitive damages - it's very unlikely that it will be an issue.

If you have minimum coverage, that's $15k/person, $30k/accident. The MOST likely outcome, given your lack of collectible assets, is that the other party will settle for your policy limits and agree not to pursue you for anything further. It simply doesn't make financial sense for them to spend the money needed to proceed to trial when it's unlikely they would be able to recover anything. And if they settle, there will DEFINITELY be no punitive damages. It really kind of sucks for them, but it's unlikely their case is worth $100k anyway. You were assigned a lawyer because suit was filed, so that's their job is to make sure an answer is filed and your interests are protected. But, most practically speaking, this will probably work out ok for you. You will, of course, have plenty to pay in increased premiums for the next few years, on top of the fines you've already paid.

In the future, when you are allowed to drive again and have another car etc, you should carry higher limits on it. Just because you don't have full coverage (comp/collision for YOUR car) doesn't mean you have to carry the state minimum coverage, which is woefully inadequate in your state (let me tell you how far $5k goes for property damage, not very far at all!). And increasing liability limits is cheaper then you might think. I would say for someone in your situation, $25k for property damage and $25/person $50k/accident for BI should protect you from MOST accidents you're likely to get into. But if you can afford higher, get higher.