Q: Insurance company for the at fault party is refusing to pay for damages resulting in their insured being at fault.
My company’s utility trailer,that is essential to operate my business, was totaled by garbage truck. It was a hit and run. It’s been nearly a year and the at faults insurance is refusing to pay anything but a small fraction of the money my business is out. They refuse to show any paperwork for their estimated value of trailer and only 2 weeks of rental fees when by their own admission it was more than 30 days after they inspected trailer. It’s been nearly a year and I’m still leasing trailer weekly because I use it daily to run my business. I sent demand letter asking only for leasing fees to be paid until they had offered a tiny settlement 8 no after accident. They refuse to budge and I’m now out of pocket thousands and still no equipment. The insured had lost zero income and their property had no damage so I’m asking how is this legal?? Through no fault of my own my business has incurred huge costs as a result of this hit and run and now with loss of revenue I’m going broke.
A: If you were in a motor vehicle collision and the other insurance company is offering to pay less than the damages, then it may be time to retain an attorney and pursue legal action for the damages. The Court will generally order the party to pay reasonably related damages. The party not at fault also has some responsibility to act reasonably to mitigate damages. For example, if a trailer was damaged and the cost to repair or replace the trailer was $10k, then Court might order $10k in damages. This might be true even if the owner actually spent $20k on renting a trailer instead of purchasing new. I'm not saying that is what is happening in your case but just an illustration as to how the Court might look at deciding the amount of damages in a case when the parties can't agree on what amount is fair.
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