I’m a foreigner living in Taiwan, and I was recently involved in a car-scooter accident. The scooter rider had minor injuries, stayed in the hospital for 6 days, and submitted a medical bill of 10,000 NTD. Scooter repair costs are around 20,000 NTD.
Now, he has filed both civil and criminal lawsuits against me and is demanding 400,000 NTD in compensation.
My third-party car insurance covers both his injuries and vehicle. The insurance company estimates 60% liability on my side and is currently negotiating with him.
If he refuses to settle, I plan to let the case go to court. I’m unsure what to expect—has anyone been through a similar situation?
Also, is it necessary to hire a lawyer for a traffic case like this?
If you only have the mandatory insurance, they will cover just the medical bills.
First there will be three mediation meetings. Only if all those fail to come to an agreement by both sides, it will go to court.
Don’t worry about the criminal case too much. The government will give you a fine, depends on how negligent your doing was. Usually one announces the intention to file a criminal case to have a bargaining chip during negotiations. They failed at that, so you have less intention to settle for more as they might not be able to cancel the criminal charges.
The civil case will have to go to court, if they keep asking for a sum that you feel is too much. Then the judge will decode on the amount.
“Minor injuries” but he was hospitalized for six days? And you’re acting like 10,000 NTD means it wasn’t serious?
Do you even know how far 10,000 NTD goes under Taiwan’s NHI? That could cover multiple days in a standard ward, X-rays, MRIs, blood tests, specialist consultations, meds, and follow-ups. Taiwan isn’t like the U.S. they don’t charge you the price of a car for a Band-Aid. If the bill is 10k, the real cost was probably 10+ times that, and NHI picked up the rest.
Six days is a long time to lie in a hospital bed for someone who supposedly just “brushed it off.” Either he had internal injuries or something serious enough to keep him under observation.
You’re either missing the point (he is clearly suing for possible long term trauma and suffering) or trying really hard not to get it.
Depending on how bad it is he probably now has a degenerative back disorder now and can’t lift heavy weights at the gym anymore too.
10k is pretty cheap for six days. A private room in the hospital could run for 3k-6k per day alone.
My insurance paid 6.5k per day for a room when I was hospitalized after a scooter accident in Taichung.
Private rooms in Taiwan are expensive not because of the treatment, but because they’re considered a luxury. You’re paying for privacy, not priority care.
So if his total bill was only 10k for six days, then he probably didn’t take a private room. Which also means he wasn’t there for comfort… he was there because he had to be.
We recently got better car insurance. Basically, if you get into a car accident, the insurance company negotiates with the other party, especially regarding any type of suing that might be initiated by the other party. This gives me a bit of peace of mind in view of all the suing that goes on, even with a very minor accident.
From your insurance company estimate 60% liability means that there is a high probability that besides fine you may get a criminal record. So, first you need to decide if you really want to go to the court or better to settle in mediation…