wrong venue and 8 months past statute

[dickerson3262]

I got into an accident on 11/2/99 with one other driver and a parked car. I was at a stop sign in a residential neighborhood. As I looked both ways to proceed into the intersection , I made sure there were no cars at the four way. To my right there was a bend that curved around the street. As I was advancing across to the other side of the street, a car came flying (almost literally) around the bend. I think the speed limit was no more than 35mph. The driver had to be going at least 45mph or better. She saw that I was almost across the street and proceeded to drive faster!. To make a long story short, she smacked the right side of my car in the front. My car hurdled across the street to the left and I ended up on a hill of an apartment complex at the corner. The second car spun around and went down the street that I was headed. It took her about 2 or three houses before she stopped and hit a parked car. When the officer arrived, he stated he could not determine who was at fault because the woman claimed I purposely ran into her. I was sited for a stop sign violation. She was not cited, nor did she prove she had insurance. I had been waiting for my insurance company to send me my paper work for several days so I assumed I would be fine. My insurance co. sent my paperwork to the wrong address, so they faxed me a copy of my insurance. I made sure to take pictures of the accident just in case I had to go to court. The second driver was driving her mom's car and was not insured so the insurance co. of the parked car came after me. My insurance co. claimed they needed to review my coverage. About three weeks later I received a call from my ins. co. saying they could not cover the accident because my ins. had lapsed during the time they received payment. I sent a copy of the pictures and a letter to the ins. co. of the parked car stating that there was no visibale damage from the pictures taken. I asked to be sent a copy of the adjuster's info. I received a call from my ins. co. saying they could not cover the accident because my ins. had lapsed during the time they received payment. I sent a copy of the pictures and a letter to the ins. co. of the parked car stating that there was no visibale damage from the pictures taken. I asked to be sent a copy of the adjuster's info. I received no answer other than to pay. Neeedless to say, the insurance company ended up turning the case over to an attorney. The accident happened in Ohio but they took me to court in Indiana claiming the accident happened there! To top it all off, the statute of limitations caught up with them by 8 months and 17 days over the limitation (they filed March 19, 2002!). Even knowing this information, I don't feel confident that I can get the case resolved without an attorney. I am more than willing to pay the cost of an attorney but so far no one is listening. I'd rather not have a suspension on my record. I there any other way to resolve this other than ruining my good record?

 

[freebird]

What is it that you need resolved at this point? Do you want to go after the other driver for your damages? It sounds like the case against you was dismissed. If not then the remedy to overturn the judgment against you is an order to show cause -- but I don't think that they can enforce the judgment against you until they try to bring an action in your home state. Why did they bring it in Indiana? If this is a case of a fraudulent attempt to collect money from you (99.9% of the time it isn't) then there are remedies including suit and complaint with the state bar against the attorney -- but let us first make sure that your odd suspicion is correct.

The real issue here is when where you notified by your insurance company that you would not be covered? Why is it taking so long to deal with this accident that happened almost 5 years ago? The statute of limitations might bar you as well.

What happened in traffic court regarding your summons? I'm not sure how the officer could have ticketed you if you weren't there. What was the basis for the ticket if he said he could not determine fault based upon the circumstantial evidence?

Perhaps you can make things clearer to understand.

Originally posted by dickerson3262
I got into an accident on 11/2/99 with one other driver and a parked car. I was at a stop sign in a residential neighborhood. As I looked both ways to proceed into the intersection , I made sure there were no cars at the four way. To my right there was a bend that curved around the street. As I was advancing across to the other side of the street, a car came flying (almost literally) around the bend. I think the speed limit was no more than 35mph. The driver had to be going at least 45mph or better. She saw that I was almost across the street and proceeded to drive faster!. To make a long story short, she smacked the right side of my car in the front. My car hurdled across the street to the left and I ended up on a hill of an apartment complex at the corner. The second car spun around and went down the street that I was headed. It took her about 2 or three houses before she stopped and hit a parked car. When the officer arrived, he stated he could not determine who was at fault because the woman claimed I purposely ran into her. I was sited for a stop sign violation. She was not cited, nor did she prove she had insurance. I had been waiting for my insurance company to send me my paper work for several days so I assumed I would be fine. My insurance co. sent my paperwork to the wrong address, so they faxed me a copy of my insurance. I made sure to take pictures of the accident just in case I had to go to court. The second driver was driving her mom's car and was not insured so the insurance co. of the parked car came after me. My insurance co. claimed they needed to review my coverage. About three weeks later I received a call from my ins. co. saying they could not cover the accident because my ins. had lapsed during the time they received payment. I sent a copy of the pictures and a letter to the ins. co. of the parked car stating that there was no visibale damage from the pictures taken. I asked to be sent a copy of the adjuster's info. I received a call from my ins. co. saying they could not cover the accident because my ins. had lapsed during the time they received payment. I sent a copy of the pictures and a letter to the ins. co. of the parked car stating that there was no visibale damage from the pictures taken. I asked to be sent a copy of the adjuster's info. I received no answer other than to pay. Neeedless to say, the insurance company ended up turning the case over to an attorney. The accident happened in Ohio but they took me to court in Indiana claiming the accident happened there! To top it all off, the statute of limitations caught up with them by 8 months and 17 days over the limitation (they filed March 19, 2002!). Even knowing this information, I don't feel confident that I can get the case resolved without an attorney. I am more than willing to pay the cost of an attorney but so far no one is listening. I'd rather not have a suspension on my record. I there any other way to resolve this other than ruining my good record?

 

[lwpat]

It should be a simple matter to file an answer denying liability and requesting dismissal due to the SOL. If you want to do it yourself the clerk of court can provide the forms but cannot give legal advice. Any attorney practicing in that court will be able to help and the clerk can provide a list.