The Agrinautica

   So as you may recall, 13 months ago I was out driving when I encountered about a dozen cattle on the roadway, which totalled my car. Around about 7 months later the farmer's insurance company finally concluded that it wasn't their fault.

   They said one cow was an "act of god" as it may have jumped the fence. So I sent them a picture of the dozen other cattle on the road. And they wrote back saying it was unprovable that the other cattle belonged to their client, and they additionally cited a bunch of case law they claimed supported their position. At that point I'm sure they expected me to succumb to being bamboozled by all the legalese and case law. But this actually gave me a bit of satisfaction, as I researched the cited cases and cited them right back to them, plus a few more, as to why they did not have a legal argument that would stand up in court and should settle (once upon a time long ago I was very pre-law so this was a taste of the life that could have been). I am quite pleased with this email:
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   Then they didn't respond for a week so I engaged a lawyer of my own. They estimated it could potentially cost $8,000 if the case goes into litigation, which you'll note is more than is in dispute, but I was feeling stubborn about not letting the insurance company get away with this. And if I won the other side would have to pay my legal fees, but if I lost I'd have to pay theirs or if it settled without going to court I'd be stuck with my own legal fees ... so it was all not without substantial risk.

   For the next few weeks it slowly progressed, with the occasional question about this or that from my lawyers. Then this past November 21st I received an email from the other side saying they were ready to settle but couldn't get ahold of my lawyers, and they had about a page of extremely quibbling questions about why we had revised the amount we were asking for from $6,100 to $6,300 and some other inconsequential quibbles about things that had been explained in context at the time, and including "You initially submitted 2 quotes for repairs of the vehicle: [...] Therefore, the vehicle was repairable."

   I don't know why my lawyer was AWOL, Ii couldn't get ahold of him either, though the firm seemed in the midst of changing their name and stuff. Anyway, once I got ahold of my lawyer again and confirmed they were still on it I sent this extremely satisfying email to the other side:

Hi Preetee

Yes i am still represented by them. Please be aware that they have changed their name to Sewells Lawyers and their email addresses now end in that name, eg [...]@sewellslawyers.com.au

As to your earlier question expressing confusion that I had submitted repair estimates and also the value of the car; the universal definition of a totalled car is when the cost of repairs exceed the value of the car. Hence yes it's theoretical "repairable" but totalled nontheless. You are welcome to reimburse me the $7,063.82 average repair estimate rather than the $6,300 vehicle value estimate if you feel strongly on that point though.

I presume you actually know the definition of a car being totalled and are in less-than-good-faith trying to vexatiously waste my time. I would thank you not to do so.

On any account please direct further correspondence to Shaun at Shelley Lawyers and please do not waste his time.

Thank you,
Sincerely,
Kris Fricke

   And about 48 hours later I had an email (from someone else at their firm) with a solid settlement offer of $5,800. I confirmed with my lawyer that this was a good idea, and then immediately signed and submitted it to them. And the money has arrived in my account just today!

   AND there was one last concern, how much did I owe my lawyer? I feared it might be at least a significant portion of $5,800 ... nope it turns out I owe my lawyer $418.


   So in conclusion conclusion, while this was all very regrettable, it caused me an undue amount of stress (honestly I mean it wasn't like it ruined my year but it collectively made me feel annoyed and/or in a bad mood for several dozens of hours), and having to drive a smashed up car, deal with mechanics, shop for a new car, and all that came with that was just as irksome, and of course let us not forget the poor deceased cow, but I did get some enjoyment from the opportunity to send the other side snarky rejoinders. It's unclear how much of winning my case was actually my own doing and how much was my lawyers -- I think the other side wasn't prepared to take a non-lawyer seriously but I don't think my lawyer really did particularly much other than deliver my arguments on letterhead. Anyway, I cynically don't generally expect things to shake out in my favor but in this case, at the end of the day, I won!