On one of my credit reports, which I had not seen before, it is showing a civil judgment against me. I have to assume its from a car accident where I was at fault at age 17 in September 2003. It names an insurance company and is dated November 2005.
It was a small accident. I was behind them, we had both just made a right turn and when they immediately started to break to turn left into a gas station, I noticed too late and even though I had already started hitting my breaks, I crashed into the back of their car. They had a huge Cadillac or something and I had a little Chevy Cavalier so the hood of my car went under theirs and it smashed my hood in but they didn't have a scratch on their car. After the accident, my insurance company investigated but didn't find their claims, whatever they were, to be valid so they refused to pay the money they were demanding.
About a year or so after the accident, I was served with a lawsuit filed by the couple I had hit. I gave it to my mom, not having any clue what to do, and she just told me to ignore it and let the insurance company handle it.
I don't know what to do now. Obviously, me not showing up automatically entered a guilty plea in for me or something and I'm trying to figure out if this can be reversed or not.
It just doesn't seem right to me. Isn't this what insurance is for? If the insurance company refused to pay for their claims, how can I be found liable? What is the point of having and paying insurance then?
I'm just totally confused and really at a loss of how to go about this whatsoever. I don't even know if this is the right forum to be posting this in....So any advice or comments would REALLY be appreciated! Thanks!
Heather
It was a small accident. I was behind them, we had both just made a right turn and when they immediately started to break to turn left into a gas station, I noticed too late and even though I had already started hitting my breaks, I crashed into the back of their car. They had a huge Cadillac or something and I had a little Chevy Cavalier so the hood of my car went under theirs and it smashed my hood in but they didn't have a scratch on their car. After the accident, my insurance company investigated but didn't find their claims, whatever they were, to be valid so they refused to pay the money they were demanding.
About a year or so after the accident, I was served with a lawsuit filed by the couple I had hit. I gave it to my mom, not having any clue what to do, and she just told me to ignore it and let the insurance company handle it.
I don't know what to do now. Obviously, me not showing up automatically entered a guilty plea in for me or something and I'm trying to figure out if this can be reversed or not.
It just doesn't seem right to me. Isn't this what insurance is for? If the insurance company refused to pay for their claims, how can I be found liable? What is the point of having and paying insurance then?
I'm just totally confused and really at a loss of how to go about this whatsoever. I don't even know if this is the right forum to be posting this in....So any advice or comments would REALLY be appreciated! Thanks!
Heather