Insurance company is suing ME for their own screwups after a crash — is this even legal?

I went through something similar — not identical, but close enough. The other party's insurer came after me for an amount that felt completely made up until I started pulling the actual receipts. Turns out there were weeks of storage fees baked in that happened entirely because of their own slow processing. I pushed back in writing and the number dropped significantly before anything went to court. Document everything and don't just pay because they send a scary letter.

This is a classic move. They send a big scary demand hoping you'll just pay or settle fast because fighting it feels overwhelming. They are absolutely counting on you not reading the fine print. The fact that you actually audited the file puts you miles ahead of most people in your position. Don't let them bully you into paying for their administrative laziness.

Okay so I used to work on the claims side and I'll be honest — delays like the one you're describing between the loss date and the auction notification? That happens more than people realize, and it's almost always an internal workflow problem, not anything the claimant caused. The frustrating part is those storage costs still get bundled into the subrogation demand automatically by the system. It doesn't mean they're legally defensible, it just means nobody manually reviewed it. You flagging it is exactly the right move.

The 'failure to mitigate' argument is very real in subrogation cases — courts have reduced or thrown out portions of demands when the insurer clearly let costs accumulate through inaction. The key is showing the timeline with actual documentation: when the loss happened, when they took action, and what costs accrued in between. If you have those invoices showing the gap, that's your evidence. The medical discrepancy versus what the police report says is also worth highlighting — that kind of inconsistency can undermine their credibility on the whole claim. Just make sure everything is in writing when you respond.

Not legal advice, but what you're describing — a documented delay causing storage costs, a total loss determination that may not have met the applicable threshold, and medical damages that appear inconsistent with the accident report — those are legitimate grounds to contest portions of a subrogation claim. Whether you do that yourself or with help probably depends on the total amount at stake. A lot of PI attorneys will at least do a free consult on subrogation disputes, so it may be worth a conversation before you respond to them.

Send them a written dispute before you do anything else. Lay out exactly what you found — the timeline gap, the total loss math, the medical question mark — and tell them you're contesting those specific line items. Don't pay, don't ignore it, and don't call them and talk informally. Written only. This creates a record.

The medical piece would bother me too. 'No apparent injuries' and 'no airbags deployed' in the police report doesn't always mean zero medical expenses — sometimes soft tissue stuff shows up later — but the insurer should be able to clearly explain what those costs are actually for and tie them to the accident. A vague lump number with no breakdown is not an answer. Ask them to itemize it.

This sounds so exhausting and stressful, I'm sorry you're dealing with it. The fact that you went through all that paperwork and actually found real discrepancies says a lot — most people would just panic and pay. Please don't go through this alone if you don't have to. Even one conversation with a lawyer could make a huge difference.

Genuinely though — the fact that you found this stuff means you're already in a better position than 90% of people who get these demands. Most folks either ignore it or fold immediately. You have actual ammunition here. That's not nothing.