Q: I was in a car accident. I was turning left and the other driver ran a red light and hit me. Even though he was at fault, he hired an attorney and is coming after me. His attorney is asking my auto insurance carrier to disclose my policy limit. Should I authorize disclosure? Do I need to hire an attorney?
A: Do you need to hire an attorney? Probably not. You have auto insurance – they will defend you. You’ve already paid for that service.
Should you disclose your limits? Probably not. If you have high liability limits, that may embolden the attorney for the other driver to send his client to lots of medical providers and run up big medical bills.
If the attorney took on the case, the attorney likely has some basis for believing that you were at least partially at fault for the car accident. Whether you bear any responsibility, I don’t know, because I don’t know all of the facts surrounding the accident.
Even if a police report puts the other driver at fault, that driver may still have a claim against you. The more serious the other driver’s injuries, the more likely an attorney will be willing to take on his case and take a shot at getting money from your insurance carrier.