Any lawfags present? Im looking for advice regarding a civil suit...

Any lawfags present? Im looking for advice regarding a civil suit. I caused a car accident a few years ago and im being sued, i'll give more details in the thread if anyone is interested

if its your fault, your fucked

How long ago faggot? And also where did you cause the accident/where are you resided?

Happened in early 2015. The other driver is a 40 year old uncertified electrician claiming permenant disability. He had a back and shoulder surgery. I have 1.25 million in insurance coverage. I live in NY. Am I fucked? Looking to take out a high price life insurance policy and cash in my chips if so.

>Happened in early 2015
When were you sued? The date when it was filed, not the date you were served.

Dont have it in front of me but it was late 2016

Was told by my attorney that the plaintiff's attorney "usually likes to settle." Is this suit worth much more than 1.25 million?

Nigga you have an attorney. Do you have insurance? Your insurance should have provided you with an attorney

They did and I do, just concerned he's not being straight with me. Every time i've been told this would wrap up in a month it wnt on another 3

I stopped phoneposting so here's how it usually goes:
Don't worry about paying out your asshole any amount because your insurance will cover it. If the plaintiff's attorney is ok with settling, your attorney will only be able to offer a maximum of your coverage limit.
If they want to go to trial they can potentially fuck you in the ass with:
medical treatment cost (actual paid, not billed. You'd be surprised at the difference)
lost wages
pain and suffering
property damage
loss of consortium (if spouse or partner is also included in your gangbang)
and, if the attorney is especially thirsty and knows you're loaded: punitive damages (this has to be in the complaint tho)
tl;dr don't worry if plaintiff is agreeable with what your attorney is offering. Nobody wants trial unless it's at least worth mid six digits

Unless you ran over some chink over crypto gains not biz related

You might want to check the Statute of Limitations in your state, that's a long fucking time ago. Why did they only just now come after you? Sounds like if you got an attorney you might be able to get out of this one.

he was sued in 2016, it's in.

How early in 2015? NY only has a three year statute of limitations.

My attorney said this is usually a high 6-fogure settlement and I have 1.25 million in coverage. Mostly just wondering if this is likely to be worth enough more than that to warrant a trial

if your attorney is willing to give 1.25 mil plaintiff will most likely accept it. Plaintiff's attorney will take 33.3% (usually) of that + costs. Trial has its risk and is a lot of work

forgot to add that attorney's fees (usually) go up to 40% if it hits trial

push comes to shove your attorney (hired by your insurance company) settles for your insurance policy limits 1.25mil. More than that plaintiff will need go trial; very unlikely outcome.

if they win a judgment greater than 1.25 mil then insurance pays the limit and you're liable for the difference. fucking good luck charlie at collecting. worst comes to worst you move you declare bankruptcy (but I wouldn't even fucking bother). i know guys in NY with $600k judgments that don't bother with bankruptcy

Why not bother with bankruptcy

collecting against judgments is fucking futile unless the debtor is known to have deep pockets.

buildings in your name? CEO? celebrity .. wham bam thank you mam.

joe fucking shmo? get kekd

worst case they figure out youre a wagecuck and garnish 10% of your paycheck. okay great quit, and get a new job. back to the drawing board for collections.

and god forbid you do somethings as wild as move to another state. forcing the creditor to take additional judicial measures to enforce the judgment in the new jurisdiction.

KEK i assure you lawfags have no time for that bullshit unless the creditor is willing to throw good money chasing the bad.

that why celebrities settle quick and easy out of pockets, that's why insurance settles (they just fuck around with plaintiff to negotiate a lower rate), and that's why OP prolly wont be going to trial.

What do you expect us to do with "I caused a car accident and the Plaintiff had to get back and shoulder surgery"

There are a fuckload of other considerations that you need to take into account
> "I caused an accident"
so you were 100% at fault? I'm not sure about New York law but a lot of states have comparative negligence or joint liability (ie you were 60% at fault, so that is what you pay)

There's also plenty of other legal work your attorney could do
> how injured was the Plaintiff before the accident?
> If he was "uncertified" how much, if any, can he claim for loss wages or other employment related issues (basically if he's not legally an electrician, how the fuck can he recover for lost wages for a job he isn't legally qualified for)


Basically, let your lawyer do the legal analysis and chill the fuck out. If you don't trust your lawyer's opinion then fucking get a new lawyer. Either way, pretty much any attorney is going to be better at this than you so stop worrying so much about it.

If your insurance covers it, then your insurance covers it and your attorney will likely tell you how to proceed.

Again, I don't know specifics of NY law but some of what this guy says is right and some of it might be wrong

> medical treatment cost
yeah, youre probably in it for that

> lost wages
Same, although there may be some legal arguments you can make

> pain and suffering
eh, maybe.

> loss of consortium
probably not, unless the injuries were pretty fucking severe. I'm talking dude will be in a wheelchair the rest of his life severe

> property damage
yeah, youll have to fix his car

> punitive damages
very unlikely

> attorneys fees @40%
Again, I dont know the specifics of NY law but usually it's not a %rate unless the attorney takes the case on a contingency fee, and even then that would come out of the PLAINTIFFS award, not yours. If not though you may be required to pay "reasonable attorney's fees".

really though, the fuck happened?

Stop driving like a retard.

Rolled a stop sign trying to see around a snowbank. Looked left, crept too far into the right lane without looking right, got hammered

1 mil+ sounds pretty fucking high for rolling a stop sign. Unless the dude is severely fucked up let your lawyer do the work and try not to worry so much

If you have insurance, the insurance company's lawyers will handle this. This is why you pay monthly for it.

Hand this off to your insurance agent, and wait for them to contact you when they've settled with the other guy for a fraction of what he's demanding.

>without looking
you're going to prison

>pain and suffering
Always. Even $900 dogbite cases have pain and suffering in them
>loss of consortium
I've seen (not participated, yet) in slip-and-fall cases that awarded for loss of consortium. He literally just injured his hip just enough to make having sex difficult for a few months.
>contingency fee
It's pretty hard, if not impossible, to find a plaintiff-side firm who doesn't do contingency so I assumed this was the case for OP's plaintiff. I brought that up to illustrate how likely OP's plaintiff is to accept the offer because of the inherent effort and risks in trial.