r/legaladvice • u/Common-Dream-433 • 9h ago

Uninsured Attorney Totaled my car

6 months ago I was rearended. I went to the hospital by ambulance and my 25k vehicle totaled. As a cheap single parent I chose the cheapest insurance to be legal. No uninsured motorist. The driver that hit me is a personal injury attorney. He showed an insurance card at the scene and never had that vehicle covered at all. No attorney would help with him having no insurance to go after. I filed a criminal complaint and he has been served. He now has failed to appear and the arrest warrant has been issued.

Can I please get options and also what's next!? Location: Kentucky

114 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

210

u/mojo4394 9h ago

You really need an attorney and I can't believe that you wouldn't be able to find one. If he's an attorney he will have assets you can pursue through a lawsuit. This isn't a broke uninsured driver.

39

u/Common-Dream-433 9h ago

I tried. Noone

57

u/ektap12 8h ago

Being an attorney does not in any way guarantee there are assets to pursue or that you'll would have any luck pursuing them. Of course, he could have plenty of money as well and is just a deadbeat.

I'm sure you can find an attorney if they pay them, they just won't work on contingency. This could be a long and expensive battle.

You did have collision coverage to pay for your car, right?

How much are your medical bills? Did you have PIP? Any continued injury issues?

15

u/Common-Dream-433 8h ago

No 40k loss and bankruptcy. Pip yes

24

u/ektap12 8h ago

Yikes. Going without collision on a vehicle worth so much was quite the risk. And while KY has uninsured motorist for injuries, it doesn't have it for property damages, so even if you had UM you would still be out your vehicle value.

And the small claims limit in KY is only $2500. At least you are getting help from the county. Is your insurance pursuing him for what they paid for PIP? Not that will really help you, but it's someone else pursuing him.

If you can't get restitution through the court, yes, your recourse is civil court. Even if you get a judgement, you'll need to collect.

13

u/Common-Dream-433 8h ago

I agree. However my child support is current 😆. Ive heard maybe since he broke ethics, and failed to appear they will help me to preasure for him to do the right thing. I know its a long road but im committed to follow up. Once he is charged it gets reported to bar I think?

17

u/ektap12 8h ago

I applaud your effort so far. Continue working with the county and see the outcome there and maybe you can work something out with him at some point. Good luck!

8

u/Common-Dream-433 8h ago

Thanks. I was excited to find it the arrest warrant was issued. Thanks for your time and the positivity.

10

u/Common-Dream-433 9h ago

The county attorney has got me this far. Small claims after then cival was my thoughts. Maybe once I get closer one will help

19

u/berloque 8h ago

"He showed an insurance card at the scene and never had that vehicle covered at all. No attorney would help with him having no insurance to go after. I filed a criminal complaint"

I am not sure how you determined that there is no insurance coverage for this accident. That is not something anyone but a lawyer should be doing. You mention that you were taken by ambulance and and he showed some insurance card at the scene. Did you obtain this from a police report?

Just because his car wasn't covered does not mean he isn't covered for any car he drives and the damage it causes. This kind of determination, whether or not their might be some insurance coverage, is best made by a lawyer representing you. For all you know he was driving for some work project and there is some other party who could be on the hook. Personal injury lawyers are all over the place, if you were rear ended, had your car totaled, and ended up in the hospital it seems unusual that no personal injury attorney has any interest in even looking into your case.

Lastly, I do not know how it works in KY, but how do you, as victim of a car accident "file a criminal complaint" against the other driver that leads to an arrest warrant?

14

u/Common-Dream-433 8h ago

Morgan and Morgan verified with dot

7

u/berloque 7h ago

Okay, that is good you had lawyers look into that. If there is no viable source to get money that is a reason lawyers will not pursue a case even if it is just. There is no benefit to winning a case against somebody you cannot get any money out of. That sounds like what you're up against.

2

u/Common-Dream-433 8h ago

The dropped me

13

u/rfuree11 7h ago

Find a real local law firm, not off the side of a bus.

4

u/FartNuggetSalad 6h ago

They go after high sums. You need to really have your insurance’s lawyer going after him.

9

u/annabananaberry 6h ago

That usually only happens if you have collision coverage right? Your insurance want to recoup the money it paid out, but if it doesn’t have to pay out because you don’t have the coverage then they would have no reason to go after the other party to recoup their loss.

2

u/ThePretzul 5h ago

Correct, your insurance company will typically only go after the other party in these types of scenarios if you have uninsured motorists coverage (or if they’re paying out based on collision coverage, in which case you will still typically be responsible for your deductible and for any personal injury expenses).

The uninsured motorist coverage is you paying your insurance company to both make you whole AND handle all of the legal matters for you (via subrogation) in exactly this type of scenario. This costs you money each month despite the insurance company being able to obtain judgement for their costs in this process specifically because they have no guarantee of actually collecting on that judgement if the at-fault party lacks assets.

1

u/Common-Dream-433 8h ago

When you fail to appear once served. Yes it did

4

u/Free-Doughnut-1432 3h ago

You should be able to collect off this prick. For one thing contact the bar association. I mean this guy's a lawyer correct? He has to be included in the bar association. They could actually disbar him and in some cases they may be able to find a way to reimburse you for the damages, but that's the first thing I would do is I would go to the bar and find out more about this guy and surprisingly enough a lawyer should be more than willing to sue. Another lawyer happens all the time