What If the At-Fault Driver's Lawyer Ignores Your Claim?
When an insurer or defense attorney refuses to respond, filing suit and using court deadlines is how you force the case forward.
You were hit by someone else’s driver. Your lawyer sent the demand, the medical records, the bills, the photos — everything an insurance company needs to evaluate a claim. And then nothing happened. No letter back. No returned phone calls. Weeks pass, then months, and the silence starts to feel personal.
It isn’t personal. But it is a problem, and there is a way to deal with it.
Silence Is a Strategy, Not an Accident
Most injury claims start out as a negotiation, not a lawsuit. Your attorney gathers the evidence, proves liability and damages, and gives the other side a chance to pay what the case is worth without anyone stepping into a courtroom. That’s the efficient path, and it’s the path we try first.
But it only works if there’s someone on the other end willing to pick up the phone. Some companies simply don’t answer. They know that letters cost them nothing to ignore, and they’re betting that an unanswered claim eventually goes away. When a company treats your claim like it doesn’t exist, no amount of additional correspondence changes that. What changes it is a lawsuit.
Why Filing Suit Is Sometimes the Only Way to Get a Response
Filing a lawsuit isn’t a declaration of war. It’s a way of moving your claim from a system where the other side gets to decide whether to participate into one where they don’t. Once a case is in litigation, the defendant has to answer the complaint. They have to respond to written discovery. They have to sit for a deposition and answer questions under oath.
That’s the leverage. Deadlines that a company can ignore before suit is filed become obligations enforceable by a judge afterward.
This is your decision to make. Before a case gets filed, your lawyer should walk you through where things stand, explain that the other side has gone dark, and get your okay. It’s your case and your name on the complaint.
Not Every Defense Lawyer Is a Defense Lawyer
Large insurers usually have a bench of firms they use over and over. If it’s State Farm, the case tends to land with one of about three firms. Progressive uses one or two. Allstate, one or two. Those attorneys handle injury litigation daily, they know the discovery rules, and they generally do the work.
Smaller companies and self-insured businesses don’t always have that setup. Sometimes a case gets handed to whichever lawyer they happen to know — someone whose actual practice is in an entirely different area. That matters to you, because an attorney who doesn’t handle insurance defense may not respond to discovery, may miss things, and may put their own client in a very bad position without meaning to.
That’s why your lawyer should know exactly who is on the other side. Bar association records, Google searches, Instagram, Facebook — if someone is opposing counsel on your case, they should be looked up. Knowing an opponent’s background tells you what to expect and how hard you’ll have to push to keep things moving.
When the Other Side Cancels at the Last Minute
Discovery ignored. Depositions scheduled by agreement, then an email the day before saying the client can’t appear. This is the pattern that unresponsive opponents fall into, and it’s exhausting if you’re the injured person waiting for resolution.
The answer is documentation and persistence. Every unanswered letter, every ignored discovery request, every last-minute cancellation builds a record. Courts have tools for parties who won’t participate, and a well-documented history of non-responsiveness is what puts those tools in play.
What This Means for You
If your claim has stalled, you shouldn’t have to keep waiting for someone who has already shown they won’t answer. Get a lawyer who will file when filing is what the case needs, who knows who’s across the table, and who won’t be worn down by delay tactics. The other side’s refusal to engage is not a reason to give up on your claim — it’s a reason to change how you pursue it.
Full Transcript
Cab driver hit our client. We try to resolve the case without filing a lawsuit, right? But they don’t respond to any of our letters, they don’t respond to any of our phone calls, nothing. Talk to the client, hey look, they’re not responding, we need to file a lawsuit. Client gives the okay.
Most insurance companies have their people. If it’s State Farm, it goes to about one of three different firms. Progressive, one or two firms. Allstate, one or two firms. Well, this cab company apparently doesn’t have a people, and so it gets sent to this lawyer.
And I look up everybody on the bar website. I do Google searches. I’m on Instagram, I’m on Facebook. Like, if you’re an opposing counsel, I’m looking you up. This guy allegedly is like a workers comp attorney, not an insurance defense attorney.
We finally get to the deposition point. Now mind you, he doesn’t respond to our discovery at all. He’s put his client in a very bad position. We all agree that we’re going to do depositions on X date. The day before, he sends out an email: sorry, my client can’t do the deposition.