Being Sued for Injury of Another Driver

[Aesculap]

I was involved in a fender bender about 2 yrs ago. I was in the right hand lane of a one way, and the SUV in the lane to the left needed to make a right, asking if I could back up to let him in. I obliged; I looked behind me, backed up, and promptly a cab rear ended me as I completed backing up. A sheriff happened to be nearby and handled the accident. I was cited for "improper backing".

I received a call from my auto insurance co a few months later that the cab driver was claiming injury, and they asked me to bring the car to a surveyor to inspect and take photos. There was no noticeable damage to my vehicle, which they remarked about.

The claims rep that I spoke w/ since the summons said the driver asked for around 65K, to which my insurance offered $500. Naturally they declined and there was no settlement. The claim rep said she wasn't surprised to hear that they were suing.

My question- with no visible damage to my car, and according to my insurance co the cab was not damaged enough to merit the injury he was claiming, what is the level of concern here?

My liability covers 25K.

Do I need to contact an attorney right away? I faxed the summons to the auto insurance co, they are reviewing it right now.

Is there any opinion out there based on the above information how concerned I need to be?

The plaintiff is claiming cervical strain, lumbar sprain, and muscle spasms. the losses are pain/suffering, lost past and potential future earnings, permanency of injury, legal and other out of pocket fees. (I guess this is all standard legal speak on these summons?????)

Thanks to anyone who can help out a newbie to all this.

 

[PILawGirl]

Your auto insurance will assign one of their in-house counsel to your case to help you.

 

[jamrhein]

As you've described the accident, according to Massachusetts Law, of which is where I'm from, the accident would not have been determined to be your fault. According to our laws, a rear-end collision is always the person who hits the other person's rear bumper, as you are supposed to be in control of your vehicle at all times, and obviously the driver did not apply his brakes in time similar in manner as if he approached a vehicle stopped in traffic. The only exception to this rule, is if a vehicle pulls onto a public way, and therefore in this situation, the vehicle entering the public way to which the other vehicle was already travelling without using caution by leaving the vehicle enough time to react to the newly entering vehicle, of which wouldn't exist in your case, as you were not pulling onto a main road, but were already on the main road, a highway.
These at fault accident rules are found in the Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR), and similarly you should lookup such at-fault regulations for your state at your local library or local law library, and hence would probably be similarly referred to as the Code of California Regulations or CCR.
Your insurance company should be working hard on your side, since they're the ones that would have to pay up to $25,000 and thus they stand to lose considerably if they don't properly investigate a fraudulent claim, of which is red-flagged when there is no vehicle damage indicating there was not an impact great enough to cause an injury.
Although there are incompetent or easily persuadable workers working for insurance companies as well.
You really shouldn't need a lawyer as your insurance company has their lawyers working to disprove their claim already, and you shouldn't need one unless the other party tries to sue you for damages above the $25,000 which your insurance doesn't cover. You won't know until they sucessfully sue and are awarded the maximum $25,000.
If they sue for less than $25,000 then you won't be liable for any forthcoming personal civil suit against yourself for any furthur money.
If for some reason they sue your insurance however, you can appeal the decision, so as not to incur a insurance surcharge, which would increase your insurance premiums, and the amount of surcharge is proportional to the extent of damages, and a major accident which incurs a large insurance payout, also incurs the highest insurance rate increase, so you may want to obtain a lawyer for this reason alone, for your appeal, if they award a large insurance payout with a hefty surcharge.