ADDRESS
January 15, 2009
Senators/Representatives
Representative
RE: SC Drivers without Insurance
Dear Senators, Representatives and Members of Congress:
I am writing this letter regarding a very important matter in South Carolina that I have been personally effected by and that is drivers who drive on the state highways, rural routes, interstates, and everywhere else possible in South Carolina without automobile insurance.
On September 23, 2003, a driver, Samuel Darko, an engineering graduate student at USC, originally from Ghana rear-ended me in an automobile accident at the intersection of Huger Street and Blossom Street in Columbia, South Carolina. It had been a rainy day, but it was not currently raining and the accident happened at approximately 8:00 AM on a Wednesday morning. I was headed to work and it was my first week and first job as a paralegal (after I graduated from a paralegal program in college). I was stopped in the left hand turning lane on Huger Street, when I looked up and Mr. Darko’s jeep plummeted into my 2000 Ford Mustang. He did about $900.00 worth of damage to my bumper, but yet hit me so hard that I was moved from my current position (behind the line) into the intersection while my feet were on the brakes. I was moved so much that we literally had to place our cars in reverse and back them up to avoid being hit by oncoming traffic.
Prior to this accident, I had had back surgery to fix a herniated disc at L5-S1 in December, the preceding year. When Mr. Darko hit me, I immediately felt intense pain throughout my neck and my back and down both legs. Prior to the accident I only had pain in my back, left hip and left leg. Now I was having new pain. The pain was in my neck and right shoulder going down my right arm. The pain in my left leg, left hip and back was even more intense than I ever could have expected it to be and now, I was having pain in my right leg, and right hip.
I tried to step out of the car to look at the damage and make sure Mr. Darko was okay, but as I stepped out my leg gave away and I went to the ground, hovering over my legs. I pulled myself up in my car and leaned the seat back. Mr. Darko would later portray me at trial as “bending over to pick something up, smoking a cigarette, and laughing at the matter”. A car accident is no laughing matter, and in fact I was crying, lying back in the seat, calling 911 and my parents. I never bent over or smoked a cigarette as he told “a jury of my peers”.
It turns out through diagnostic testing that I re-injured my spine at the same level I had surgery, a level above that (L4-5), the mid back (T11-12) and my neck at C5-6. I had to find another neurosurgeon, because my current neurosurgeon would not see me because I had been in a motor vehicle accident, or so I was told. When he finally saw me he told me I had a chronic pain syndrome and refused to treat me. I luckily found a caring and wonderful neurosurgeon in Charleston, South Carolina who was able to take away completely all of my low back pain, bilateral leg and hip pain. This wonderful doctor is Dr. Byron N. Bailey of MUSC. He was able to help me with a postrolateral lumbar interior fusion with spinal instrumentation. This surgery totaled $99,502.00. I later must have something similar done to my neck to correct the disk problem there.
Mr. Darko did not have insurance, so since I was a reasonable person and did have insurance, I sought to seek recovery of my medical bills, lost wages, and prescription costs (I never sought pain and suffering) through the Uninsured portion of my policy. Two cars were on my policy at $50,000.00 a piece, which combined and stacked would be equivalent to $100,000.00. I felt I deserved this money, because I had sustained an injury which made me worse as a result of Mr. Darko hitting me, endured surgery, physical therapy, falls due to my leg giving way, lost wages, and prescription costs. My total bills were over the policy limits and at trial this week I asked for approximately $151,600.00.
Due to the way the law is constructed, my insurance, Progressive Northern Insurance Company hired an attorney from Murphy and Grantland to protect it’s Uninsured Motorist Coverage and thus became Mr. Darko’s attorney in court. I paid for this Uninsured Motorist Coverage every month for years and never went without insurance, so naturally I felt like I was being penalized for what I felt was rightfully mine. I hired an attorney, and we proceeded with the case.
On January 12, 2009 I was called to trial. The “jury of my peers” could not hear the truth about Mr. Darko and the fact that he did not have insurance on his vehicle at the time he hit me. They were lied to and told by Mr. Grantland that he was his attorney. The jury was given the idea that Mr. Darko had to pay money and retain Mr. Grantland, all while a Progressive Northern insurance adjuster sat in the back of the courtroom watching.
The trial lasted until Tuesday, January 13, 2009, and ended in favor of the Defendant, Samuel Darko. At the trial, Mr. Darko lied on the stand, admitted fault, but told everyone that I was laughing, smoking and having a all around good time at the accident scene, yet he tried to help the ambulance personnel place me on a backboard, and they told him no. When I was on the backboard and in preparation to be transferred to Lexington Medical Center, Mr. Darko kissed my hand and told me that he was so sorry and that he would be praying for me.
Weeks following the accident, Mr. Darko begged to meet me to discuss what happened. I had hired an attorney at that point because I was injured. He begged me to set up a meeting with him and my attorney because he was so upset that he would be deported due to this and was upset he received a ticket for driving too fast for conditions. He even told me he was having trouble sleeping and at times was crying because of the incident.
Mr. Darko lied to the police officer at the scene of the accident and at no time did he tell the truth about his insurance status. He informed the officer he had insurance with AllState and was never ticketed for not having insurance even after I called the police officer and informed him that he in fact, did not have insurance. This was never said to the jury either. The jury was purely there to determine proximate cause in this accident.
My frustration comes from this simply. I was wronged by getting hit by an uninsured driver and as a result had to endure painful procedures, medical bills, lost wages and prescription bills. I went to court and apparently, no one could inform the jury of the truth to start with. No one on the jury could know that Mr. Grantland was in fact, my car insurance’s attorney and not really there to protect Mr. Darko, he was there to protect the Uninsured Motorist Coverage that I had paid for as part of my insurance policy. Mr. Darko did not receive anything, nor did he have to pay for anything either. He did not have to pay to retain an attorney, he did not have to pay for my car repairs, deductible, EMS billing, medical bills, surgery bills, the back brace I was not allowed to take off for 5 months, lost wages, and prescription bills.
Had the jury known the truth, that Mr. Darko did not have insurance at the time and this was really my car insurance company going against me for something I paid for, then I am sure the outcome would have been different. Mr. Darko was allowed to get on the stand and lie in a court of law and there was nothing anyone could do to him. He never received a letter suspending his license, never had to pay higher insurance rates, and never received any kind of punishment for driving without insurance.
There has got to be stiffer penalties for drivers who drive uninsured. That is where you come in. This guy who hit me, who is not even an American citizen, was able to lie, cheat, and weasel his way out of paying one dime when in fact he had hurt me worse, damaged my car, and didn’t even have to pay the cost of insurance, just because he didn’t want it. Car insurance is a must for anyone and anywhere. There is absolutely no reason to drive without it. It does not protect you or anyone else if you don’t drive without it. More importantly it is the law, and nothing was done to him when he violated it, much like nothing was done to him when he placed his hand on the bible in court, was placed under oath and lied. I will do everything in my power to have stiffer penalties for persons who drive without insurance. I am hoping you agree with some of the ideas I have proposed and possibly put them before the appropriate Congressional Panel to have stiffer penalties. Thoughts on penalties for driving without insurance include, but are not limited to the following:
1. A mandatory fine;
2. Treat the situation much like a DUS (Driving Under Suspension), and take the person to jail for driving without insurance;
3. Establish some sort of call center or protocol so police officers when swiping or entering driver’s license information may in turn also be able to determine what kind and exactly what dates the driver is covered under what insurance;
4. Once convicted of driving without insurance, treat it the same as a DUS (ie: if it is the first time for a particular offender establish it as a Driving Uninsured 1st Offense, if it is the second time, Driving Uninsured 2nd Offense, and so on) with the fines/jail time increasing with every conviction; and
5. Require ADSAP or some sort of driving course for persons driving uninsured.
Also, members of a jury should be able to hear that the driver was uninsured. It not only deceives the jury by not telling them the truth about what happened before hand, but it establishes a reason why you feel you would need to seek damages. Instead of it appearing as though, I was a vicious American suing a person from Ghana who hit me for a lot of money, let the jury know the truth. I simply am a person who had insurance and wants what is rightfully mine, my uninsured motorist coverage which I was denied.
In addition to this I believe the automobile insurance company should be required to submit an offer of settlement at least for your economic damages such as medical bills, lost wages, prescription bills due to the accident, especially if the person has to pay a deductible and it is clear they were injured. The fact that Progressive Northern Insurance Company did not pay my medical bills related to this accident, plus prescription and lost wages shows extreme bad faith on the part of the insurance company. I believe that if an insurance company has so many complaints, which are founded, they should have the ability to sell insurance within the state revoked.
I realize that none of the circumstances and facts that I’ve described as a result of this accident are any of your faults. I am just a concerned 28 year old, South Carolinian who has been affected by someone who felt the need to be ignorant and disobey the law. You, are the lawmakers and thus have the ability to make laws with stiffer punishments for offenders of this. This not only places the people who have car insurance in financial hardship because they are stuck with the medical billing, they have lost time from work and the incident was not our fault, thus we should not have to be the one’s to have that financial burden because none of us asked for this to happen.
I thank you sincerely for your time and attention to this matter. I appreciate you reviewing this letter as well as my concerns on the matter and would appreciate any Bills, comments, suggestions, or any views you may have on this situation. If you need to contact me you may do so at (803) XXX-XXXX.
Again, I appreciate your time, as I know you all are very busy individuals with lives and I just want to make South Carolina a better state for victims of this and better for everyone on the roadways.
Awaiting your response, I am
Very truly yours,
TNA
tnamick@hotmail.com
TNA
cc: CEO, Progressive Northern Insurance Co.
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