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Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident

By Jeralyn, Section Sam Alito
Posted on Thu Dec 01, 2005 at 03:37:12 PM EST
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What do we make of the news today that Judge Alito was once a defendant in a civil suit for damages resulting from a traffic accident in which his wife was the driver and which was settled for an undisclosed sum?

When it comes to personal injury lawsuits, you can't really judge a lawsuit by its pleadings. The plaintiff will put his injuries in the most severe light while the defendant will say it wasn't his fault and the plaintiff wasn't really hurt that bad. Still, the disparity between the plaintiff's complaint and Judge Alito's explanation warrants further examination.

  • The Plaintiff's version at the time of the suit:

The plaintiff, Susan Gerish, sustained severe and permanent injuries; suffered, still suffers, and will in the future suffer great pain and anguish," Gerish said in her legal brief.

  • Judge Alito's version in his questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee:

"My wife and another motorist were involved in a minor traffic accident on June 9, 2000.

A fender bender with severe and permanent injuries? I hope for the plaintiff's sake she wasn't badly hurt and that Judge Alito correctly described the accident as "minor." But it's a question that needs asking to make sure that Judge Alito didn't gloss his questionnaire.

I'll be discussing Judge Alito on The Majority Report with Sam Sedar tonight at 8:34pm ET. Atrios is on tonight's show as well (probably not at the same time) and Steve Clemons of the Washington Note will be on at 7:50 pm. You can listen in live here.

One more question: Why was there a lawsuit? Why wasn't this handled by their respective insurance companies? Why were the Alitos sued personally?

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    Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident | 10 comments (10 topical)
    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:34 PM EST
    jimcee:
    Pitiful, but better than nothing
    I was going to observe that same applied to your post. But on second thoughts, nothing would have been better.

    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:35 PM EST
    The language used by the plaintiff is common even in minor accident cases. The reason the case didn't settle is probably because the plaintiff was asking too much. Also, the defendants are always named individually even though it's the insurance company technically who is footing the bills and will ultimately pay.

    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:35 PM EST
    I'm a liberal, but this sounds like more smoke than fire to me. In answer to the questions: Why was there a lawsuit? Lots of reasons -- statute of limitations approaching, the adjustor for Alito's insurance company was unreasonable, the insurance company wasn't willing to settle without going through the discovery process or seeing that the Plaintiff was serious enough to file suit (many Plaintiffs simply don't). Note also, that an insured is not allowed to settle the case without insurance company permission. To do so forfeit's insurance coverage. Why wasn't this handled by their respective insurance companies? Auto accidents are typically handled by an injured Plaintiff, who is not covered at all by his or her own insurance company outside a no fault state, who retains a personal injury lawyer working on a contingent fee basis, who contacts the other driver (future defendant) and the other driver's insurance company, try to reach a deal, and often do not for the reasons described above. Why were the Alitos sued personally? Most states, Colorado included, do not allow a Plaintiff to bring a direct suit against an insurance company (a special rule applies in certain probate cases). The suit alleges that the at fault driver was negligent. The insurance company offers of a defense of the at fault driver and pays according to terms and conditions (such as policy limits) set forth in the policy. He was likely sued under the "family car doctrine" that holds as "head of household" responsible, despite a lack of actual fault, for all injuries caused by someone driving a "family car", that is the doctrine in Colorado and many other states. Whether it was actually a minor injury or not is likely better revealed by the settlement amount than the allegations of the Complaint. Severe and permanent injuries could be whiplash and stiffness, or could be paralysis from the neck down for life. Settlements for soft tissue injuries, despite the fact that they often have life long effects and impair daily living, frequently result in zero or low jury awards because juries tend to be skeptical of them.

    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#3)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:35 PM EST
    My neighbor's dog bit another neighbor about a year ago. The bit party was advised by her attorney to sue the dog's owners personally so as to get the maximum amount of money from the dog owner's insurance co.

    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#4)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:35 PM EST
    Why was there a lawsuit?
    See below.
    Why wasn't this handled by their respective insurance companies?
    What if the insurace company tried to lowball the plaintiff. That's a common practice. In personal dealings with insurance companies, they have acknowledged receiving medical records 2 times, and later tried to come back and say that they never received medical records so could not make an offer. It's a big game to insurance comapnies. Why were the Alitos sued personally? The law may have not allowed suit to go against the company. Here in TX you have to sue the owner of the policy, you can't sue the policy directly

    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#5)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:35 PM EST
    This seems like pretty thin gruel for the Left to try to dine-out on but I guess it is better than nothing. Pitiful, but better than nothing...I guess.

    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:35 PM EST
    While I'm not barred in NJ (one of the rare states that doesn't have reciprocity with anyplace else), I've dealt with enough NJ car insurance companies (as Philadelphia is right across the river) and seen enough NJ pleadings floating around firms I've worked in that I can answer this. In New Jersey, when you buy a car insurance policy, you have the choice of spending less money and buying a "limited tort" policy, which only allows you to sue if you suffer serious and permanent damages in an accident. As New Jersey has an extremely high requirement for the amount of Personal Injury Protection on any policy (no-fault insurance, used to pay medical bills without the need for litigation)-- something around $250k, IIRC-- most non-commercial drivers choose to save a thousand or more bucks a year (NJ has some of the highest car insurance rates in the country) and go limited tort. I would suspect that the person who hit Alito's car had limited tort, and the "serious and permanent" stuff in the pleading is to establish a basis for exceeding the tort threshold. (The serious and permanent threshold is generally something like badly herniated discs or broken bones that reduce mobility permanently). And, as BigTex says, in NJ (in PA and DE as well), you sue the driver, and the insurance company then enters appearance to defend him or her. I don't think this case is much of a big deal, unless someone gets ahold of the accident report or medical records and discovers that it wasn't a minor accident.

    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:35 PM EST
    I got sued by a golddigger for 1 million after a fender bender when I was 18. They also sued my parents for a million each because the car was in their name. This makes me feel sympathy for Alito. Though you know the suit is bogus, the insurance companies only cover you for a couple hundred grand, and the threat of losing your home to some lying golddigger is a lot of unnecessary stress. In my case, the insurance company refused to settle and we went to trial. A jury of my peers found the plaintiff 100% at fault for the accident. Vindication never tasted so sweet.

    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#10)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:37 PM EST
    Excellent idea BB. Three other ideas: 1) Go after attorney's who do not procede in good faith. Damage amounts should be left out of the equation, since finder benders can have freaky injuries... espically if rear ending is involved. Wothout the deatils about Kdog's accident it is not possible to know if there is a good faith reason to procede, but with the P being found 100% liable it seems questionable that they were proceding in good faith. Make the attorney liable for proceding on bad faith, and then the system will slowly, but surely be purged of the dishonorable members who mire the process. 2) Hold attorney's liable for not protecting the D's interest when in trial. All too often because the insruance co is paying the fee the atty will bow to the insurance co's wishes rather than the defendant's wishes. 3) Pass legislation giving civil defendants the right to testify in their own cases. If suddenly there is a rash of defendants saying yeah, I would have settled, but the insurance company didn't want to, you would see insurance comapnies being hit with punative damages, and that would make themn more willing to settle legitimate claims brought forth to them. In turn, that will remove cases from the system. Some P's are gold digging. Some are innocent victims who are getting the run around from the insurance co. Hold all parties accountable for their actions, not just the litigants, and the system will clean up in a hurry.

    Re: Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Sep 12, 2006 at 02:13:00 AM EST
    paydayloan

    Judge Alito Sued Over Wife's Traffic Accident | 10 comments (10 topical)