lawsuit result

xz asked about this, so i might as well post it:

what happened about hmc’s lawsuit hearing yesterday?

1. our lawyer, charles bonner didn’t show. he sent some contractor woman lawyer in his place, who had no foreknowledge of the case and just looked over the numbers just before the hearing.
2. an hour and a half before the hearing, the other side offered to settle for the maximum amount the insurance company was liable for, which was $25k. this is far less than the damages claimed of $150k, and even less than actual medical bills and lost income of $50k. however, this was a switch as they stopped trying to deny liability.
3. the hearing was pretty much a formality, and the arbiters kept trying to get hmc to accept the settlement, which the lawyer had warned her (against).
4. at one point, the arbiter asked the rent-a-lawyer a question, and she said, “hey, i don’t know! i’m just a contractor doing a favor for charles bonner!”
5. the arbiter said that above and beyond the insurance company’s $25k offer, to recoup more would involve starting a separate civil suit against the other woman, trying to go after her assets if she has any. and then even if won, would be very costly and long in trying to actually get money out of any decision.
6. the other option would be to go after our own insurance, which may have coverage for uninsured/underinsured motorist.
7. it turns out charles bonner really now specializes in racial/gender employment discrimination cases. in fact, he was in sacramento dealing with such a case. instead of in san francisco. dealing with ours.
8. next steps are that the “lawyers” are going to do some investigation to see if the other party has any assets to go after, and then decide from there the next course of action.

so it’s done, but not really done. at worst we get 2/3 of $25k minus fees for making copies of all the documentation that we compiled and wrote. it’s not much but it’s something i guess.