Re-ended by a drunk driver

What is the name of your state (NY)

Hi

I was re-ended by a drunk driver who fled the scen and then cought up by cops.

Injuries: 1 herniated disc, pluging disc, and shoulder injury.

Property damages: total loss of my car.

His policy limit is more then 500,000.

Would punitive damages will be considered in my case.

Did the insuranse companies asign fault yet? and to whom?

obviously the fault is asign to the drunk driver who re- ended me and tried to flee the scean. Cops arrested the driver and sent him to jail.

Did the insurance companies assign fault yet? And to whom?

Punitive damages are rarely awarded and usually not worth pursuing. You have to go to trial to get them (only a judge can award them) which increases the litigation costs by a lot, and increases the time it will take to complete the case too. Not only that, they would be considered taxable income to you (compensatory damage is not taxable) and the insurance company would not pay them (wouldn't be much of a punishment if they weren't coming out of the driver's pocket) so collecting them even if they were awarded could be a problem. And just the fact that he was drunk isn't enough for them to be awarded anyway.

What did your lawyer say when you asked this question?

Also, what state are you in?

NY....My lawyer advised me based on him being drunk punitive damages is rewarded. From what I have read on line punitive damages are rewarded when some one was acting recklessly knowing the consequences can jeopardise some ones life. In my case he was drunk and tried to run away

Well, I already explained why it's probably not worth it to pursue punitive damages that you might not even ever collect even if they were awarded. It sounds like his insurance is more then sufficient to cover your injuries so why would you want to look further?

because I am left with permenant damages due to this accident and as i get older it will worsen...

And you don't think the "over $500k of coverage" on his policy is enough? Really???

jack153 said:

because I am left with permenant damages due to this accident and as i get older it will worsen...

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As ecmst12 stated, even if you get punitive damages, you might never be able to obtain the money because the defendant does not have any assets of value. Furthermore, you might pay more in legal fees then you will ever collect. You need to discuss with your attorney if the defendant has any assets worth going after, and the cost of going after those assets.

On a side note, I am working with clients that have been damaged in the millions of dollars in a similar situation. In fact, one had to give up their highly lucrative career because of the pain associated from injuries that will last her entire life.The guilty party has nothing to get, and the innocent party lost everything. These situations suck. This is why people need to make sure they have high levels of under-insurance and why we should punish drunk drivers far more severely.

ecmst12 said:

And you don't think the "over $500k of coverage" on his policy is enough? Really???

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We don't know the OP's age or occupation. We don't know what the injury will prevent him from doing in the future or how will it affect his future life style. $500K might not be nearly enough!

Maybe not, it is possible (though less likely, there are not a whole lot of cases worth more then half a mil) but what he'd spend to try to collect more then the policy limits is really not going to be worth it. We also don't know how MUCH more then $500k of coverage he has...could be $600k or $6million.

His policy limit is 1,000,000....
I think those who drink and drive should be punished to the max if they injured an innocent person, in order to teach the others that drinking and driving turns into a deadly weapon and they will be punished for their rackless behavior... and the fact that he tried running away make me mad...

You do realize that he has been punished criminally and probably had to pay some pretty hefty fines on top of his sentence, right?

If you are not completely disabled to the point where you can't work or take care of yourself, I think his policy limits should be plenty sufficient to cover your damages.