Can the driver be injured and not the passengers?

Question

About 2 yrs ago I bumped a lady from behind during bumper to bumper traffic. She suddenly hit her brakes and I bumped her. She only had a couple of scratches on her rear bumper and i didn't have any. The officer asked if we wanted to handle it without doing a report since the damages was minimal. She wanted to but her since it was her mom's car she wanted to inform her first. She called her mom and she came out to the scene. Once her mom got there she was skeptical at first, but elected to go on and file a report. There were 3 small children in the back seat (who were not in seat belts) when I bumped the car. To make a long story short, I was served papers for a law suit on last Thursday. The driver is suing for injuries supposingly sustained in the accident. She has been to several doctors complaining of back injury. The kids were not named in the suit. My insurance company did give me a heads up on the lawsuit because she wouldn't accept their offer to repair the vehicle. Looking over the papers she stated that I was on my cell phone. I do have my records and it doesn't show that I was on my phone during the accident and another thing. I faxed the papers over to my insurance company. They have hired me an attorney. They were just waiting on me to get served. So what happens now? I know that we have 30 days to answer.

Answer 1

More than likely she was not injured, just seeking money.

A minor impact like yours usually isn't great enough to cause injury to a healthy person.

Work with your insurance company and thattorneyey they hire.  If the demand is outrageous or suspicious, they will hire a PI to try to film the lady.

Anything can happen after you are sued. Other party  may drop the suit/attorney may withdraw, they may catch her doing something and present it...  But the attorney will explain what will happen in  detail.

Answer 2

Take videos of her doing cartwheels

Answer 3

Advise your attorney of the conversation and, give them your phone records ( make a copy to keep tho in case) .  She may be trying to make the case that your very minor collision exacerbated injuries she all ready had.  Also, it is quite possible for occupants of the same vehicle have different injuries or, have some injured and some not at all - I was rear ended and while my kids were uneffectted, I was hurt.  

All and all it sounds to me like the $$ dried up from the first incident and you are her next financial resource.

Best of luck!

Answer 4

your insurance company lawyer will know how to handle it. make sure you give him all the details. cases like yours hardly ever see the inside of a court room. the sad thing is she will probably get paid. it's nuisance money. they figure the cost of litigation and the possible loss and come up with a figure. the amount will depend on how good of a lawyer you have.