My car with my son and wife was ploughed in from rear by a Silverado (Some hispanic busy texting) this past monday while they were coming home from our son's school. As a result of the first impact, our car hit another SUV, which has stopped to take left turn and my wife stopped too. Car is tottaled.

I have already filed the claim, hired a lawyer and currently treating my family.

I would like to sue - any suggestions would be appreciated.

SR

 I hope you had your police report.. since it's a rear end collision.. u dont have to worry about anything.. at all.. just get the medical treatment everything is gonna be paid by the insurance of the other party..  Also there is something called PIP (Personal Injury Protection) that makes all the medical payments despite of whose fault is it.. so dont worry at all for the medical treatments... 

And why do  you wanna sue?? is the other party not accepting it is their fault or what?? for me it seems pretty straight forward...

mr.d,

put urself in my shoe for a sec. a father and a husband. too many what if's crossing my mind right now? and the first if is what if that SOB was driving at 45-50 mph - his truck would have easily severed top of the car and imagine the consequences - this thought would not even let me sleep.

i am going after him...

 river, 
if he's wiling to pay for the damages, why do you need to sue him? will that get you more money? if it will, then you are nothing but a greedy man. if it doesn't then there's no point in suing him because that is not going to undo what has happened.
and i'd like to suggest you to put yourself on that man's scenario for a while - you hit other's wife and kid, and agree to cover all expenses but if they still sure you, how do you feel? be grateful that nothing too serious happened to your family. 

its not abt greed...he will walk free with no back ache, neck pain, knee cap ache, throbbing headache and the list goes on after the settlement. once a thief always a thief - he might do it again. 

but will my family ever walk free of these pains esp. my wife? not to mention the mental torture.

you might wanna google and check how such collisions have impacted lives of people and their families. the pains may disappear temporarily but will come back esp. whiplash.

his feelings ...ha.. what abt our sufferings and pain? i do not think you can weigh such emotions with monetory value.

its abt reminding him his mistake everyday so before he raises his tattoed arms/hands to pick his phone to text - he will think 100 times.

SR

You can try on that thing but there is very less chances of getting anything ! If the guy is paying for all medical and car tottaled money you wil have no strong base to fight with him ! This kind of incident happens always in US , if they all run for suing it will busy traffic on court !  Last week i had same incident ! i hit a car with a family with 6 month kid. But the impact was not like yours , i just touched the bumber very slowly and what i did was pay 200 Cash on scene without cops and insurance and flee away ! I was lucky i guess !

its not luck - the damage was minimal.

 the damage was minimal because facebook was lucky not the other way round.
go sue him and see if you'll be able to change that man's driving habit. but i think all you'll do is make him mad since he is paying for the damage caused. if i were you i'd make him pay the expenses (as he's already agreed to do so) and walk my way. and about the physical and mental damage your wife and your whole family had to face - time will heal all kinds of wounds. if you ride a horse, be prepared to fall and if you fall, get back on your feets and walk away. bad things happen even when you are careful (like what happened to your wife and kid) and that's what's we call bad luck. 
btw, what's the point of this thread? just to let everyone in sajha know that you've hired a lawyer and you're suing the man? 

As far as I understand, even if you sue, the case will be handled by his insurance company. So in the best case, you will get some extra money for settlement for your extra effort. He will most likely not be bothered at all! But of course I'm no expert. So I would suggest to get counsel from some lawyer to see if you have a good case.

janterai,

i don't know where u getting at! here we get advices and suggestions, instructions and moreover share good and bad news amongst fellowmen. if u have some advice, share it - if NOT just ignore this thread instead of wasting ur precious time. 

Thanks others though!

I did consult with local friends and the lawyer - they all agree I should but wait few more weeks. i started this thread so i could get the feel what fellowmen would think or act in similar situation.

salud.

I understand your feeling, SNOWFED_RIVER. If the driver is reimbursing your medical bills, and the expense for the irrepairable losses, then what r u sueing him for? Do you want him to go to jail? Do you want him to pay more? What do you want the court to do that will satisfy you? If you r thinking of money, then certainly with the help of a lawyer, u can get few hundreds to thousand more. This money will be paid by his insurance company so the driver will not even know. If you want him to see him in jail then I dont think that will happen just because u decided to drag him to court. Of course, if he was driving without license or if it is a case of DUI then the story changes. Even then, u dont have to sue; police will prosecute as per the law.............

 Accidents can happen to anyone anywhere. Police know, judge know, DA knows, everybody knows. If the driver had a valid driver's license, insurance, and was not driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the maximum penalty for him is a citation. His insurance company will take care of your wife's car and her medicals. You can sue for the damages you were left uncovered. If the judge finds the insurance company been helpful and timely in accomodating you, case dismissed!!!!