I appreciate the help, now this brings up more questions. Let me give you some facts of the accident and maybe someone can give me an idea of where we go from here. Daughter was driving on interstate, tractor pulled out onto road to cross bridge so he could cut the grass on the other side of the river. He had to get onto the highway but legally he should have waited till it was clear and also should have placed warning barriers to alert traffic. He did none of the safety procedures and therefore, my daughter (21), in spite of swerving and almost hitting a car in the right lane, and slamming on her brakes , she still ended up hitting the tractor on the right rear corner which threw her car into a spin that sent her into the concrete abuttment on the opposite side of the interstate, twice, totaling her car. Minor damage to the tractor, driver showed no sign of injuries and the accident report indicates this. It also states he failed to yeild to traffic and that my daughter had no contributing actions to the accident. Our insurance did pay the book value for the car but after a month of no car for her, we had to breakdown and purchase another since she is away at college and had to have transportation. This cost us an extra $5000 or more and the totaled car was only a 1999 model. We purchased the same car but a 2000 model. She had minor scrapes from the seatbelt shoulder strap and airbag, and large bruises on her wrist and leg and her knee and wrist were sore for a few months. She never saw a doctor at the time because she didn't think she was hurt bad enough and it never occured to us at the time to force her to go. I regret that now that the driver is trying to sue us for his non-existent injuries and she actually still complains with aches and pains now. She has photos of her bruises, etc.. and we have photos of the car. Now after all this, my question, does it sound like we would at least be able to recoup our loss for the purchase of the new car (just what the insurance didn't cover) and is she entitled to pain and suffering even though we incurred no medical bills at the time? Also if we did sue, do we do it on her behalf or in our names since the car was registered to us and we incurred the loss. She is 21, but fulltime student and still considered a dependent. Our insurance company has given us the go ahead to go after anything not covered by our policy as long as we make sure it doesn't interfere with their trying to recoup their loss. Should we wait till they are settled. We are in Tennessee and we have 3 years to deal with this and the accident was just May 30, any ideas and opinions will be welcomed. Thank you.
[This message has been edited by Dustymom (edited October 01, 2000).]
Oh well, anyway, we don't expect to have any more trouble now that everyone who is involved is aware of the accident report and his negligence. thank you for your help.