Accident As Company Driver, Now Being Sued Personally

What puzzles me here is how Jonathan avoided getting a traffic citation at this “minor accident” , that doesn’t seem so minor??????????

What puzzles me here is how Jonathan avoided getting a traffic citation at this “minor accident” , that doesn’t seem so minor??????????

I've wondered the same, BK. Shady story, IMHO!

Another thing . . . isn't it MANDATORY to report such issues, to your COMPANY ... right off the bat???? Tom had to.. even the 'simplest' (no po po) stuff. Hmmmm....

Johnothan would have been better off, if (non) aforementioned company WAS notified.. again, Just IMHO.

~ Anne ~

ps: O/P .. please let us know how this plays out; this is very educational info, for new/potential drivers; coming into the indusrty. Thanks for that!

Tickets are given at the officers discretion. It's possible that the accident happened and the officer couldn't think of an offense to cite or he wanted to cut a CDL holder a break (it's happened to me).

But for the record, this story doesn't make sense to me either. A lawyer going after the individual, rather than the corp is something I've never heard of. When I was involved in an accident I had a lawyer already on retainer (different issue) and the first question he asked was "was it a commercial vehicle?" I said "no" he asked "any serious injury or loss of limb?" I said "no". He said "forget it let the insurance companies hash it out".

Several things about this story don't make a lot of sense.

Not a lawyer, don't want to be a lawyer, don't like watching shows about lawyers on TV; however, I have spent A LOT on attorney fees over the years. Here's what I would do:

1) Contact your former employer and ask for contact information for their insurance company including the claim number they assigned to your accident.

2) Contact the insurance company. They're on the hook for your accident. Their pockets are much deeper than yours and insurance settlements are generally, "exclusive remedies" - in exchange for the insurance check the payee agrees they don't get to sue you, your former employer and any other parties for the accident. Speak with the agent handling your claim and find out where they're at with settling with the other parties insurance company. Let them know they're going after you. There are three possibilities:

a) The insurance company settled with an exclusive remedy clause. Sometimes an insurance company will, "remind" opposing counsel of the clause for you other times they just give you a copy. Make sure the lawyer gets a copy of the clause and that the insurance company knows about the threat of litigation.

b) The insurance company settled without an exclusive remedy clause (rare). You need to see an attorney.

c) The insurance company has been out of the loop. They were waiting to hear from the other side's insurance company or the other side didn't know who to contact. If the other side didn't have insurance on their vehicle that would explain why. The insurance company will contact the attorney and let them know you're not the responsible party. Get all communications in writing and keep them.

You need to get on this PRONTO. Getting the info and finding what's going on with the claim should take less than an hour.