Is an insurance company allowed to make you sign a settlement before providing full details?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Is an insurance company allowed to make you sign a settlement before providing full details?
A tractor trailer totalled our car and was at fault.
A police report was filed. The insurance
company of the trucking company refuses to
provide our insurance company or us any
details about the settlement until we sign
saying that we will go with them instead of our
insurance company.
Thanks,
Larry
Asked on July 20, 2018 under Accident Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
They can refuse to provide information without you signing something first--they have no obligation to provide information to non-customers of theirs outside of litigation (a lawsuit). You can refuse to sign and sue their driver if you believe he was at fault (and if your own insurer does not compensate you, since you can't get double compensation for the same damage). In the lawsuit, there are mechanisms called "discovery" to get information from the other side, like written questions ("interrogatories"), document production requests, and depositions, which they would have to respond to. So yes, they can refuse to provid you the information without you siging the agreement, and you can in turn say "no thanks" and sue their driver (and also the owner of the truck, if that's not the same person as the driver; and the driver's employer, if he was working for someone else).
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.