What to do if a friend of mine got into a wreck outside of her home state?
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What to do if a friend of mine got into a wreck outside of her home state?
She was rearended. She was not at fault and the person driving the vehicle that hit her got a ticket for driving too closely. The problem is, after the accident the person driving the vehicle at fault went to the emergency room and then proceeded to file a claim on my friend’s insurance stating that my friend hit her. What can my friend do? She didn’t go to the emergency room because she wasn’t experiencing problem right away. But now she’s having trouble sleeping.
Asked on July 12, 2013 under Accident Law, Mississippi
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 10 years ago | Contributor
1) Since your friend has insurance, the insurer should handle the defense and pay any legitimate claims, at least up to the limits of your friend's policy.
2) If your friend suffered any personal injury (e.g. concussion; whiplash) or property damage (e.g. car damage) or other costs (e.g. towing; lost wages from missing work) which has not been paid by her own insurer, she can sue the other driver for that money. Because he's in a different state, she cannot use small claims court; it will have to be regular district or county court.
3) If your friend's trouble sleeping is due to the stress from a claim being submitted, there is no recovery or compensation for that--the law does not provide compensation for the stress of being sued, etc. But again, if she suffered some injury from the accident, she could sue over that.
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