Reader question:
Under what circumstances in a car insurance claim can/should you file a lawsuit?
Brandy
Under the most careful ones, Brandy.
Filing a lawsuit is time and money consuming, and it’s not something you want to jump into lightly. Normally, it’s something you will reserve only after you have tried your hardest to resolve your claim in every other way. If, after negotiations and lawyers have been tried and failed, and you still find yourself unable to get a fair settlement, it may be necessary to file a lawsuit.
Normally, once the claim is settled, it’s over and done with and you can’t file a lawsuit. Usually, during the process, you’ll have to sign an agreement saying that you will not sue them for that particular claim and releases them from making any more payments on that claim besides what is agreed. Now, you can sue them for other claims. But not that one.
It still is a possibility to bring action against the insurance company once settlement is complete, though. Those types of lawsuits, though, generaolly have to do with errors or different interpretations of the language of the settlement or process. The document may have been poorly written. For this reason, it’s always important to have an attorney read over a settlement agreement before you sign it.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.