Legal Question in Personal Injury in Virginia

My car was hit on the passenger side and it was repaired by the body shop. A two weeks later, the same passenger side window fell down. I took it to the same body shop and they said a small plastic glider broke off. I'm pretty sure this is related to the side impact but because it was a plastic it just took longer for it to break. Also, the plastic part cannot be obtained separte but had to purchase the entire window assembly. If it was couple of dollars I wouldn't mind but the entire assembly was close to $350. Can I still claim this as part of the damage? The claim was closed when I took the car back from body shop.


Asked on 4/12/10, 10:29 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Jonathon Moseley Moseley & Associates Law Firm

I will break up the question into two different parts.

First, can you legally include the cost of the additional repairs as being "caused" by the accident?

Sure, of course. Now, the problem one always has is proving that anything was "caused" by the accident. There is not much money involved here, but in theory what you would do is bring the mechanic to court and he would testify that in his opinion it was a result of the accident, and that should be sufficient.

Also, there is no OTHER explanation for what happened. If something else had happened to cause the window to break, that would change the overall picture.

Second, can you get the insurance company to re-open the claim? That will depend on (a) what did you sign with them? Did you sign something that WAIVES all further rights and agrees that you are not going to claim any additional mount of damage? Did you sign something that agrees that this is the total, final amount of the claim?

When you are working with the insurance company out of court, there is really no concept of "closing" or "settling" the claim which the courts recognize. That is all informal between you and the insurance company.

However, if you sign a settlement agreemetn waiving any future claims, then you would be stuck with that.

(b) Will they willingly cooperate? Most insurance companies operate by being stubborn and non-cooperative. So they may not willingly pay the additional amount (even though it is small from their perspective).

But in principle, you have every right to claim anything and everything that was "caused by" the accident.

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Answered on 4/17/10, 11:03 am


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