Filing a complaint with insurance commission?

[Sandie]

Well...the saga continues...

Almost 3 weeks ago I was rear ended by a 17 year old driving mom and dad's car. My car sustained damage to the tune of at least $2500. I bought the car 8 months ago for $4500 and the guy's insurance company first quoted me $1980 and has since come up to $2165 in spite of dealer quotes, newspaper ads and internet information including actual cars for sale as well as Kelley Blue Book and N.A.D.A information indicating my car with the higher than average mileage is worth somewhere between 3,900 and 4,500.

I've spoken to two attorneys. Both are interested in representing me for my personal injury (concussion, whiplash, a few days of lost work, now 3X a week physical therapy which is rapidly improving my range of motion , I'm glad to say) but neither seems to be able to help with the property damage issue.

I have the option of settling with my insurance company for slightly more than what the guy's insurance company is offering ($2650). I also have a clause in policy allowing me to hire an appraiser at my expense. They then hire an appraiser at their expense and if the two are unable to agree on a value for my car a third appraiser is jointly hired and that appraiser's decision is final.

The last attorney I spoke with suggested that I might want to file a complaint with the Oregon Insurance commission. Apparently insurance companies hate this as it reflects poorly on their state rating. In addition to the very low $ being offered for my car, the other guy's insurance adjuster did a few things designed to intimidate me that I want to report.

Anyway, is there ANYTHING else I might do to get the actual market replacement value of my car? Anyone have any suggestions or advice?

Thanks!

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Outside of litigating this portion of your claim in Small Claims Court right now, then contact the Ins. Commission, get a complaint form, explain exactly what you have stated here on this Board, make copies of all of your "proofs" that the car is worth more than what is being offered to you, ask for an investigation, send it all to the Commission, and send an exact duplicate to the insurance adjuster (it might make him squirm, and it might just garner a telephone call back to you with a larger offer).

IAAL

------------------
By reading the “Response” to your question or comment, you agree that: The opinions expressed herein by "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE" are designed to provide educational information only and are not intended to, nor do they, offer legal advice. Opinions expressed to you in this site are not intended to, nor does it, create an attorney-client relationship, nor does it constitute legal advice to any person reviewing such information. No electronic communication with "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE," on its own, will generate an attorney-client relationship, nor will it be considered an attorney-client privileged communication. You further agree that you will obtain your own attorney's advice and counsel for your questions responded to herein by "I AM ALWAYS LIABLE."

 

[Sandie]

I have the forms and I did tell my insurance adjuster that I am planning to file a formal complaint. He didn't seem to be too concerned. Is this really going to make any difference? The other guy's adjuster actually said that Oregon law prohibits him from using blue book or other data or values to decide an amount. Is that true or is he just trying to intimidate me?

Honestly. What do you think my chances of success are with this insurance commission complaint?

Thanks, Sandie

P.S. And HOW would I go about litigating in small claims court?

 

[Attorney_Replogle]

To begin with, I would be interested in knowing why personal injury attorneys in Oregon don't wish to help you with the Property Damage (PD) portion of your claim. Here in California where I practice, I and all other personal injury attorneys that I know always handled that as a added service for the client.

Next, regarding your telling the insurance adjuster of your decision to litigate the matter. Please understand that from his point of view, he probably hears this often from unrepresented (by an attorney) insureds frequently. Further, it is likely that the majority of the unrepresented insureds never follow through on this threat. Thus, your announced decision to him was merely noise.

How can you make your announced decision more than mere noise? By actually following suit in a small claims court. Your question was how to do this, etc. You have to remember that no attorneys are allowed to represent clients in small claims actions. They can advise clients before they go into court though. However, if you win in small claims court, you can't get the losing party to pay your attorney's fees.

Thus, I would say that you should read up on small claims court and how to represent yourself therein. You can start by reading up on it at freeadvice.com/law/560us.htm. Then you can probably buy (for about $15 to $20) a book on this from Nolo Press. You can visit them at www.nolo.com.

I hope this helps you out!

------------------
Mark B. Replogle

 

[Sandie]

I'm not sure why the two attorneys I spoke with aren't interested in the PD part of this potential case. The first attorney was very interested in the PI part but said that it was unlikely that he could get me any more money than I was likely to get on my own for the PD due to his cut of the settlement. (I should note that this attorney came highly recommended and is from a very reputable plaintiff's firm). The second attorney was from a less prestigious firm and seemed to not be overly eager either. He DID recommend filing the insurance commission complaint. He suggested I call and make an appointment with him when my doctor releases me from treatment. He also advised me that if I continue to have the strange but subtle concussion symptoms since the accident that he could give me the name of a neurologist who takes these matters more seriously than some other doctors do.

I called both my insurance adjuster and the one for the other company and informed them that I would be filing a complaint and would be sending copies of the complaint to them. My adjuster said that he would review the material I sent to him again and would go over it with his supervisor to see if there was anything he could do to further help me but that he had never seen a quote be changed before. The other adjuster sighed and said okay...very weird.

I am preparing the material to send to the commission this weekend and will include copies of all correspondence with both companies, their quotes (both very different from each other) and the evidence I collected. I have NO idea if this will make any difference but if it doesn't I don't know what else to do.

I am going to contact one more attorney and see if I can find someone to represent me for the entire case. It would be so nice to not have to deal with any of this so I could concentrate on healing and getting back to normal.

Any attorneys from Oregon out there interested in an evidently smaller kind of case? A car purchased 8 months ago for $4500 and probably worth somewhere between 3500 and 4200 now which they are offering only 2165 or 2650. A personal injury (minor whiplash and concussion) resulting in about 4 days lost work (I'm a school teacher) and so far 3 weeks of physical therapy, inability to participate in normal activities (my Taekwondo classes) and short term memory, concentration problems. Nothing exciting or big but still unfair that I have to go through just because someone wasn't paying attention and ran in to the back of my car.

If you can help my e-mail is [email protected]