Attorney Doug Goyen is a Dallas car accident lawyer. He has represented people injured in car accident injury cases since 1997. The Law Office of Doug Goyen takes pride in providing top legal representation for his clients. When people have an car accident and run into a quarrel with the other driver ’ mho liability insurance company, they frequently want to know about suing car indebtedness insurers. It ’ s a coarse doubt when people call for avail with a title against a indebtedness indemnity ship’s company. margin call For A Free Case Review ( 972 ) 599-4100 CAN YOU SUE LIABILITY INSURERS DIRECTLY IN TEXAS? unfortunately, you can not typically sue the liability indemnity party immediately in Texas. Texas is not a “ direct action ” department of state when it comes to trying to settle or enforce your title against a liability insurance company. Texas law requires you to do the song and dance of suing the other driver first ( the person who caused the accident and injury ), and then once you get the judgment you can then go about collecting against liability insurers, or if needed, suing car indebtedness insurers to satisfy the judgment. This inefficiently creates the possibility of two lawsuits alternatively of one – one against the early driver to prove liability and damages, then another after getting the judgment to prove the policy company owes the judgment based on their contractual relationship with the driver who caused the accident. car accident injuries can lead to multiple types of lawsuits. Each casing is different so the character of lawsuit that must be filed depends on the circumstances and what type of liability indemnity is involved in the case.
Reading: How to Sue the Insurance Company in Texas | Dallas Car Accident Lawyer Law Office of Doug Goyen
The follow is a list of common scenarios where who you sue may be different. This list is not exhaustive, there are other scenarios as well, but these are common :
- The other driver is the owner of the vehicle that caused the injury
- The other driver is driving someone else’s car and caused injury
- Multiple car accident causes injury
- Hit and run driver causes injury
- Uninsured motorist causes injury
- Passenger in the vehicle is injured by their own driver
- Other driver does not have enough insurance for injury
- The other driver is drunk or under the influence
- Other driver does not have a drivers license
- The other driver was on the job when they caused the injury
WHO TO SUE IN A CAR ACCIDENT WITH INJURIES In order to understand how to force the other driver ’ s automobile indemnity company to pay under its liability provisions read the first scenario below as it describes how this must be done in Texas. The other sections describe who to sue and what policy may be involved in those types of cases . 1) THE OTHER DRIVER IS THE OWNER OF THE VEHICLE THAT CAUSED THE INJURY In a two-car accident where there is only your vehicle and the fomite that caused the accident, and the other driver is besides the owner of the fomite, you typically sue the early driver. But be certain to see all the other scenarios listed below. There may be circumstances where you would want to include other parties in the lawsuit. If the other driver ’ s insurance is not treating acting properly in handling an injury claim, in Texas you have to file your lawsuit against the other driver if they were the campaign of the accident and injury. Texas liability insurance policies express that the insurance company will pay for what their guarantee is “ legally liable ”. The Texas Supreme Court has stated that Texas has no right to a “ lineal military action ” against person else ’ mho liability insurance. State Farm Cnty. Mut. Ins. Co. of Tex. v. Ollis, 768 S.W.2d 722, 723 ( Tex. 1989 ). The court held that “ … plaintiff can not enforce the policy directed against the insurance company until it has been established, by sagacity or agreement, that the insured has a legal obligation to pay damages to the injure party. ” This means that technically you can not prove your case against the other driver ’ south liability insurance until you have proven in a woo of law that their driver is legally liable for your injury claim. Texas courts require that you get a opinion against the other driver for your damages before you are able to force the other driver ’ sulfur car liability indemnity to pay. You need that judgment first gear. In orderliness to enforce your opinion against the insurance company, you need to place the indemnity party on notice of the lawsuit arsenic soon as possible after filing the lawsuit. If you don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate locate them on detect then the insurance company can get out of paying the claim since they were not able to hire lawyers and defend the lawsuit on behalf of their insured. In other words, you can ’ t merely file a lawsuit against the other driver and promise they do nothing, and then get a default against them and try to use that to collect against their insurance company. In order to collect against the liability insurance company, they have to be notified so they can participate in the lawsuit. then, once you get the judgment against the early driver . 2) THE OTHER DRIVER IS DRIVING SOMEONE ELSE’S CAR AND CAUSED INJURY If the other driver was driving person else ’ south car you may have two different people to sue. If the owner of the fomite negligently entrusted the vehicle to the driver then they might be liable as good. This comes up most often in cases where there are intoxicated drivers and unaccredited drivers. If you can not find any negligence on the share of the owner then you typically do not include the owner in the lawsuit. Another offspring if the other driver is driving person else ’ mho car is which insurance company to go after. If the driver has their own indebtedness insurance and the owner of the car has a different liability indemnity policy then you have a choice of two different liability insurance policies that may be creditworthy for the injury claim. Another significant publish when the driver is different from the owner is establishing permissive habit of the fomite. If the other driver stole the car then there might not be indebtedness policy coverage. The facts surrounding how the driver came into monomania of the vehicle need to be researched to make certain the liability indemnity company covers the claim . 3) MULTIPLE CAR ACCIDENT CAUSES INJURY If you are involved in a multiple car accident that causes your injury you might find many people you think you can sue, but sometimes including multiple parties can cause more harm than good. If there was distinctly one party that caused the chain reaction then that person ’ randomness indebtedness insurance is the one to make the call against. If think you will get more money by blaming others involved in the accident then you set yourself up for a bad consequence. once you start blaming other vehicles early than the driver of the vehicle that actually caused the collision will latch onto that and start saying “ Yea, it wasn ’ t my demerit, it was those early drivers ’ fault ”. immediately you have multiple liability policy companies with none of them wanting to pay the claim. If indebtedness was absolved then it is best to keep it that way and gather against the party who caused the collision and injury. There are times that liability needs to be divided in multiple car accidents. In chain reaction cases one vehicle might rear-end your vehicle and cause injury, and then a split-second late a one-third vehicle hits that vehicle and knocks it back into you causing tied more injury and wrong. In these cases, you do need to file the title against both insurance companies and be adenine clear as possible about the details about what happened. If you can not settle this character of case you will need to file lawsuits against both drivers to let a jury sort out what percentage each owe for the injury and other damages.
4) HIT AND RUN DRIVER CAUSES INJURY I will cover three scenarios of hit and run drivers in wound cases. The first is where the hit-and-run driver leaves the scenery and is never identified. The second is where the hit-and-run driver is found and does not have liability indemnity. The third is where the hit and run driver is identified and actually does have liability insurance. If the hit and run driver is never identified, or if they are identified but have no policy then you will need to use your Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage for any wound. If you were injured by a hit-and-run driver and you can not identify the other driver, you will need to file your claim against your own Uninsured Motorist policy coverage but your insurance policy will require that you report the accident to the patrol. Most of the clock this has already happened before you contact your indemnity company. But if you have not reported the hit and run to the police you are required to do so if you want to use your Uninsured Motorist coverage. Your own indemnity policy will then act as the liability insurance company for the other driver. If a lawsuit needs to be filed then you sue your own insurance ship’s company under the Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury fortune of the indemnity policy. There are multiple parts to this type of lawsuit. You have to prove you had indemnity with the company, you have to prove the hit and run driver caused the accident, and you have to prove your damages. In this scenario, you do actually sue the insurance company first, chiefly because the early driver is not around to sue and you have an actual contractual relationship with your own indemnity company under the Uninsured Motorist Coverage helping of the policy. If the other driver is identified and they have indebtedness indemnity then you make the claim against their policy like you would in any other two-car accident where the injury was involved ( see above ) . 5) UNINSURED MOTORIST CAUSES INJURY If an uninsured driver causes your injury then you likely need to file your claim against your uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage under your own insurance policy. If you were in person else ’ second vehicle when injured then their vehicle might besides have Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage that you can use. If you need to file a lawsuit against the policy party that carries the Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage then you include the indemnity company in the lawsuit. typically you include the other driver as well. You need to prove there was indemnity coverage in the lawsuit under your Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury policy and then prove how the early driver caused the car accident and how that accident caused the injury. You will then need to prove your damages . 6) PASSENGER IN THE VEHICLE IS INJURED BY THEIR OWN DRIVER If a passenger is injured by their own driver then they have a claim against that driver ’ sulfur liability policy for their injury. If a lawsuit needs to be filed then you sue your own driver in this type of shell in ordain to get a opinion against them and then use that judgment to force their indebtedness policy to pay the sagacity. You must put the liability policy company on notice of the lawsuit so they can try and defend the lawsuit, failure to do so will allow the liability insurance company to avoid paying . 7) OTHER DRIVER DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH INSURANCE FOR INJURY If the other driver does not have adequate indemnity on their liability policy to pay for your injury claim then you may be able to file an Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury claim against your own indemnity to cover the deviation. You must have this type of policy on your car indemnity policy to use it. If you need to file a lawsuit due to this character of title then you file the lawsuit against the Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury policy company directly. In the lawsuit you need to prove you have the indemnity coverage, prove the total paid by the early driver ’ second insurance, prove the other driver caused the accident, prove the accident caused the injury, and prove the come of wrong done showing how much over your damages are compared to the sum you were paid by the original indebtedness indemnity company for the driver . 8) OTHER DRIVER IS DRUNK OR OTHERWISE UNDER THE INFLUENCE If the early driver is intoxicated or differently under the influence of drugs of some screen, then you can sue the other driver and possibly sue others involved. If person negligently entrusted their vehicle to the impaired driver you may be able to include that person in the lawsuit. If they were overserved at a banish or early establishment you may be able to include that commercial enterprise that overserved them in the lawsuit. Just like with other car accident injury cases above, you have to file a lawsuit against the negligent party and obtain a judgment in order to force their liability indemnity company to pay . 9) OTHER DRIVER DOES NOT HAVE A DRIVERS LICENSE If the other driver who caused your injury does not have a driver ’ randomness license then that naturally poses the question of who gave them access to a vehicle. You may have a claim against the person who gave them access to the vehicle for negligent entrustment vitamin a well as a claim against the unaccredited driver. If a lawsuit needs to be filed you would need to file the courtship against the unaccredited driver and against the person who negligently entrusted the fomite to the unaccredited driver . 10) THE OTHER DRIVER WAS ON THE JOB WHEN THEY CAUSED THE INJURY If you were injured by a driver who was on the occupation when they caused your injury you will have a claim against the ship’s company they were working for if they were in the “ path and oscilloscope ” of their use. If they were driving a company cable car there may be different insurance than the driver ’ s personal indemnity for their private vehicle. The company they work for may have their own coverage. If a lawsuit needs to be filed you will file it against the driver and the company under a hypothesis of “ respondeat ranking ” – meaning that the employer is creditworthy for the employee who causes damage while in the course and telescope of their employment. The personal injury lawyers at the Law Office of Doug Goyen have over 23 years of know helping people sue in ordering to force indemnity companies to pay car accident injury claims. Attorney Goyen has been licensed by the State Bar of Texas since 1997. Call us nowadays at ( 972 ) 599 4100. We have recovered millions of dollars in car accident injury cases. There is no fee unless we win. We offer barren earphone consultations and scheme sessions for people looking for a Dallas car accident lawyer. call For A Free Case Review ( 972 ) 599-4100
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