Thanks for keeping this updated - it sounds like a mess, but I'm interested in how it turns out in the end.

GATA...

Get After Their Ass...

pfunk

Have your ducks in a row D. Police report copies, estimate copies, photograph copies, rental bills, whatever you had to pay out of pocket. Including time off work if that is applicable. Document everything and have more than one copy set. One for the court, one for the jackass, and one for you at a minimum. Good luck buddy.

Thanks for the advice. I have everything scanned in already, I just need go through and print it out. I also have emails from my insurance company too. I should take them too, whether or not they are needed.

I can't believe you are still mired in that. Holy crap I thought that was long gone now. Sorry you are *still* having to go through this.

It's finally all done. He came in again this morning asking for another postponement. The judge said no.

I did find out that he was on probation currently for a previous DUI. The judge gave him 14 days in jail. 4 days of time served and 10 days to be served on weekends. He also got one year supervised probation.

My feelings on this are really mixed. This guy has been to court a ton of times on previous violations. Part of me wanted him to go to jail for a year. I felt like he got a minor slap on the wrist based on his history. Another part of me really didn't want to see the guy fry. He has three kids and a wife. If he had to go to jail for a year, he would have lost everything. I still have some anger towards him, but I am not heartless. Then again, he could killed someone that night or if the punishment isn't enough to get him to change his ways, he might kill someone in the future.

He also has to pay me the deductible that they took out of the insurance when they totalled my car which was $250.00. That will have to be paid through probation and he has until 07/01/10 to pay it. I don't really care about that. The lawyer asked me if there was a deductible last time I went and they still had it in my record. He did come over and shake my hand after it was done and apologized. I shook his hand back and told him good luck and mouthed good luck to his wife as I passed her going out of the courtroom.

After he pleaded guilty, the just asked me if I wanted to make a statement and I declined. I was only there as a witness. I got the summons in the mail and followed it.

About a year and a month and now it's finally behind me.

Additional note, since they live down the street from us, his wife came over before the court started and asked me not to tell my son about what happened. I promised her that I wouldn't. Her son is 16 and my son is 18. She didn't want her son to be ridiculed for what his father did. I agreed with her that her son shouldn't pay for what his father did. I will keep my promise but I will tell my son how badly you can screw up your life by drinking and driving.

Good this is finally over.

Most importantly I think is, has he learned from this? The jailtime is for what has happened in the past, but do you think that he bettered his life - i.e. no DUI (or better, not getting drunk at all anymore)?

Glad this is pretty much over. But I wouldn't lose too much sleep if he doesn't pay you the deductible.

Sounds like you were a gentleman though, shaking his hand and working with his wife. Hope they appreciate it.

I am not worrying about the deductible. If it comes, then it's just a bonus at this point. It's all been paid for now. If it doesn't, I have no plans to follow up on it. I didn't get any satisfaction over the court thing either. I thought maybe it would make me feel better about everything, but it didn't. Now I just want to put it behind me and keep my word to his wife.

Actually I feel kind of numb to the whole mess now. I need to go back and reread this thread from the beginning when I get home from work. I am curious as to how my tone has changed over the last year.

I'm glad to hear that things are wrapping up, but I can seen the lack of satisfaction, and a definite concern about his future actions. I just hope he doesn't do this again, with a possibly worse outcome.