If I caused an accident and my insurer paid out the maximum for an injury, can I still be sued personally?

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If I caused an accident and my insurer paid out the maximum for an injury, can I still be sued personally?

I was in a car accident with a city bus. I accidentally side swiped a city bus in my car. We were doing about 20 miles per hour. There was no damage whatsoever to the bus. My car did sustain some damage but was drivable. I asked everyone on the bus if they were injured but everyone was OK. The bus driver and the security guard stood with me on the sidewalk for up to 30-45 minutes until the police came. They made a report the the investigator from the bus company made a report. The bus driver now claims back injury and my insurance settled for my maximum. Can I be personally sued? She drove away from this.

Asked on July 22, 2011 Alabama

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 12 years ago | Contributor

There are two different issues here:

1) Can you be sued after your insurer has already paid out the policy limit? Yes. Insurance does NOT limit what you can be sued for; rather, it provides a way to pay claims against you (up to the limit). So say someone has a legitimate claim for $1 million against you (e.g. you paralyzed a doctor, so she has big medical costs and lost wages to sue for). If your insurance is up to $100k, then you could potentially for sued for $900k--the insurance pays the first $100k, but that doesn't prevent the plaintiff from suing for the rest o fher claim.

2) Can this woman establish or prove that she is entitled to more than what she's already received from the insurance? That depends on the facts--can she prove her injuries? How bad are they? Etc. If she does sue, you need to retain a lawyer to defend yourself, part of which defense will be trying to undercut her injury claims.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.

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