What is the name of your state? Connecticut
I was involved in a collision in front of my apartment last week. It was raining, I was making a left turn into my driveway. There was a driver coming in the opposite direction, without his lights on, and, in my opinion, going faster than the speed limit, and definitely too fast for the conditions. Even though I looked up the road before starting my turn, I didn't see him, either due to the rain, or the fact that he had his lights off (his car was a dark color, and blended into the wet pavement, and other cars parked on the side of the street). I hit my breaks, but it was wet and I couldn't pull out of the turn in time. The cars struck on the driver's side corners. Fault is being laid entirely on my doorstep at this point, despite my protests that there are other factors in play.
Today I've been informed by my insurance company that the personal injury damages being claimed may exceed my policy limit.
A close personal friend of our family is a lawyer in Massachussetts, and we're asking her for a recommendation on a lawyer to contact here in Connecticut. I hope to be doing that tomorrow, and will be speaking with a laywer regarding all final matters.
However it's after business hours right now, and I'm sitting here feeling sick to my stomach at the thought that I could lose everything I have. I don't own a home, or stocks or any large assets. I do however run a small business, a sole proprietorship, and the business has a small bank account in its name with business funds in it. I also have a small personal savings.
Basically, to set my mind at ease until I can talk to a lawyer, I was hoping to find out some preliminary information about my situation.
While I know that full asset protection is now out of the question, as no actual suit has been filed yet, is there ANYTHING that could be done to protect my business assets? If I converted to an LLC right now, would that be considered fraud?
If they sue me, and it's more than I can afford to pay, what then? Am I out on the street? Do I give them all I have and then declare bankruptcy? Or do they do a payment plan, where I just pay things off over time? Can he take just the money in my business, or can he take (own) my business as well (the business itself is not worth anything to anyone but me. I'm an artist, and without me, the business is nothing).
If this goes to court, do I have a leg to stand on arguing for the weather conditions as a contributing factor to the accident, or am I just out of luck? I have pictures of the scene, including showing the 15-20ft that my very large Jeep Grand Cherokee was pushed and spun by the other driver's little Honda. In my opinion, an indication of how fast he would have had to have been going, as I was virtually at a dead stop, with my brakes on. Are these things I can argue to try and limit my liability and limit the claims to medical expenses?
I was involved in a collision in front of my apartment last week. It was raining, I was making a left turn into my driveway. There was a driver coming in the opposite direction, without his lights on, and, in my opinion, going faster than the speed limit, and definitely too fast for the conditions. Even though I looked up the road before starting my turn, I didn't see him, either due to the rain, or the fact that he had his lights off (his car was a dark color, and blended into the wet pavement, and other cars parked on the side of the street). I hit my breaks, but it was wet and I couldn't pull out of the turn in time. The cars struck on the driver's side corners. Fault is being laid entirely on my doorstep at this point, despite my protests that there are other factors in play.
Today I've been informed by my insurance company that the personal injury damages being claimed may exceed my policy limit.
A close personal friend of our family is a lawyer in Massachussetts, and we're asking her for a recommendation on a lawyer to contact here in Connecticut. I hope to be doing that tomorrow, and will be speaking with a laywer regarding all final matters.
However it's after business hours right now, and I'm sitting here feeling sick to my stomach at the thought that I could lose everything I have. I don't own a home, or stocks or any large assets. I do however run a small business, a sole proprietorship, and the business has a small bank account in its name with business funds in it. I also have a small personal savings.
Basically, to set my mind at ease until I can talk to a lawyer, I was hoping to find out some preliminary information about my situation.
While I know that full asset protection is now out of the question, as no actual suit has been filed yet, is there ANYTHING that could be done to protect my business assets? If I converted to an LLC right now, would that be considered fraud?
If they sue me, and it's more than I can afford to pay, what then? Am I out on the street? Do I give them all I have and then declare bankruptcy? Or do they do a payment plan, where I just pay things off over time? Can he take just the money in my business, or can he take (own) my business as well (the business itself is not worth anything to anyone but me. I'm an artist, and without me, the business is nothing).
If this goes to court, do I have a leg to stand on arguing for the weather conditions as a contributing factor to the accident, or am I just out of luck? I have pictures of the scene, including showing the 15-20ft that my very large Jeep Grand Cherokee was pushed and spun by the other driver's little Honda. In my opinion, an indication of how fast he would have had to have been going, as I was virtually at a dead stop, with my brakes on. Are these things I can argue to try and limit my liability and limit the claims to medical expenses?
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