a_olson2012@ymail.com Posted October 18, 2018 Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 HELPPPP!!! okay, ill try to keep this short and detailed! Accident occurred 2 years ago. Insurance adjuster insists I am the 100% responsible party. I disagree. I had several conversations with the insurance adjuster and got her to "reduce the total cost by 15% for possible lack of attention and possible speed being a factor for the other driver". After I got her to admit that much, I knew I had to stick to my guns and not agree to take 100% responsibility. Fast forward to not being able to afford a lawyer (I have 3 small kids, 2 working parents, cost of living is through the roof in NH there was very little wiggle room in our budget) and not being able to find anyone willing to accept pro-bono once hearing the details, I was left to fend for myself. Now here we are 2 years later and I have finally received notice that the lawyer representing the original insurance company has filed in small claims court HERE IS THE KICKER! the paperwork I received states I owe $92,226.75 + filing fees of $145.00 bringing the total to $92,371.75?!?!?!? WHAT IN THE %^#%#$ the original amount back in 2016 was a little over $10,000 After speaking with a representative at the law firm, she confirmed it was in fact a typo. The actual amount should say $9,226.75 HERE IS THE QUESTION! Can I get this whole thing dropped because of this typo???? Small claims court is only supposed to accept charges up to $10,000...... what can I do?!?!?! any help appreciated! TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted October 18, 2018 Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 File a motion to dismiss with "court lacks subject matter jurisdiction" as the grounds. Why isn't your insurance company dealing with this for you? That's *the* reason you pay for insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_olson2012@ymail.com Posted October 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 Thank you for the response What does that mean in simple terms? (Want to be sure I thoroughly understand and I have no experience in court systems) And I was uninsured at the time, unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_olson2012@ymail.com Posted October 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 And would the subject matter jurisdiction be referring to the amount is well over the 10k small claims limit therefore irrelevant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted October 19, 2018 Report Share Posted October 19, 2018 Exactly. There are two types of jurisdictional affirmative defenses - subject matter (type of lawsuit, amount of damages being sought, etc) and personal (sued in wrong court for where you live). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted October 19, 2018 Report Share Posted October 19, 2018 And just FYI, they almost certainly have ~20 days to amend their complaint as a matter of course. And if that's not an option, they'll let it get dismissed and then refile with the correct amount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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