Friday, February 03, 2006

I need this guy

I'm in legal hell at the moment. Here's the story. In December 2003 a girl ran a red light and tore off the front of my car - airbags exploded, ankle and knee damage, severe bruising, blood pressure through the roof. But at the end of the day, I was in one piece, which is all one can be hope for after all.

As we waited for the police to arrive, I noticed the Enterprise Leasing "e" on the back of her car and thought "Whew! At least she's got insurance!" Um. Wrong. Seems she was not the renter of the car. And the person she borrowed it from wasn't the renter of the car. And she only had a Learner's Permit. And she was a runaway.

Well, OK, sad story for her, but in Georgia, at the end of the day, the person who actually owns the car is liable, bottom-line - Enterprise Leasing. Police report comes back - girl gets two citations (me - none, of course), a cut-and-dry accident with her clearly at fault, she doesn't show for the traffic court appearance, yada-yada-yada.

Got a lawyer on the advice of a co-worker - someone she knew personally - and thought they'd jump right on it. Ho-ho-ho. What a long, drawn-out process this has been! Even though the attorneys only get paid via a cut of the settlement, they sat on their asses until the last possible moment and served the papers Dec. 13 (2 days before the 2-year deadline).

I don't want to go into everything. It's a mess. My lawyers seem to be a mix of lazy and incompetent. The Enterprise folks are assholes - wouldn't even comp my rental car after the accident (boycott them, please). The girl and the actual renter of the car (John/Jane Doe - we still don't know who they are) are scrambling and making all sorts of weird claims - none of which the police report and traffic court officials support.

This case is a no-brainer. But obviously my lawyers have even fewer than 0 brains, or this would've been settled by now. So frustrating. Aaargh!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, thank heavens I'm a Hertz girl. Hope it all works out!

Chris said...

Lawyers would appear to be the same the world over!
Let's hope justice prevails eventually.

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
- (William Shakespeare, King Henry the Fourth, Part II)

Anonymous said...

Like the old riddle: Q.: What's 100 dead lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A.: A damn good start.

Why is it that in this land of make-believe rule of law and justice, yada yada, it always seems the scumbags and scabs win, or at least get off without penalty of consequence?

Unknown said...

Hey - I'm a lawyer. We're not all bad !

MaryB said...

Not to worry, Charlie - I don't think all lawyers are bad. Only bad lawyers are bad. (I have lots of good lawyer friends - wish I'd gotten their advice before signing with the ones that I did!)

Thanks for the support, all. I'll keep you posted on how things turn out. If they ever turn out.