Can Someone Sue You After Insurance Pays

If you get into a car accident, you may expect your insurance to cover the other driver’s property damage and medical bills if you’re found at fault. However, insurance does not always pay enough to cover the expenses incurred. In other cases, even high insurance payout limits may not cover a significant permanent injury or a death if the family sues you for negligence. Can someone sue you after insurance pays? The short answer is “Yes.” However, many factors determine who pays and how much the final damages bill is.

If You Are At-Fault

If you were in a car accident that caused injuries to the other driver, you might feel stressed about being the one to blame. However, you may also feel worried about who will pay for the damages from the accident. You have questions you’d like to have answered, such as:

• How much are the medical bills for the other driver? 
• Did the other driver get their car fixed yet, or was it totaled? 
• What if the insurance doesn’t cover the damages and the driver sues you for more?
• How much at fault am I?

If a car accident is 100% your fault, then your insurance pays out 100% of the other driver’s damages, but only up to your insurance coverage limits. 

How is Fault Decided?

So if police and claims adjusters at your insurance company decide you are responsible for 100% of the blame for causing the accident, then your insurance will pay the other driver. 

To determine fault, police consider the laws of the road when they write up an accident report. Often they include diagrams of the streets, stop signs, traffic lights, pertinent obstructions to vision, weather conditions, what you and the other driver have to say, and more. Often, a police officer will come out and say who violated the law and how much at fault they are. 

Be very careful what you say to a law enforcement officer at the scene of an accident. It’s not wise to say things like, “I should have looked left,” or “I was just writing a quick text.” Claims adjusters, attorneys, or courts can use your words against you in settlement negotiations or the courtroom. The insurance adjusters often use the police report as the foundation of their beliefs about what happened. 

It’s always a good idea to take your own pictures at the scene of an accident and write out what happened as soon as you can. Date your testimony and photographs, and write down any details that might help your case later. 

Low Liability Coverage

However, if your limits are low, it may not cover extensive injuries for the other driver. In that case, your insurance pays for the other driver’s medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, property damage, etc., up to the limits of your insurance policy. 

If the other driver has serious bodily injuries from the accident that limit their future ability to work or live a normal life, they will likely sue you. If their injuries are relatively minor and your insurance mostly covers their bills, it’s not as likely that they will hire an attorney and sue you for damages. 

Liability Insurance Coverage in Texas

The minimum amount of liability insurance you legally may hold in Texas is called 30/60/25 coverage. This liability insurance coverage pays for the damages of the other driver and their passengers. 

Minimum amounts of liability coverage pay out:

• $30,000 for each injured person, up to a total of $60,000 per accident
• $25,000 for property damage per accident

If you choose to buy only minimum insurance coverage in Texas, it will likely not be enough to cover all potential accidents. The total can add up fast when you consider that insurance pays for car repair or replacement, medical expenses, rental cars, towing, court costs, lost wages, and other costs. Suppose the other driver or passengers face severe injuries and their expensive vehicle has extensive damage. In that case, they could sue you for every cent you have in the bank if your insurance does not cover their damages.

It makes sense to carry higher limits on your liability insurance so that insurance will more likely cover other drivers’ damages and injuries.

Understand How to Handle the Negotiation Process

Because Texas is a comparative negligence state, the percentage you contributed to the accident is the percentage you owe of the total damages. If you are 60% at fault for the accident, you will owe the other driver 60% of their total amount of damages awarded in negotiations settlements or a courtroom. 

Whether the other driver will sue your insurance company for more than what the insurance pays partially depends on whose fault the accident is. Because the responsibility for the accident matters, you must present evidence and negotiate well for your point of view. Without the help of an attorney in settlement negotiations or the courtroom, your voice can get lost. 

If you can advocate for yourself, discuss your case extensively with your claims adjuster. But for the best results, engage an experienced personal injury lawyer to advocate for you. Ensure a fair settlement by refusing to sign any offers or negotiations without your lawyer present. 

We Can Help

We help by negotiating a fair settlement. If you are at fault for the accident and also injured, we understand the struggle you face. We want to walk you through the steps you need to defend your level of fault in an accident. At Jarrett Law, our experienced personal injury advocates for you. Our knowledgeable experience handling personal injury cases can protect you from paying more than what is fair in your unique situation.