[dlmonteith]

I was involved in an accident. The other driver was at fault, the problem is my insurance had ended in September and I didn't know it. I am worried that the insurance company of the other driver won't give me a fair settlement. My car was totaled. What can I do if they try to short me on a settlement since the say the law says I can't recover damages to compensate for pain and suffering or other non-pecuniary damages.

[excon]

Hello dl:

What you're due from the other insurance company has NOTHING to do with whether you were insured. If you were injured, you CAN get compensation for it. There's no law that say's you can't.

However, you're right about one thing. The insurance company IS going to try to SHORT you. Not because of any law (although they might make that up to make you settle), but because that's how they get rich.

Hire a lawyer! He can get you MUCH more than you can yourself. MUCH MORE! $$$$$$$$ Mucho more. Don't you need more dollars?? I do. What?? You think you can do what lawyers do?? Really, now? Dude, forget it.

excon

[s_cianci]

I'm not so sure that it's true that you can't recover damages for pain and suffering if the other driver was truly at fault, regardless of your uninsured status. Talk with a personal injury attorney. (S)he could advise you on how best to proceed. Even though you were uninsured, if the other driver is at fault then it's the responsibility of his/her insurance to pay the damages so you should still be able to subjugate against them even though you have no insurance of your own.

[Fr_Chuck]

Ok, you had an accident that was not your fault, Do you have a police report, was the other driver ticketed.

Remember the other driver is only at fault if
1. they admit it
2. they are found guilty of it in criminal court ( ticket)
3. civil court says they are

So hopefully you called the police, they came, examined the scene, did a written accident report with drawing of the accident scene and make a determination as to who is at fault. Next hopefully the other driver even admitted fault.

Next your having insurance or not, does not make a differnece in your medical bill payments or "pain and suffering" since your own insurance would not pay you for them.

So next having insurance or not having insurance does not take away one penny from what a settlement could be. But remember if you are not really hurt bad, they will not be offering to make you rich either.

So even if you had car insurance, and the other persons insurance did not want to pay, they would have only fixed your car, you would still have to sue or settle with the other company for medical bills and other injuries

You can if you wanted talk to them and see what they will offer you, if it sounds OK, settle and be done with it, If you don't like their offer you can hire an attorney. A lot will just depend on how big your claim is.

If you had a small bump was in the ER and released, missed one day work. You really don't have much of an extra money case in this.

Remember your attorney is going to want 25 to 33 percent of your claim,

Now if you have enough injuries, by all means hire one, you will get a much larger settlement.

[ScottGem]

since the say the law says I can't recover damages to compensate for pain and suffering or other non-pecuniary damages.

You already have an example of how they may try to short you. Notice THEY are telling you you can't recover damages from them. Did they cite the exact law that says that? Its not necessarily true.

As the others have said, your insured status has no bearing if the other driver was totally at fault. But you should be more careful that you know the expiration dates of your coverages. Normally insurance is automatically renewed. So the only way it would have expired is if you didn't pay the bill or they cancelled you. In either case, you should have been aware of it.

[sideoutshu]

Where do you live and how were you injured?

They may be telling you that you can't recover for your pain and suffering because you live in a state (like NY) with a no-fault system and "serious injury" threshold. They may be further assuming that your injuries do not meet the threshold.