California Personal Injury and Insurance Blog

FAQ: Can I be sued for my spouse causing an accident?

Q: My spouse is an alocholic. Can I be sued if he causes an accident?

A: Yes. You can be sued up to the statutory limit if you are a registered owner of the car. If, however, they can prove "negligent entrustment" (a fancy term for you negligently letting him use your car) then they can sue you for the full value of the case.

You can protect yourself by getting your spouse help and trying to limit his opportunities to drive while intoxicated.

The Medical Malpractice Hoax

Public Citizen came out with a new report. There is no medical malpractice crisis. OOPS! The insurance companies and doctors apparently forgot to tell us that! The report can be found here.

The report states "The real problems are a lack of attention to patient safety, the high incidence of preventable medical error and the lack of accountability for a small set of doctors who account for a majority of medical malpractice payments, the report reveals. The report also presents several recommendations for Congress, state governments and hospitals to reduce health care costs and save lives."

So, there you have it. No malpractice crisis for our friends in the medical profession. Now, maybe we can start talking about helping people and stop with the nonsense!

Myth: Adjusters are your friend

I just read this on Ben Glass' Northern Virginia Injury Board website. Ben is among the best of the best in terms of personal injury lawyers. He is known nationally and is a great guy.

That being said, people often tell me that the adjuster seemed so nice and like a friend. And, the good adjusters will seem nice. Why? Because they don't want to pay you full value for your case. If they are mean, you will go get an attorney. If you are nice, you are less likely to do so.

Proof that adjuster's are not your friend? Read this article from Ben's blog. An adjuster from Nationwide insurance made some not so nice remarks about an attorney. Now, I may not like every adjuster I deal with, and it is common to run into issues since it is an adversarial system, but you will not catch me talking bad about an adjuster. Why? It is unprofessional. However, some adjuster's dont mind talking bad about attorneys.

Myths and Reality: A new category

I am tired of it. I am tired of the lies, tired of the mis-information, tired of the attempts of people to sell you a bunch of whooey. (Yes, that is the technical term.)

So, now, I am going to start fighting back. How? Easy. Through my blog. I am going to start telling you about these myths and then I will tell you the reality. The myths are everywhere: advertisements, blogs, websites. You name it, insurance and personal injury myths are everywhere. And I am going to create a new category on the blog just for these myths.

Of course, since this is reader based, I want your input too. If you see something that seems too good to be true or if you hear something and you want the real information, tell me about it. I will do the research and post it here. I will tell you if it is a myth or reality.