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Ty Vil
09-16-2003, 04:46 AM
My first day posting again and I have bad news

my first full day posting again and I have bad news

At 9:30 on the evening of July 31, 2003 I was driving on a road in the city that makes a sharp curve to the right or an “S” turn. It was dark and almost immediately after coming out of the second curve and resuming a straight course my car hit a severe bump in the road. There were no visible warning signs and since it was dark and I was just coming out of a corner I had no way of knowing of the obstacle in the road until my car hit it. I want to put emphasis on that I was doing the speed limit

Going back the next day to take pictures we discovered:

A city work crew or crew that has contracted to the city dug out a portion of the street leaving a severe bump. A more accurate description would be a small curb. The city erected warning signs on the street for traffic going in each direction. I didn’t see any sign in the east bound lane. My father & I returned to the site on the following evening before dark to take pictures. At that time we discovered the east bound sign laying face down. When we set it up we discovered that the support legs were in the shape of a narrow tripod. By contrast the west bound sign had a tripod stand with a wide base. The east bound sign stood for about 30 seconds until the breeze from the first passing car caused it to topple face first. That's what happened to my warning sign.

Took pictures of the whole scene described the incident in detail and sent it all to the city. I got a bid for the damage to my car. Other then the turn signal popping out and leaving a small ding in my front fender theres no damage you can see. However I did bend all 4 wheels and trash my front strut towers and front suspension and a few other things to the tune of $5200. Took forever to get the bid from Rasmussen BMW, had to go back twice because they had to tear the car apart to find out what was messed up and get the part numbers for my Schnitzer suspension. Sent the bid and everything to the city. They were very kind however, the job was the responsibility of a private contractor. The city sent my claim to the contractor last week and now I'm waiting to find out what they're going to do. If they don't pay for it, I'll turn it into my insurance company and let them go after the city.

SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN???
I haven't had my car since the first of August and I have no idea when I'm going to be getting it back.

OH but my attorney did win both my ticket cases that I got in May 8 days apart from the same cop. BASTARD

Cruzmisl
09-16-2003, 05:37 AM
Sucks dude. Saw your car at HIN in Seattle and it was beautiful.

Hope you get it all sorted out...

Ty Vil
09-29-2003, 03:02 PM
Still waiting on the idiots at Western States Paving company. Now waiting for a lettter that was supposed to go out last week. I'm still stuck driving a Ford Taurus although I should get the E30 back soon. I'm getting very frustrated to put it lightly.

SilverStreak
09-29-2003, 05:26 PM
Please watch the language in the Main Forums. :cop:

Ty Vil
09-30-2003, 04:36 PM
Got a certified letter from the paving company. Somehow they decided they aren't liable. Most likely going to the attorney for it now.

98323iConv
10-01-2003, 03:36 AM
That sucks man. I'd get the lawyer to not oly sue for the damage to your car which is clearly your fault, but also for the fees you had to pay to extract the money out of them (ie: the lawyer). I don't see how you couldn't win unless they could somehow prove that your speed was a factor or that the sign really was visable.

Ty Vil
12-03-2003, 09:52 PM
UPDATE:

It's been four months now that I haven't been able to drive my car and I just got word from my attorney whose been dealing with the paving company that they're talking about settling to avoid being sued.

This leaves me a few options, settle take the money get my car fixed and get away. Or sue them go for more money and risk losing, and if I do win I'll still have to try and get them to pay my attorney fees, that's a big gamble.

The bid to get my car fixed is $5000, I'm thinking about offering to settle for that much plus my attorney fees. While this wouldn't cover my loss of use for my car for the last four months it would get this ordeal over and get me back on the road. This includes my new front suspension plus replacing my four rims at $525 each.

Any advice from the community?

SilverBeam
12-04-2003, 12:49 AM
Try and settle for a little more. Hell, you were missing your car for five months, you deserve a little money to ease over the pain. If they wont' settle for at least 6K + attorney fees, take the bare min... its better than nothing. That is, unless you think you have an airtight case against them.

Jyep
12-04-2003, 03:26 AM
add in emotional distress while you're at it.

Sure sounds like you have a good case; depends on whether your lawyers are up to it or not........good luck:wave:

tEckniks
12-04-2003, 03:28 AM
sorry to hear

Ty Vil
12-04-2003, 12:50 PM
They offered to settle for $4900 (Rasmussen tore apart the car and checked out everything twice to get this number so I'm very confident with it) which is the cost to fix my car including buying four new rims at $525 each. I'm sick of this ordeal and while I would've liked to get loss of use they weren't willing to settle for a dollar more then that and trial would've been much more expensive and a gamble to say the least.

So I took it. I should have a check early next week. Figure two weeks to order parts and another to put it all together and I'll just be really happy if I have it by the first of the year.

My next project is unless I waived the right to it, to start writing letters to the better business bureau, the state of washington DOT and the city of vancouver and clark county. I hope this company never gets another paving contract again.

SilverBeam
12-04-2003, 01:32 PM
what about paying for the lawyer, will that have to come out of your own pocket? COngrats on the settlement, though. YOur car will be back on the road soon enough :) and you will wonder how you ever went so long without her.