@jordansmith Thank you. Yeah, I just hate how I wasted a day panicking. But reading something like that made my blood run cold. Like I know what happened that day, and this person is fabricating how it’s actually all my fault and that they’re going to get all this money from me.
@GregoryWish The primary purpose of car insurance is to indemnify you against liability. That means that IF you are at fault in an accident, insurance pays out instead of you. That is what you are paying them to do. Repairing your car if it is damaged is a secondary, non-mandatory aspect of insurance. This is true of most insurance other than medical and life. It’s a shield against the policyholder’s liability.
So even if it turned out, in the end, that you remembered everything wrong and the police were wrong and there’s evidence that you flagrantly caused the accident after all, there’s still nothing to worry about as long as you were carrying insurance at the time. The process would be that they sue you, your insurance defends you, and if you lose or settle, insurance pays instead of you (up to your policy limit). That’s the contract you had with the insurance company. No big deal.
@jordansmith Preferably mint chocolate chip.
I would toss the letter in the trash. (Well, maybe not literally — save a copy so you can point and laugh at it later.) They’re delusional and refuse to believe they could have done anything wrong. If they somehow manage to find an attorney to take their case and actually sue you, call your insurance company right away to let them know, and they will hire an attorney to defend you at no cost to you. But there’s every chance that they’re bluffing and desperate.
@isaacs Honestly, there’s a moderate threat of a lawsuit in there. I’d just send it to my insurance company just in case.
But yeah, OP, don’t stress. Handling crazy people and responding to lawsuits is part of what you pay your premiums for.
@DebbieGee Thank you. Yes, best to send it to them just in case. Maybe they can reassure me too.
@GregoryWish If they were to sue you - your insurance would take care of it. Nothing to stress about. Just someone trying to scam you.
@GregoryWish Just FYI OP, you’d want to send it to the insurance you had at the time of the accident - just in case you’ve switched since then.
@annah Ha. That’s a very strange autocorrect.
@Nathaniel_Richards My phone is possessed by a demon clearly
@GregoryWish I would send it to your insurance company with the claim number assigned to the claim you had back then. Just type in the email that you received that letter from the other party and wanted to let them know. They’ll likely just add it to the file for their own reference in case a lawsuit is filed. They see these all the time, usually from people who are clearly at fault and usually from people who don’t carry coverage for their own vehicle or themselves. People who have their own coverage might be upset if they have to use it and aren’t at fault (or think they aren’t, in your claim’s case), but they usually don’t go off the rails like people who don’t carry their own coverage and realize the cost of repair is on them if they’re found to be at fault or if they need a vehicle right away.
@DebbieGee Don’t stress your insurance will handle any lawsuit but you do have a duty to report and share the letter with your insurance company. They will also respond to the demand for $2,500 and likely deny it
@DebbieGee Yeah based on the facts that OP the other person has no case and the unfortunate reality is that no lawyer will waste their time over a barely five figure settlement. (For somebody who presumably cannot pay upfront especially with a police report indicating fault.)
@isaacs Don’t toss the letter. Send it to the insurer. If they do sue, the insurance company will likely handle it as an extension of the first claim.
@isaacs … uh don’t throw it away. keep it with your bills and other legal notices for a few years and THEN toss it.
@isaacs Two years after the fact on a left turn accident? They aren’t finding an attorney unless they blatantly lie. They may try to file in small claims and get their ass handed to them. I don’t even see how they get a default judgment on those facts since they are clearly at fault.
@isaacs Thank you. I’ve been stressed and nauseous the whole day thinking about it.
@GregoryWish Take a breath. This is what you have insurance for. Even if they do follow through and file a suit, your insurance company will defend you and pay any settlements or judgments.
@isaacs Since they already made a claim for this accident, I don’t think there’s any reason not to notify their insurance at this stage. It might trigger a nastygram that stops any further nonsense.
This is your insurer’s problem, not yours. Make a copy of the letter and forward it to them.
On top of that Michigan has a nearly pure no-fault system so it’s very difficult for anybody to sue and win over minor accidents anyway.
The reason they are sending you the letter is probably because no lawyer would take them on as a client. It’s a bluff. They do have three years from the accident date in Michigan to initiate a lawsuit against you, but even if you actually get served with suit papers there’s no reason to freak out. Just forward them to your insurer and make sure your insurer has current contact info for you in case they have any questions or need you for something.
If you somehow end up speaking to this person directly you just direct them to your insurer. “This is what I have insurance for” or “My insurer is handling this so you need to talk to them”, and give them your insurer’s contact info and claim number.
If the other party starts communicating threats of violence towards you then obviously add the cops to the mix.