Hit By A Drunk And I Don't Have Insurance

Mid July 2012 I was hit at 6pm by a drunk driver. That's when my hubby decided to tell me that he didn't take care of the insurance as he was supposed to. So, I got charged with driving without insurance. Car is in my name.

Inuries were minor - all of us had aches/pains, hubby had seatbelt burn on neck and daughter in backseat sustained two bruised knees. Drunk couldn't walk - but that had nothing to do with the accident! Both cars towed - I had to pay for my tow fees and then had to take a taxi home at my expense.

My car was a write-off, the drunk was arrested at the scene for blowing over 80. I was in court for first appearance tuesday for no insurance charge. I received disclosure from crown. Disclosure tells me that the drunk admitted to being drunk and at-fault for the accident. It also tells me that the drunk doesn't live at the address on his license, and believe it or not, the drunk got a free ride home from the cops! I had to pay for mine.....

I contacted his insurance company - they refused to pay based on Insurance Act. However, they sent all three of us the typical paperwork for accident benefits. I haven't done anything with them as of yet.

Anyhow - few questions here.

1. Is not knowing you didn't have insurance any defense at all? The car is in my name - but, I asked my hubby to take care of the insurance payments, etc. because I was dealing with some significant family court issues at the time, working full time days (he works nights) and was overwhelmed with everything. I really shoulda asked about it - but to be honest, I was hiding my head in the sand (overwhelmed financially - $13G in legal fees for family court, no child support coming in and an ex that deserves to be locked up!)

2. My car is black book valued at 7500 - repair estimate is over 8500. Tow fees home and then to repair shop for estimate, as well as the damned cab fees...all make my loss an additional $500. Is there any way at all to recoup any of these losses? Would I have any chance of success in small claims?

3. Should I commence a Personal Injury claim (ie fill in the paperwork provided by the drunk's insurance company) or use a PI lawyer to commence action?

I have consulted a civil lawyer who advised against suing the insurance company for damages as he couldn't guarantee any success.....

I'm potentially $15Gs down as a result of the drunk driver. His fine is $1000. Doesn't seem like it was the intention of the law at all to me.

If you look at it You got off lucky.

No insurance is a very bad charge too.

What was your fine for that?

There is no excuse for no insurance.

Sorry

Cheers

Viper1

viper1 wrote:If you look at it You got off lucky.

No insurance is a very bad charge too.

What was your fine for that?

There is no excuse for no insurance.

Sorry

Cheers

Viper1

Was that intended to be helpful? Or argumentative?? Because helpful it definitely isn't. Didn't answer one of the questions I asked - but couldn't help yourself from posting a nasty comment eh? And the excuse for driving drunk would be.....................

the drunk ceased to be insured when he got in his car, turned the key and drove the 10 MIN WALK to the McD's he was heading for.

Since when the insurance wasnt in force?

Julio wrote:Since when the insurance wasnt in force?

I really wish I could answer that - but I can't give an answer I know to be true. My husband has been very vague on the whole subject - and now he's mute on it because I demanded he leave the home until I have this sorted out a bit. He initially told me a couple of weeks....but I can't seem to get a straight answer. I signed a new policy in December 2011 - so, my guess is sometime after that it was cancelled. Bank records can't help, he provided his account for the monthly payments.

I can't prove to prosecution that I have insurance now - because I don't.....I don't have a car to insure any longer. I have to find something to drive and I don't even want to talk to the insurance company about this yet, as I'll never be able to afford the insurance as a result. At the moment, I'm catching rides or borrowing dad's car.

mom wrote:

viper1 wrote:If you look at it You got off lucky.

No insurance is a very bad charge too.

What was your fine for that?

There is no excuse for no insurance.

Sorry

Cheers

Viper1

Was that intended to be helpful? Or argumentative?? Because helpful it definitely isn't. Didn't answer one of the questions I asked - but couldn't help yourself from posting a nasty comment eh? And the excuse for driving drunk would be.....................

the drunk ceased to be insured when he got in his car, turned the key and drove the 10 MIN WALK to the McD's he was heading for.

And the excuse for no insurance .......?

Wake up.

You would not be in this spot.

Now you have all kinds of bills and you are facing a large fine.

You ceased to have insurance when you did not pay it.

He should not have been on the road and you should not have been there either.

He admitted his guilt but you cannot accept yours.

Cheers

Viper1

mom wrote:Mid July 2012 I was hit at 6pm by a drunk driver. That's when my hubby decided to tell me that he didn't take care of the insurance as he was supposed to. So, I got charged with driving without insurance. Car is in my name.

Inuries were minor - all of us had aches/pains, hubby had seatbelt burn on neck and daughter in backseat sustained two bruised knees. Drunk couldn't walk - but that had nothing to do with the accident! Both cars towed - I had to pay for my tow fees and then had to take a taxi home at my expense.

My car was a write-off, the drunk was arrested at the scene for blowing over 80. I was in court for first appearance tuesday for no insurance charge. I received disclosure from crown. Disclosure tells me that the drunk admitted to being drunk and at-fault for the accident. It also tells me that the drunk doesn't live at the address on his license, and believe it or not, the drunk got a free ride home from the cops! I had to pay for mine.....

I contacted his insurance company - they refused to pay based on Insurance Act. However, they sent all three of us the typical paperwork for accident benefits. I haven't done anything with them as of yet.

Anyhow - few questions here.

1. Is not knowing you didn't have insurance any defense at all? The car is in my name - but, I asked my hubby to take care of the insurance payments, etc. because I was dealing with some significant family court issues at the time, working full time days (he works nights) and was overwhelmed with everything. I really shoulda asked about it - but to be honest, I was hiding my head in the sand (overwhelmed financially - $13G in legal fees for family court, no child support coming in and an ex that deserves to be locked up!)

2. My car is black book valued at 7500 - repair estimate is over 8500. Tow fees home and then to repair shop for estimate, as well as the damned cab fees...all make my loss an additional $500. Is there any way at all to recoup any of these losses? Would I have any chance of success in small claims?

3. Should I commence a Personal Injury claim (ie fill in the paperwork provided by the drunk's insurance company) or use a PI lawyer to commence action?

I have consulted a civil lawyer who advised against suing the insurance company for damages as he couldn't guarantee any success.....

I'm potentially $15Gs down as a result of the drunk driver. His fine is $1000. Doesn't seem like it was the intention of the law at all to me.

1 No

2 Small claims court.

3 Not sure.

Cheers

Viper1

viper1 wrote:

mom wrote:

viper1 wrote:If you look at it You got off lucky.

No insurance is a very bad charge too.

What was your fine for that?

There is no excuse for no insurance.

Sorry

Cheers

Viper1

Was that intended to be helpful? Or argumentative?? Because helpful it definitely isn't. Didn't answer one of the questions I asked - but couldn't help yourself from posting a nasty comment eh? And the excuse for driving drunk would be.....................

the drunk ceased to be insured when he got in his car, turned the key and drove the 10 MIN WALK to the McD's he was heading for.

And the excuse for no insurance .......?

Wake up.

You would not be in this spot.

Now you have all kinds of bills and you are facing a large fine.

You ceased to have insurance when you did not pay it.

He should not have been on the road and you should not have been there either.

He admitted his guilt but you cannot accept yours.

Cheers

Viper1

Again, not helpful but rather a comment stated to make yourself feel better.

I don't think I had any excuse for no insurance. I stated I did not know I didn't have insurance - merely fact - not excuse. Personally, I think I should be able to rely on my husband....but apparently I can't. I didn't get in the car KNOWING I was uninsured. When asked by the officer I admitted that I didn't have insurance and I was summoned to court. Not accepting my guilt here IS NOT THE ISSUE. I think I've owned up to that one, hence the summons to court....so, please, keep your preaching to yourself because it really isn't helping or answering any questions.

Admitting his guilt should also include compensating those for their losses as a result of his selfishness and illegal activity. In my opinion he's pretty damned lucky he hit my car rather than the pedestrian that happened to be crossing the street as well - he should be thanking his lucky stars he didn't kill anyone - because, the drunk doesn't have insurance either when they choose to drive drunk.

I'm in a situation, I've asked for some advice.....didn't ask for your opinion, didn't ask for a reprimand and I certainly don't find anything you have to say even in the slightest bit helpful. Perhaps you like to advocate for drunk driving - maybe you're a drunk that beats charges on a technicality....I have no idea......nor do I care. BUT FOR THE FACT THAT HE WAS DRUNK, MADE AN ILLEGAL LEFT TURN AND SLAMMED INTO MY CAR.....My car wouldn't be a write off and nobody would have been injured. My lack of insurance certainly didn't cause this accident, nor did it cause the drunk to drink.

Is there anyone here with something helpful to add?? I was under the impression this forum existed so people could potentially have thier questions answered and find some helpful information. I can get insulting comments and people's opinions on facebook......

Driving without insurance is what's known as a strict liability offence. That means that not knowing you were uninsured is a possible defence, but only if you exercised due diligence. In short, you'd need to show the Court that you took all reasonable steps to obtain insurance for your motor vehicle and had every reason to believe you were still insured on the date of the offence.

Now I don't mean to downplay your personal situation, but I don't believe an expectation that your husband had paid for the insurance would be sufficient in itself for this defence.

Most paralegals offer free consultations. Might not hurt to at least speak with one of them regarding your situation.

Stanton wrote:Driving without insurance is what's known as a strict liability offence. That means that not knowing you were uninsured is a possible defence, but only if you exercised due diligence. In short, you'd need to show the Court that you took all reasonable steps to obtain insurance for your motor vehicle and had every reason to believe you were still insured on the date of the offence.

Now I don't mean to downplay your personal situation, but I don't believe an expectation that your husband had paid for the insurance would be sufficient in itself for this defence.

Most paralegals offer free consultations. Might not hurt to at least speak with one of them regarding your situation.

I agree - I should have been more "on top" of it - but, in all reality when your spouse says they took care of it.....you really should be able to believe it. It's the only car we have with me working days and him working nights, we didn't really need two cars, so he's screwed himself as well - he's carless too. At the time, it was nice to have someone take care of something for me considering what I was dealing with......but, that I can't change now....unfortunately.

I find the whole insurance system very confusing...... I can't understand the drunk's insurance company's willingness to cover any personal injuries in this situation, but refusal to cover damages caused by that same accident......it's baffling and doesn't really make a lot of sense to me.....

I feel very victimized - by both my husband and the drunk. My complaint isn't with the police or the charge, I understand the necessity behind insurance and the need to charge offenders. AT the scene the police were very empathetic about my situation, but empathy doesn't pay my bill either. I'm just trying to get out of this mess the best way I can.

I understand that you think drunk driving is much worse than driving without insurance, but unfortunately the consequences could be just as bad. both were not supposed to be driving on the roads so you're both at fault. Fact is you neglected your responsibility and you took that risk every time you took your car. I mean you are obliged to carry your insurance papers with you when driving. Keeping that attitude, that you were not as wrong as the other guy will only set you up for failure in court. All I can think of to help you in this situation is having your husband testify to this. Check out ticketcombat for some additional helpful information and search Canlii with their search engine for your charge. It will produce all the relevant cases and show you the successful and unsuccessful arguments.

I'm not a lawyer (but do have an interest in law), so please don't take this as legal advice.

You could attempt to sue the drunk driver in small claims for damages. The cost to you is minimal but time and effort can be formidable. I am not sure of your possible success though - you would have to convince the court that although the accident was caused by the defendant illegally driving drunk, you're lack of insurance does not come into play, in causing your losses, which it obviously does - i.e. if you had insurance you wouldn't be suing him for the cost of your car as your insurance would have covered it. However, driving drunk and causing an accident which was no fault of your own, should carry some civil penalty to the drunk driver.

Good luck

Oh, and I'm not condoning or minimizing the fact that driving without insurance is a no-no. I think enough people have advised you of this; I was just looking at it from your point of view in regards to recouping losses.

G35Dalf wrote:I'm not a lawyer (but do have an interest in law), so please don't take this as legal advice.

You could attempt to sue the drunk driver in small claims for damages. The cost to you is minimal but time and effort can be formidable. I am not sure of your possible success though - you would have to convince the court that although the accident was caused by the defendant illegally driving drunk, you're lack of insurance does not come into play, in causing your losses, which it obviously does - i.e. if you had insurance you wouldn't be suing him for the cost of your car as your insurance would have covered it. However, driving drunk and causing an accident which was no fault of your own, should carry some civil penalty to the drunk driver.

Good luck

Thank-you. I've been doing some looking up, and I'm finding the whole thing confusing. From the databases I've perused thanks to a poster above, I'm finding that the penalties are often reduced for various circumstances. I think the penalty of losing my car worth in excess of the fine really should be ample under my circumstances. The penalty of no insurance is meant to be prevetative against people choosing that over the cost of insurance. I think I've potentially paid that price two-fold.

I am curious about liability under Criminal Code, which is where, I believe the DUI charge to fall....correct me if I'm off-base, as I've said - it's confusing me!! Under criminal code - isn't there some sort of civil liability? I came across this:

No civil remedy for an act or omission is suspended or affected for the reason that the act or omission is an offence.

In the Criminal Code - trying to figure out what it means!!

Thanks for your help. And no, driving without insurance is def not a good idea and I don't condone it either. I just can't help but feel that the drunk is liable for the actual accident. It's a tough pill to swallow....