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A Car Accident and My Small Claims Case
By Alex Juel
I was in a car accident several years ago. I was driving down Washington St. here in Denver, CO when a guy in a large Chevy truck decided to run a red light and tried to turn onto the highway. He ran right into the side of my Pontiac Sunfire and ran me into a light post. My car was completely totaled and the airbags had hit both my brother and I in the face, so we were a little dazed at first. So we stumble out of the car and I had a little bit of blood running down my arm. It was a small cut. My brother's face also had a few cuts, but nothing serious, but my car was completely totaled. The driver told me that some lady was honking and yelling at him to go, so under pressure, he did. I hope that lady feels good about herself now. Anyway, the guy that hit me provided the police with fake insurance information because he didn't actually have any. I had just paid my car off, approximately $6,000, and I wanted him to fix it, so I had to track this guy down over the course of a few months. Since he had no insurance company to fix my car and I only had liability, I had no other option. I finally figured out that he owned an auto repair shop downtown, so I decided I was going to serve him with court papers. I went into downtown Denver to the small claims court right off of 16th street mall and talked to the clerks there about filing a lawsuit. The guy there was really nice and explained what papers and information I needed to fill out. I brought with me all of the paper work from the car accident, including police reports, tow truck fees and the damage estimate from a local autobody shop near my house, so I had everything I needed. I filled out the paper work and gave it back to the clerk. Now I can't remember if they gave me anything back or if additional paperwork was mailed to me, but I remember that I had to serve the guy I was taking to court so that he knew he had a court date. I myself was not allowed to do it, so I had to have some friends deliver the papers, but the guy would never answer his door, so I instead took it to the police station and they had an officer serve the man instead. That was much safer anyway. Another couple of months later I had my court date set and I went up to the court rooms in the same place I previously filled out the paper work. As I walked into the courtroom, there was the man who totaled my car and his wife. They had talked with a woman working in the courtroom and we all went out into a meeting area and discussed the idea of instead coming to an agreement. They said that they didn't have much money so would instead like to give me a car, in good condition and at least the same year or newer than the car they totaled, and that I could agree upon the car before accepting it. I know that collecting from small claims is very tough, so I took the deal. He called me up a few weeks later and I went down to their autobody shop to take a look at the car he mentioned on the phone. It was a nice car and looked and ran great. I told them I'd take it. They said they would get the title and other paperwork together and have the car in my possession soon. It turns out the car wasn't actually in their ownership yet and they were working with some older woman out-of-state on getting the title in their name. This took a few more months. So finally I go down there, get the title and sign the paper letting them off the hook from the lawsuit and I start driving home. Well, now the car runs nothing like it did when they first showed it to me. It made an extremely loud popping sound as it drove and I couldn't go any faster then 25 mph. The car was a lemon, but I had already signed the papers clearing their name. They had screwed me again. I had already purchased another car over the course of about a year and half and was just ready to get this over with so I just parted the car out. I also sold the engine out of the other car they totaled and called it a day. I recovered about $1000 from selling both cars. That was one of the worst and drawn out experiences of my life. |
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Thank you for this insightful and detailed account. You have my utmost respect for the extreme patience you have exhibited during this entire process. It is in marked contrast to how I handle upsetting situations, i.e. with rage and rash acts (such as set his car on fire. Maybe also his house).
 | | nick Dec 17, 2009 13:53 | |
I really can't believe that criminal charges weren't filed against this driver. If the laws are that lax in Denver, Co. then I probably would have been breaking his autobody shop windows until he paid me.
Seriously, there is something very wrong with Co. insurance laws.
Great intel.
Frederick
Your delimma reminds me of a sour house deal my spouse and I wrangled with for well past a year; that became part of a class action lawsuit. The class won; however, we did not recover earnest monies. We found a better deal.
Currently living in what we call the "Promised Land" ~ earnest monies lost was written-off with our taxes, which reduced our tax burden a great deal.
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