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Parked Motorcycle hit by a cab in NYC - Can I sue?

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kevkersey

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? - New York State

I own a motorcycle that was parked on the street. It was covered and locked. Sunday morning, two cabs hit each other at our intersection. One of them hit my bike, smashing it into another car. My insurance company has said the bike is totalled, and is in the process of determining the value to reimburse me.

Now for my question. I still owe some money on the loan for the bike. The insurance company said that once they determine the replacement value, they will pay off the loan, then give me the rest. While the remainder of the money may be enough for a new down payment, it will not really be a replacement for what I have already paid. I was wondering if there were some way I could sue the cab company for the amount of money I still owed on the loan, as it was their fault that the bike was totalled, and I am now out that money.

I have a friend who said he did something similar through small claims court (had to be less than $5,000), but wanted to get some more legal advice to determine if this is even possible.

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA

Kevin
 


You Are Guilty

Senior Member
kevkersey said:
What is the name of your state? - New York State

I own a motorcycle that was parked on the street. It was covered and locked. Sunday morning, two cabs hit each other at our intersection. One of them hit my bike, smashing it into another car. My insurance company has said the bike is totalled, and is in the process of determining the value to reimburse me.

Now for my question. I still owe some money on the loan for the bike. The insurance company said that once they determine the replacement value, they will pay off the loan, then give me the rest. While the remainder of the money may be enough for a new down payment, it will not really be a replacement for what I have already paid. I was wondering if there were some way I could sue the cab company for the amount of money I still owed on the loan, as it was their fault that the bike was totalled, and I am now out that money.

I have a friend who said he did something similar through small claims court (had to be less than $5,000), but wanted to get some more legal advice to determine if this is even possible.

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA

Kevin

I take it you didn't have gap insurance? (Some people have it but are unaware of that fact - speak to your agent to make sure).

If not, you can sue in small claims if the amount is $5k or under. You'll be wanting to sue both the 2 cab drivers as well as the owners and lessors (if there are any. Some of those yahoos actually drive their own cabs. Rare, but it happens). If you have the medallion numbers (from the police report), you can track all that down through the TLC (http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/home/home.shtml).
 

kevkersey

Junior Member
"I take it you didn't have gap insurance? (Some people have it but are unaware of that fact - speak to your agent to make sure)."

I'm not sure if I have gap insurance or not. I placed a call to my ins company to find out, but they are gone for the day. Hopefully I'll hear from them in a day or so.

"If not, you can sue in small claims if the amount is $5k or under. You'll be wanting to sue both the 2 cab drivers as well as the owners and lessors (if there are any."

Are you saying I can sue each of the drivers for $5000 (total of $10,000)? Or are you suggesting something else?

"Some of those yahoos actually drive their own cabs. Rare, but it happens). If you have the medallion numbers (from the police report), you can track all that down through the TLC"

I have a copy of the Police Accident report (and a lot of pictures of the accident scene) that shows the fault of the accident belongs to the cab that hit my bike, so I will most likely go after him. Does it matter if he owns his own cab or not?

Concerning small claims court, the amount I owe is over $5000 (actually it is about $5,050 as of a few days ago). Can I still go to Small Claims Court? Knowing I will only get 5K max?

Thanks for you help with this.

Kevin
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
kevkersey said:
I'm not sure if I have gap insurance or not. I placed a call to my ins company to find out, but they are gone for the day. Hopefully I'll hear from them in a day or so.
Good. If you do, you can ignore the rest of this post.

Are you saying I can sue each of the drivers for $5000 (total of $10,000)? Or are you suggesting something else?
You can only sue for $5000 total, no matter how many people you sue. So you name each party as a defendant, request the full $5000, and let the court & defendants worry about who actually pays it.

I have a copy of the Police Accident report (and a lot of pictures of the accident scene) that shows the fault of the accident belongs to the cab that hit my bike, so I will most likely go after him. Does it matter if he owns his own cab or not?
You bet. Although cabs are required to have enough insurance to cover a $5,000 claim, the more defendants there are in your case, the more people available to pay a judgment, and hence, the less each has to pay individually, which means it's easier to coerce a settlement.

Plus, the owner, operator and lessor of the cab are all potentially liable. Both cabs are important for two reasons: 1- but for the accident, your bike wouldn't have been damages, and that took two cabs to do, and 2- you'll need both cab drivers' testimony to make your case in court. Easier to have them requried to appear as defendants rather than have to chase them down with subpoenas as witnesses.

Concerning small claims court, the amount I owe is over $5000 (actually it is about $5,050 as of a few days ago). Can I still go to Small Claims Court? Knowing I will only get 5K max?
Well, that's your call. Assuming you won the full $5k, you'd be eating the "missing" $50, plus the court filing fees (should be ~$30), plus your time to handle it. Your only other option is to pay a lawyer to do it for you, since none will take a small claims case on contingency. I suspect that will cost you significantly more than $80.


Thanks for you help with this.
Welcome. Here's the small claims court info: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/nyc/smallclaims/index.shtml



Kevin[/QUOTE]
 

kevkersey

Junior Member
You Are Guilty said:
Good. If you do, you can ignore the rest of this post.
Well, I heard back from my insurance company. It turns out that the gap insurance is part of the loan, not part of my motorcycle insurance. I just looked at the loan paper work and it turns out I do NOT have gap insurance. It is certainly something that I will think of in the future though. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

You Are Guilty said:
You can only sue for $5000 total, no matter how many people you sue. So you name each party as a defendant, request the full $5000, and let the court & defendants worry about who actually pays it.

You bet. Although cabs are required to have enough insurance to cover a $5,000 claim, the more defendants there are in your case, the more people available to pay a judgment, and hence, the less each has to pay individually, which means it's easier to coerce a settlement.

Plus, the owner, operator and lessor of the cab are all potentially liable. Both cabs are important for two reasons: 1- but for the accident, your bike wouldn't have been damages, and that took two cabs to do, and 2- you'll need both cab drivers' testimony to make your case in court. Easier to have them requried to appear as defendants rather than have to chase them down with subpoenas as witnesses.
Thanks. I wouldn't have thought about naming mulitple defendants.

You Are Guilty said:
Well, that's your call. Assuming you won the full $5k, you'd be eating the "missing" $50, plus the court filing fees (should be ~$30), plus your time to handle it. Your only other option is to pay a lawyer to do it for you, since none will take a small claims case on contingency. I suspect that will cost you significantly more than $80.
I think I'll just go for the $5000. I don't need to spend more money for a lawyer.

You Are Guilty said:
Thank you again for your advice and the links to the web sites.
 

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