I've seen so many people go to the ER in the ambulance to "get checked out" after ridiculously minor crashes, it's pathetic. I totally get that you can be hurt without it being visible, and I've been sore after crashes, but some of the miniscule traffic bumps that people claim they're hurt from are just unbelievable. That ambulance ride from the scene is going to generate a bill right away that they're certainly not going to want to pay themselves, and that's just starting the process. It's discouraging watching people act that way.
I was named in a suit for a crash once (on duty) and two people not even in the car, the husbands of two women in the car, were added into the suit for the $50,000 limit each for "loss of companionship and consortium." In layman's terms, they couldn't get none from their old ladies after the supposed injuries suffered by their women, so they thought that was worth $50K apiece! The city attorney successfully defended on that case, I think their car was fixed and maybe the ride to the ER was paid, and eventually I got a call from a lawyer representing the plaintiff's lawyer, because the plaintiffs were now suing him claiming malpractice! That's the kind of crap that makes insurance expensive.
It's not just this^ crap!
I had an employee driving one of my trucks. He was completely stopped at a stop sign on a "one-way" two lane road with an old guy completely stopped aside him. Both were waiting for the opportunity to move. My driver was going to turn right, and the old guy was presumably going to go straight (across the perpendicular roadway and turn left). The old guy decided out of the blue, and from a dead stop to move to the right lane (he decided to turn right instead of trying to go across the busy street), bumping my truck on the driver side door. From a dead stop and 2 feet apart from my truck, mind you. He basically steered into my truck at 2 mph. The damage was so insignificant it was almost not worth worrying about.
BUT; my driver, instantly and obviously genetically programmed to; said the impact hurt his knee and he couldn't walk. OK. fine! I know he's full of ****, but business protocol mandates that I take his claim serious. He demands to go to the hospital (of course), and plays that horse **** for all he's worth. Not only does he hire a scumbag ambulance chaser to try to crucify the old guys insurance, he gets some scumbag phony hood doctor to sign off on his phony injury, and guess what? Can no longer work! Now he's going after my Worker's Comp; and get's it.
If any of you don't know what happens next, shame on you. The gist of it is, he gets paid from the old guys insurance and my worker's comp; and guess who ultimately pays for all of it? Me and the old guy in hiked rates!
The happy ending if any is this **** bag employee didn't work for 6 months, and ended up only getting $3,000 after the vultures took their cut.
This screw job is playing out every single day here in this crap hole, and none of these scumbag politicians give a rats ass as long as they get campaign contributions from the lawyers and phony doctors, and votes from their scumbag surrogates perpetuating the frauds!