Statute of Limitations

[jpreti]

What is the name of your state? California I live in the state of California. On November 6, 2001, I was rear-ended in an auto accident. The insurance company made an offer to settle for personal injury and I responded with a couter-offer. I heard nothing from the claims agent even though I sent a letter and left her a voicemail. I then sent another letter via certified mail return receipt requested. I have received the receipt back via the USPS. What I want to know is if this satisfies my having to notifiy the insurance company of my intent to litigate before my right to do so expires one year from the date of the accident?

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? California I live in the state of California. On November 6, 2001, I was rear-ended in an auto accident. The insurance company made an offer to settle for personal injury and I responded with a couter-offer. I heard nothing from the claims agent even though I sent a letter and left her a voicemail. I then sent another letter via certified mail return receipt requested. I have received the receipt back via the USPS. What I want to know is if this satisfies my having to notifiy the insurance company of my intent to litigate before my right to do so expires one year from the date of the accident?

My response:

Your letters to the insurance company do NOTHING to preserve your right to sue their insured. In order to preserve and toll the Statute of Limitations, you MUST file your lawsuit against the person who caused your injuries on or PRIOR to November 6, 2002.

If you fail to file your lawsuit by November 6, 2002, you will be forever barred from suing their insured and receiving any compensation for your personal injuries.

Good luck to you.

IAAL

 

[xavierdoom]

I think what the poster is saying to you is, you have a very very short time left to find a lawyer, have the papers drawn up, have them served on the parties and then after all of that is done to actually file in court...AND have the court accept the filing in less then 2 1/2 weeks.

And Yes the court can reject the papers, for some really stupid reason, and you would have to correct the error by Nov 6th, and refile.

So What should you do? I would consider not going to work this week take sick days vacation days tell your boss its an emergency that you must be on the phone Monday morning interviewing 3 personal injury laywers, you must have all your paperwork in order, your accident reports, you hospital reports, any therepy, all your checks you paid out of pocket, and you should have some CASH available to pay for legal items such as the cost to file the lawsuit which in some states is $175, you will have to pay up front even if a lawyer takes 1/3 of the proceeds.

You have a lot of work to do during the daytime, so unless you work 2nd or 3rd shift and weekends, you dont have any other choice.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

I think what the poster is saying to you is, you have a very very short time left to find a lawyer, have the papers drawn up, have them served on the parties and then after all of that is done to actually file in court...AND have the court accept the filing in less then 2 1/2 weeks.

And Yes the court can reject the papers, for some really stupid reason, and you would have to correct the error by Nov 6th, and refile.

So What should you do? I would consider not going to work this week take sick days vacation days tell your boss its an emergency that you must be on the phone Monday morning interviewing 3 personal injury laywers, you must have all your paperwork in order, your accident reports, you hospital reports, any therepy, all your checks you paid out of pocket, and you should have some CASH available to pay for legal items such as the cost to file the lawsuit which in some states is $175, you will have to pay up front even if a lawyer takes 1/3 of the proceeds.

You have a lot of work to do during the daytime, so unless you work 2nd or 3rd shift and weekends, you dont have any other choice.

=========================================


My response:

Xavierdoom,

You "think" you know what I'm saying?

Please, do yourself a favor and don't "think" - - especially after one of my responses. Now, "I think" you don't know what you're talking about at all.

This part of your response is wrong - -

"I think what the poster is saying to you is, you have a very very short time left to find a lawyer, have the papers drawn up, have them served on the parties and then after all of that is done to actually file in court...AND have the court accept the filing in less then 2 1/2 weeks."

And, this part of your post is wrong - -

"you should have some CASH available to pay for legal items such as the cost to file the lawsuit which in some states is $175, you will have to pay up front . . ."

. . . and the rest is just, plain garbage.

IAAL

 

[jpreti]

This would be the case even if the claims adustor from the insured's ins. co. sent me a settlement offer and my letter was in response to it and included a counter-offer???

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

This would be the case even if the claims adustor from the insured's ins. co. sent me a settlement offer and my letter was in response to it and included a counter-offer???

My response:

Unless the insurance company specifically wrote in their letter, "On behalf of our insured, ___________, and XYZ Insurance company, we hereby waive the appropriate Statute of Limitations", then it wouldn't matter if you are in the midst of negotiations. Your job is to protect and toll that Statute of Limitations.

So, the short answer is, it wouldn't matter - - you must file your lawsuit.

IAAL

 

[JETX]

In addition to IAAL's correct post, you do not understand the claim. You seem to believe (hope?) that the insurance company's response to you has some impact on the SOL (Statute of Limitations) clock which is ticking.

Simply, it doesn't. Any claim that you might make would be against the other driver, not the insurance company and their actions do not reset the SOL clock.

 

[xavierdoom]

My response is:

what if he just picks a lawyer out of the phone book and the lawyer is not on the ball and doesn't make the Nov 6th filing, then what should jpreti do?

I would argue this is no time for jpreti to be going to work and Blindly trusting the lawyer to make the deadline.

IAAL why not explain to us what would happen if jpreti called you at 9 am Monday from work and wanted a free consulation but he couldnt make it until 6:30-7 PM due to the gridlock traffic patterns in driving to your office?

Then explain what needs to be done to file a lawsuit, and what the client needs to have in his possession, and could a junior PI lawyer with say 2-3 years experince be able to file a credible case in 2 weeks?

That would serve us all as a teaching example instead of just saying our answers are crap.

thank you.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

I'm not here to teach you law or procedure - - especially using state law IN THE STATE WHERE I PRACTICE.

You can come up with all sorts of "what if" questions, and they're all crap.

But, I will tell you this - -

If you EVER post a response after one of my responses again, ESPECIALLY A CALIFORNIA QUESTION, that will be the last time you respond on these forums at all.

Your answers are wrong and misleading, and I won't put up with your STUPID, IDIOTIC, CRAP.

IAAL