Gotta vent...

[gflat65]

I just heard some news on a wreck I was in last year in Minneapolis and have to vent... Last August I flew into Minneapolis for my grandfather's funeral in northern Iowa. On the way back into Minneapolis (worse experience in a new city ever-none of the interstates were open coming back into town due to the bridge collapse and none of the detour signs gave you any idea where you were actually going). After riding arouind town for about two hours (basically in circles), we ended up off one of the main roads to try to get some direction (GPS had to be turned off since it kept telling us to get back on the interstate). I found a parking lot to pull into, put on my turn signal to turn left and proceeded to turn. As I was turning, the blares of a car horn with no lights on (in the rain and after dark) made me straighten back out of the turn, but not until after his passenger side hit my drivers side tire. We were on a two lane road (one lane each way). The 16-18 yr old kid without a driver license or proof of insurance and his drunk friends jump out of the car going on and on about how he was in the left lane passing me when I turned into him. The fact there there was no left or right lane (one lane, mind you) didn't seem to sink into his head. That was the statement he gave the police and the insurance company. In both cases, it was explained to him that there were not two lanes. Somehow, this goes to arbitration. The decided I'm 70% respsonsible for the accident. My insurance rep and I were completely floored. She said she can't see how it went to arbitration, much less ruled against me. Aside from driving without a license or proof of insurance (mommy and daddy had to come to the scene to take care of him), he gave an incorrect statement that was proven incorrect during the arbitration due to the fact that the road has only one lane in each direction. Despite him passing me when I had my turn signal on to turn left, it is still my fault. Nothing at all makes sense on this one to me or anyone I've spoken to about it. It's not a big deal in the grander scope of things (insurance will go up), but I just can't believe this happened. All the evidence showed I was completely in the right. The only wild card is that we were ignorant hicks from Alabama... I can't find anything to explain this, so I am pretty ticked about it... Time to find some busy work to keep me from breaking something...

 

[surfn]

thats crazy. you can always appeal (and you should if its worth it).

i'd bet my left foot that this kids parents are lawyers and have allot of close legal connections to get this ruling turned into their favor.

i mean, if i was your insurance company, i'd fight it like crazy....i'm sure they are ticked and don't want to pay a dime...and they shouldn't.

 

[FateX8]

this is completely understandable and it happens to the best of us
my only problem is im asian so of course its gunna be ruled against me BUT i had an eye witness that worked on one of those truck for goodwill that was on that corner
i didnt see the witness there that night because it was dark out but i went back the next day when their insurance people said it wasnt her fault and it was mine and i was making up my story
so even with a witness i was ruled against
oh the girl that hit me just got her license, ie paper license, and her friends also jumped out carrying a bag with a bottle of some sort in it...i couldnt say anything because theres no proof there but its obvious what it was
now that i got a new car im gunna try to stay away from EVERYONE because EVERYONE is a freakin *****, sorry but its true
now i understand why my brother parks at the very back away from people

 

[dfurbee]

this is completely understandable and it happens to the best of us
my only problem is im asian so of course its gunna be ruled against me BUT i had an eye witness that worked on one of those truck for goodwill that was on that corner
i didnt see the witness there that night because it was dark out but i went back the next day when their insurance people said it wasnt her fault and it was mine and i was making up my story
so even with a witness i was ruled against
oh the girl that hit me just got her license, ie paper license, and her friends also jumped out carrying a bag with a bottle of some sort in it...i couldnt say anything because theres no proof there but its obvious what it was
now that i got a new car im gunna try to stay away from EVERYONE because EVERYONE is a freakin *****, sorry but its true
now i understand why my brother parks at the very back away from people

You say they ruled against you just because of your ethnic background?? Where in the world do you live? This is truly not right!

 

[ecotoxlady]

gflat65, I would consider "lawyering up" so to speak because there is something terribly wrong here. A good friend of mine who happens to be a lawyer had a similar situation happen to him and he had to fight it but got them to change it in his favor and a pretty nice settlement for his medical expenses as well. Sometimes I think you have to fight the system and this kids insurance company is probably banking on the fact that you won't fight because you are out of state. I'm really sorry that you're going through this though and I hope you can get it straightened out!

 

[gflat65]

I was told that since it went to arbitration, there is no overturning it. Insurance already paid the 70% (now I'm wondering if that if he was found 30% responsible for the wreck, shouldn't he pay my insurance company back for the rental car they paid off a year ago???. I think the biggest thing I'll see out of it is an increase in my premiums (and maybe a $250 deductible). It's more the principle that's got me razzed. The police man who came to the scene gave me a number to call him the following Monday (this happened on a Saturday), but the number was a dead number. I finially got in touch with the Minneapolis police department, and after being shuffled around and finally sent to the 'detectives', they basically told me it wasn't there job to tell me anything about it. If I wanted the report, I'd have to send a written request. It took almost three months to receive it after I sent in the request. There was supposed to be a video camera on the side of the building (not the best part of town) that the policeman was going to check out on Monday, but apparently it never came into play. The video would have shown without a doubt what happened. I had just pulled off from a stop light and there was no one around me. ~50 yards out of the light, I tried to make the turn and got hit, so he was flying. The cop put in the report that I was making a U turn (I was turning left into a parking lot to stop and look at a map-a U turn would have put me right back where I had been cuirlcing for almost an hour...). My insurance rep said that in the arbitration hearing (after proving there was not second lane going that direction for him to pass me legally), they brought up the cos report on the U turn and said I must have swung to the right to make the turn, making him think I was getting over to the side of the road. That could have been feasible if there weren't cars lining the side of the street (the building with the cameras was an apartment building). I was amazed at the 'witnesses' that weren't there that came out of the wood work going on and on about how I rammed him and that I was in the left lane (which, once again, didn't exist), pulled a 360 to get around the car so I could end up in the right lane (once again, there was only one lane...). The cop knew right away they were completely full of scheiss because the skid marks told the tale (there was no mention of the 'witnesses' in the report). His skid marks were entirely in the opposite lane of traffic. I'm just floored by this. When it starts piling on, it pours, huh. Thin layers, but piling none the less... I need a freakin vacation. Of course, I almsot died a number of times in on vacation in St. Maarten last year-I happened upon the worst drivers in this side of the world, I think:D.

 

[rackyrane]

I'm surprised that this happened. The kid didn't even have a real license, so how come he didn't get a ticket anyway? His folks must have big time connections.

 

[FateX8]

im not gunna say anything about racial profiling because its a touchy subject and dont want this thread to go into that direction
my problem is my "accident" is on my record even though there was no tickets handed out or record made or anything
but i go feel for ya, people just suck and its always gunna be like that

 

[gflat65]

No tickets given out here, either...

Is the wound still fresh, FateX? Sounds like it is festering. I feel a little of that, too right now. It's not very easy for me to be not ticked at the world right now (not due to the outcome oif the arbitration, but it didn't help matters). I can usually make myself stop fuming long enough to come down, but it ain't working right now;). This (Montgomery, Al)is the most selfish place I've ever lived in terms of drivers, so not disliking people sometimes is difficult to do. They were bad in Nashville, but at least they were somewhat predictable. The perons riding your butt in the morning is the one doing 15 below in the afternoon (those that usually fly tend to drive extremely slow when there is someone behind them-don't know if I'll ever figure that one out). I've gotten good about just staying in my own world and not worrying about when someone that didn't get in the car with me is sitting in my back seat at 85 mph on the interstate, but lately, I'm having difficulty;).

 

[FateX8]

mine happened in december but the fact is im being called a liar which ticks me off more than anything
f the money and whatever, thats not an issue but someone calling me a liar and knowing how bad people are first hand is what just upsets me
even with my eye witness their insurance company said a witness doesnt matter because no "new" information is provided which is complete bs
then my insurance company called the witness and did everything and my claims guy said with the witness theres no problem at all and id win this case without a problem but apparently its still on my record because my insurance person told me i had this on my record which is bs because the claims guy said it will be taken care of
i actually think i ranted about this before when it first started

ah just found it
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7862
have fun reading that one lol