I had a traffic accident in a company vehicle (I am no longer at this company). The company told me not to worry about it because their insurance would take care of it. I received a summons and did not think I needed to go to court and now I have received a letter of a judgemnet of $9,800 against me. HELP!! What do I do? I am a student and have never been in trouble so I don't know the court system and trusted the word of the company I was employed with. It says I owe the person involved in the accident $9,800 + interest which I can't pay.

Hello c:

You made TWO mistakes; 1) believing your company, and 2) ignoring the subpoena. But, that doesn't help now, does it?

Call the company and ask who their insurer is, who in the company was supposed to make the claim, why they didn't make the claim, or why the claim was not awarded.

Once you have some answers, then we can tell you what to do next.

excon

Thank you excon... so reading your answer there may be a recourse even if a default judgement has been made?

Hello again, can:

Nope on the judgment. You were properly served. You were probably responsible for the wreck. You didn't show. I don't see how you can reverse THAT.

However, since you were told what you were, the company IS responsible for paying... But, THAT is going to be a very tough battle. I'm sure when you call them, they'll be evasive. They'll forget who you are. They'll forget that they told you that. They can't remember who their insurance carrier was at that time...

Don't let them know WHY you're calling, although they probably will figure it out. If they act in the manner I'm suggesting they will, let me know, and I'll tell you what your next step is.

You don't have MUCH recourse, but lets go for what you DO have.

excon

The first thing you need to do is contact the insurance carrier for the company to find out why you were sued directly. You may find that the carrier will have their attorneies vacate the judgement.

After you have talked with them, you can go to the court and ask that the judgement be vacated and reopened because you were givien mistaken advice. May not work, but its worth a try.

If the insurance carrier says they will take care of it, let them, but keep after them until the situation is completely resolved.

If they give you a hard time, then take them to court and sue them for the amount of the judgement plus your court costs.

And, for future reference, NEVER ignore a summons.