Last week sucked. A couple years ago Kelly was on her way to school and was involved in an accident. She didn't see an oncoming car and turned into it. At the time we thought both her and the lady driving the other car only recieved minor injuries. Fast forward 2 years and we find ourselves in court on the recieving end of a lawsuit. The plaintiff (I won't name names) was claiming that she suffered a closed head injury, and that her life has now been permanently altered because of the accident. In Michigan there is a "no fault" law that says that regardless of who's at fault in the accident, your insurance has to cover all medical expenses if you are injured in an accident. If you recieve permanent damage that goes above and beyond what medical expenses would help you with, you can sue the person at fault in the accident, and in our case, the owners of the car are held liable also. I have never been on such an emotional rollercoaster ride in my life. Having your entire financial future in jeopardy simply because you gave a set of car keys to your daughter to drive to school is hardly what I would call justice or even fair. I could see suing someone if they were drunk driving, or were simply driving very recklessly, or had malicios intent when they injured you. That wasn't the case with Kelly, she wasn't on her cell phone and she came to a complete stop at the sign. She simply didn't take that second look to make sure nobody was coming before she pulled out. Anyway, what angered me the most about this trial is that things were said by their lawyer about Kelly and even us that were not even remotely accurate. He was trying to assert that Kelly didn't care about hurting this lady, and that she has gone on to college and "forgotten all about" this accident. Without boring you with the details of the trial, despite all the doctors they hired to convince the jury that she was permanently injured, the jury didn't buy it and came back with no money at all for her. It was lucky for them that on Tuesday, both parties agreed to a high/low agreement that says regardless of the outcome from the jury, our insurance company agreed to pay a certain minimum amount if they agreed to cap what they would recieve to the amount to which my policy would cover. Although in one way I regret that the deal was made, it sure made me feel better at the time, because I knew then that I would'nt be losing everything I have worked for. Also, with a high/low agreement there is no possibility of appeal. As much as I want to believe that she was just being a gold digger and wasn't really hurt bad, there is no way to be 100% sure. Despite what their lawyer was claiming, we really aren't heartless bastards that go around causing injury to people and then jump for joy when we win our case. Unfortunately, he did a good job of convincing his own clients of that. When I tried to wish her well after the trial, I was strongly rebuffed. I guess I could have chosen a better moment to try and make amends. I hope in time they see that we aren't the devil spawn that their lawyer made us out to be and can let go of their hatred. All in all, I think justice was served. I guess the only glee I felt when the verdict was read was that their lawyer totally got his butt whipped in this trial, cause he's a real a**hole, and I mean that in a good Christian way, of course.
