vehicle accident

[natetheplaya]

heres the story my vehicle which was uninsured was parked legally on the side of the road. Another vehicle which was driving inattentively and also uninsured hit my vehicle causing quite a bit of damage. I called the police and had it reported he said it would be either worked out between us or will have to be handled in small claims court (damage will be under $6000). The thing is the person who struck my car does not have a job and barely any thing to their name. I need to get my car fixed right away because its all i have to get to work and i am expecting a child in the next 2 weeks and also have no money to fix it. I have no idea how small claims works so i could use any advice or knowledge on how these things work.
thank you,

 

[ndragon]

Small claims would be the way to go here. The problem is that once you have a judgment, it is your responsibility to collect on it. If the other person doesn't have the money to pay the judgment, you could garnish them.
Just keep this in mind; you have to server papers to the defendant at least 30 days prior to the court date. Considering this point, you will not see any actual money for at least a few months, assuming you don't have to deal with garnishment proceedings.
To confuse the issue even more I will give you my opinion.
If I were the judge in this case and I found out you were parked illegally when the accident occurred, I would tell you it is as much your fault as it is the defendants and dismiss the case. No payment would be made to either person.
Just my two cents.
If you would like to proceed with a small claims case, I encourage you to contact your local justice court and inquire as to their file procedure.

-Nick

 

[Duranie]

Well you are pretty much screwed because you should have had insurance and if the person that hit you has nothing, you will have truble collecting. There is no excuse for not having insurance. If you cannot get this guy to pay up after you have gotten a judgement against him, you will have to get another car. You can get a judgement but there reaally is no way to force him to pay unless you can garnish his wages, levy a bank account, file a lien etc. So if you are waiting for this guy to pay up to get another car that might not happen. He can also file BK and list you as a creditor.

If you file a claim, it is possible you might be contacted by a court TV show. If you are and the other guy also agrees to appear, the show will pay the judgement for him. You also might want to contact the court TV shows directly to see if they can help. getting paid for the appearance is probably the only way you will get any money out of this.

 

[natetheplaya]

I'm contemplating on getting a lawyer for this matter but seems like it'll cost me more than it's worth if this person isn't going to pay. I was thinking of just getting a legal type letter written up by a lawyer just to give him a little awakening of what might happen, and then maybe he can somehow come up with the money with out going to court. But i'm still fearing the worst

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Folks that can't afford car insurance can rarely afford to pay an attorney to send a demand letter.

The benefit of Small Claims is that it is relatively inexpensive to file a lawsuit against someone and because no attorneys are required these court costs are minimal. However, as has been pointed out, simply winning a judgement against someone is certainly no guarantee that you will ever see a penny from them.

With a judgement things like garnishment of bank funds and/or wages (depending on the state you live in) are possible; however, you indicated this person is not currently working. On the other hand, if they obtain work in the future, you can then use the judgement against them to seek wage garnishment.

Gail