Location: California
I have an interesting scenario: my wife got into an accident in January, she was turning right in a parking lot when an SUV coming from the Main Street hit her rear drivers door, front drivers door and mirrror. Initially the other parties’ insurance Geico said it was 100% our fault but then our insurance fought it and it went to arbitration.
Arbitration decided it was 100% not our fault but because we only had liability insurance, our insurance submitted the arbitration paperwork with $0 in damage which is not accurate (our repair estimate was $7,400).
We reached out to Geico and they said it is not their fault they are not assuming liability for the accident and they are not paying the $7,400 damage. We are thinking about going to Small Claims court against Geico regarding this but are unsure if that is smart to do or if we should go after the driver and have them deal with Geico.
I read some advice from lawyers online saying I can not go after the other party’s insurance after an accident because there is no contractual relationship and my Small Claims court case will be dismissed, but I am thinking this is not a normal occurrence. Does the arbitration decision give me some
Legal standing to force Geico to assume liability for the damages caused by their insured driver?
Comments
Whether you can sue at all depends on the type of arbitration and the scope of the arbitration. You may need to pay a lawyer to look at this for you (we cannot review the arbitration agreement here).
If you do sue, you sue the other driver, not Geico.
>Does the arbitration decision give me some Legal standing to force Geico to assume liability for the damages caused by their insured driver?
Not at all. The arbitration settled the dispute between the other insurance and your insurance as related to the other person’s damages that the other insurance paid and attempted to recover from your insurance. You and your damages were not a party to that since your insurance didn’t pay for your damages, so the other insurance is under no obligation to pay you anything. They believe their insured is not at fault.
So your recourse is to sue the other driver and try to win in court against them and their insurance.