Tapped someone at a red light, now there's a lawsuit for way more than makes sense

Oh man, I went through almost this exact thing two years ago. Low-speed parking lot bump, and the other driver ended up suing me for an amount that made my jaw drop. My insurer assigned me a defense attorney as part of my coverage — did yours do that yet? That was the moment I actually started breathing again. The insurance company has a financial interest in defending you too, so they're not just going to roll over.

I worked claims for years. A demand that high on a minor impact with no police report and no ambulance on scene is going to be very hard for them to support in front of a jury or even a mediator. Adjusters see these inflated demands constantly. What matters is the medical documentation they can actually produce — if the treatment records don't match the story, the number deflates fast. Your insurer's negotiating position is probably stronger than they're letting on.

A few things worth knowing: first, your insurance policy almost certainly requires them to provide you a defense attorney at no cost to you up to your policy limits — that's standard. Second, "excess judgment" liability (meaning you personally owe what's above your limits) is real but relatively rare in minor-impact cases. It usually only becomes an issue if your insurer acted in bad faith during settlement talks, which is a whole separate thing. Make sure you've sent that court paperwork to your insurer in writing and have confirmation they received it.

Not legal advice, but: the gap between a scraped bumper and a massive pain-and-suffering demand is exactly the kind of thing that tends to collapse under scrutiny — especially if there's no contemporaneous medical treatment, no ER visit, nothing in the first days or weeks. Your insurer's defense lawyer (who should be assigned to you soon if not already) will dig into all of that. The filing of a lawsuit doesn't mean it goes to trial; the vast majority settle somewhere in the process. Focus on staying in close contact with your insurer and responding to everything promptly.

The "ongoing limitations to daily life" language is something I see a lot in these claims. From a medical standpoint, that kind of allegation needs actual documentation — physical therapy records, imaging, physician notes over time. A guy who walked around his truck at the scene and drove away is going to have a hard time producing a convincing medical paper trail for serious injuries. Not impossible, but juries and mediators do pay attention to the timeline.

I just want to say — I can hear how stressed you are and that makes total sense. This feels enormous and unfair. But please try to remember that you have an insurance company whose literal job is to handle this. You're not alone in this room even though it feels that way right now.

Stop spiraling and do three things: (1) confirm in writing that your insurer received the lawsuit documents and is assigning a defense attorney, (2) write down everything you remember about the accident while it's still reasonably fresh, and (3) don't talk to anyone about the case except your insurer and the attorney they assign you. That's it. Everything else is noise right now.