Taking Responsiblity With Your Insurance Claims

   It was 1994.  A six year old girl named Katie Fox was in a car accident.  Melissa Fox says a driver slammed into the family truck and left her 6 year old daughter Katie with stitches on her face.

“She hit the dashboard and split her nose open,“ said Fox.

The accident happened at this intersection in Travelers Rest at the corner of Tygerville Road and 290.   It happened about 15 years ago and back then the insurance company offered a 4,000 settlement.  But the Fox’s held off to see if Katie needed plastic surgery after growing up.  Turns out they waited too long.

“I guess ignorance on my part thought that the insurance company would keep up with me but I have come to discover that they don’t have to,“ said Fox.

   Fox learned too late that the statute of limitations had run out on her daughters claim at the age of 19.

   On Your Side checked with Correll Insurance Group President Jon Jenson to see if Fox’s insurance company was in the wrong when it failed to remind her of the deadline.

“That’s not necessarily a company’s responsibility to keep up with those things because it may be many many years out, so as the claimant you need to be aware of those situations and make sure that you file your claims properly”

     Fox says her daughter, who is now 22, is happy without the plastic surgery, but that the pain and suffering settlement money would have come in handy for her Clemson education.     

“It’s just that we didn’t know, and maybe this will help somebody else to know what to do,“ said Fox.