Can an insurance company rightfully go back on their settlement decision even after I recieved the check and they confirmed the conclusion?
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Can an insurance company rightfully go back on their settlement decision even after I recieved the check and they confirmed the conclusion?
Someone backed into my car almost 4 months ago and I recently received a settlement check from the insurance company of the one at fault. Just today, a week after receiving the check, I received a letter from them saying that I will only get a portion of the settlement money because a witness turned up and said I was speeding. They now determined me to be 25 at fault.What can I do to prove I was not
speeding? First of all, I was not speeding. She backed out of a diagonal lot directly in front of a stop sign that I was approaching. I was within several feet of the stop sign when she backed into me. I was slowing down for the stop when she backed into me and hit the rear right side of my car. It was not physically possible for me to be speeding as I was too close to the stop sign. And second, during the course of exchanging information, she apologized and admitted that she was feeling
Asked on August 25, 2017 under Accident Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
*Anything* the other driver's insurance pays you unless you sued their driver and won is voluntary: it is their offer of an amount to settle or resolve the case. You can accept it if you like; or if you feel you are owed more, reject the offer (do not cash the check; return it, and send it back some way you can prove delivery) and sue the other driver. In the lawsuit, if you can prove that the other driver was wholly at fault and you were not, you could recover your full repair costs or other losses. In the lawsuit, you will have the chance to see and challenge their evidence and witness (and present your own evidence and witnesses), but cannot get that information or documentation without suing. Therefore, without first seeing their evidence, you need to decide if the extra money you seek is worth time, cost, and effort of a lawuit; if it is, then reject the offer and sue the other driver. Otherwise, if it's not worth a lawsuit, accept the offer.
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