If you are in a position to, I believe you should. If not, the behavior will continue and the trend accelerate.
State Farm knew who was at fault yet they continued. I guess they play the odds that most will fold. In the end they paid their attorneys fees along with mine in addition to the damages.
I was raised with an obligation to all of you. Be it masks, vaxcenes or properly sharing created wealth in a company. The people that came before me made “this” possible and I owe those that come behind me to leave it better than I found it.
It’s just citizenship 101. I questioned the original poster’s approach to see if the result was her/his desired intent.
A few months before we left Tucson, after 23 years, we were victims of road rage in a parking lot. Someone was trying to leave a parking spot at a fast food chain, and the drive-thru line overlapped that area, blocking them in momentarily. They beeped their horn at my wife, who was in line directly behind them, and demanded she move. She could not, because cars were in front of her and behind her. My wife simply shook her head "no", because she could not move.
The woman got out of her car, started yelling expletives and began kicking my wife's car, denting the driver's side door. I got out of the passenger side to deal with this. The woman had an "oh crap" moment, as she realized my wife was not alone. She ran back to her car, and was attempting to drive over the bushes to flee. I stood there, instructing my wife to move back and forth, to maintain blocking her in while I called the police.
When the police arrived, we had three witnesses and they cited her with what she did. I was asked if I would would like to have her arrested. She had an infant in the back seat, that was most likely her granddaughter, so I said no. I just wanted her to pay for the damages.
When we filed the insurance claim, the woman denied all responsibility. Her insurance company said they would not pay, since she technically was not in her vehicle when she damaged ours.
At this point we had to take her to court. The damage was $1200. To
@lolachampcar's point, the hassle was not worth the $1200, but we took her to court anyhow. A state prosecutor went after her for damages and formal charges for her crimes. The woman hired an attorney, and used every stall tactic legally available.
We left Tucson for good and moved to New England.
It took several years before we finally had a court date. The woman was aware that we moved out of the area. Because of this, her attorney demanded my wife appear in court for testimony. They were banking on the hassle of traveling 3000 miles being too much of a burden. Without the ability to question the accuser, the prosecutor told us the case would be dropped.
The plane ticket and accommodations cost us $1300 and a few days of vacation time for my wife. She went anyhow. The woman was convicted and forced to pay $1200 in damages. Her lawyer claimed financial hardship and the judge ordered payments of $100 a month until it was paid. For the next year, those $100 checks felt good.
So yeah, when someone refuses to accept responsibility for something they did, I get a little triggered.
Est Delivery: 10/9/21 - 10/24/21...so mid-late Oct I guess...if that doesn't get pushed out to Nov.
