Thread: Freak Accident - advice needed

I know some of you LGKers work on the Police force, in the legal system, etc... so I'm throwing this out for some advice.

Yesterday, my wife stopped for lunch and was parked in a parking lot. She went to the back of her car, opened her trunk and was moving stuff into her luggage for a flight later in the day. As she was standing there, a car rolled into her and trapped her between her car and the other car. This car was parked without a parking brake, rolled out of its spot and hit my wife. She's deaf, so she didn't hear it coming from behind to get out of the way.

A few bystanders helped to push the car back, an ambulance came and took her to the ER at Cedars Sinai. X-rays were fine, but she has to use crutches as her left leg is severely bruised/swollen (this leg took the full force of the car). And she's on vicodin for the pain.

My ER co-pay is $100, plus any fees that went to my Insurance for the ER visit and the Ambulance ride. I don't think this would be classified as a "car accident", even though someone else's car hit my wife and kept her trapped between the two cars for several minutes.

The police arrived on scene and took a police report. My wife never met the owner of the car that hit her in the 45 minutes she was there, but she suspected it was a lady that was walking nervously around during that time. I believe the Police Report has this woman's contact/insurance information.

Do I do anything at this point? I don't think this would go through my Car Insurance, since our car was not damaged. I've never had experience with this type of injury being caused by someone else. Do I need to notify my Health Insurance company about what happened, and have them go after the woman's Insurance to be paid? Or let it be, since my insurance is decent and should cover all the costs.

The Police Report should be ready to provide to Insurance in about 4 weeks...

Not sure how this stuff works, any advice is greatly appreciated.

I don't really have any advice for you, but just wanted to say what a terrifying experience that must have been (for both of you), and am very glad to hear you wife is for the most part OK. Good luck with both the insurance and the recovery.

Put me in there with a no idea but glad your wife is moderately ok. I really have no idea what the legal process would require you do for compensation from another party, but I expect that if it turns out you need it there will be avenues for you to explore.

Insurance companies love to go after other insurance companies. Do you have the police report? I would say this definitely IS a "car accident." Just because your car didn't get damaged, the (medical) damage was caused by another car.

Get the police report and contact your insurance co, they will track down the other (parked/rolling) driver's insurance company, and definitely ask them for all medical expenses or more. You should not have to pay any deductible either - other insurance should reimburse you for that. **

** all legal advice based on many years of watching Law & Order (the original L&O only, not their later crap)

Burn the other persons house down.

So you mean the other person left their car running unattended?
It wouldn't hurt to call both your auto and health insurance companies to find out what could be done. After all, they don't want to pay out anything they don't have to, especially if another party caused the injuries. Seems like 4 weeks is a long time to wait on a police report too.

I'd say your wife is entitled to something for pain and suffering too. Being pinned between the cars must have been quite scary and I'm glad it sounds like she wasn't injured as seriously as she could have been.

I agree with the advice that one insurance company loves to go after another insurance company. If I were your health insurance, I'd want the other person's info because the other person should be paying for it. They caused the medical bills. It's not like needing to go to the ER for like a kidney stone or something that can't be blamed on someone.

you do have a case. The owner is liable.

get a lawyer and have them call the woman's auto insurance company.