• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Bike theifs going to court, I have right to seek restitutions...

Eugene

Eugene

New member
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Location
San Francisco
Moto(s)
S1000R
Background:

Most of you probably remember the Oakland chop-shop which hit a few members here, including yours truly. They were eventually busted and are going to court in about a week.

So, I got a letter earlier and a call from a probation officer today saying that as a victim I can seek restitution.

Has anyone been in this spot before? I'm trying to figure out what I can ask for. The bike was covered by the insurance, so I don't think I can go after the full value of the bike (unless I'm wrong?).

But, so far I came up with:

$500 for the insurance deductible.

+

Compensation for the additional time it took me to commute to work for 3 weeks while I was left without a bike. It added an hour to my daily commute. So, $100/hr * 15 days = $1500.

That's $2000 that I came up with...

I've never been in this situation before, so if anyone has some experience with these sort of cases, I'd love some input.
 
I'd pad it out with every possible expense.
Don't make stuff up, just be liberal in your interpretation.
How much more gas did you consume by driving your car to work?

Good luck.
 
I have actually had this happen before too!

I had my bike stolen a couple of years ago and got restitution. Have you taken the bike to a mechanic? They should go over it with a fine tooth comb and get a repair estimate done. I dont know what kinda condition it was in or if it was even found..but thats what happened to me! Glad to hear they caught the guys!!!
 
Tell them you felt raped and would like to prform a similar function on the perps.
 
The bike was totaled and I got an insurance payout.

I don't have a car, so I was taking public transportation while I was out of a set of wheels. My time was the biggest cost there.
 
I'll talk to the probation officer and see what the procedure is (again, I am completely naive when it comes to this stuff).

If I have to make a court appearance(s)/deal with headaches/etc., then I'll probably pass. If it's just some paperwork to fill out/etc., then I'll probably go for it.
 
Your insurance must have some kind of a black mark next to your name for paying you out for your bike, right? If there wouldn't be, you could potentially be totaling a bike every Sat and expecting them to cover you, right? Call your insurance company and ask them what it would take to wipe your record clean of any settlement they had with you, basically, if you could refund them the money they paid, would they still count this as a settlement? Then ask the court to award you or your insurer that amount.
 
I wonder if the insurance company itself will be seeking restitution for the value of the bike from the court since they got all the case info/etc.
 
Eugene said:
I wonder if the insurance company itself will be seeking restitution for the value of the bike from the court since they got all the case info/etc.
Click to expand...


I was a P.O. .... here's how restitution works. First off, the law says that insurance companies cannot seek restitution as victims. Therefore they will not recover, but rather pass the loss on to consumers in the form of rate increases. If you choose to double dip, they can come after you legally HOWEVER.........

Local rules of the court vary by jurisdiction and you should call Victim Witness at the DA's office to find out the Court's local policy.

In my jusridsiction (Sutter County) the rule was that the Court was not inclined to deny a FULL restitution request by a victim even if the victim recovered most of the loss from insurance. Their reasoning was two pronged.

1) You are entitled to full restitution regardless of whether you were insured or not

2) Restorative Justice is aimed at the offender repaying the cost of the crime in full. The offender shouldn't reap the benefit of you being insured.

Make sense?

Let the insurance company worry about recovery, not you! Besides, there was more than actual loss sustained.... what about punitive? Now get out there and fight for your FULL restitution and make those bastards (thieves) pay !!!



:)
 
Last edited:
Eugene said:
The bike was totaled and I got an insurance payout.

I don't have a car, so I was taking public transportation while I was out of a set of wheels. My time was the biggest cost there.
Click to expand...

You are right in the fac thtat you cant sue for the bike if Insurance already paid out for it. You can also sue for the costs of public transportation.
 
JakesKTM said:
I was a P.O. .... here's how restitution works. First off, the law says that insurance companies cannot seek restitution as victims. Therefore they will not recover, but rather pass the loss on to consumers in the form of rate increases. If you choose to double dip, they can come after you legally HOWEVER.........

Local rules of the court vary by jurisdiction and you should call Victim Witness at the DA's office to find out the Court's local policy.

In my jusridsiction (Sutter County) the rule was that the Court was not inclined to deny a FULL restitution request by a victim even if the victim recovered most of the loss from insurance. Their reasoning was two pronged.

1) You are entitled to full restitution regardless of whether you were insured or not

2) Restorative Justice is aimed at the offender repaying the cost of the crime in full. The offender shouldn't reap the benefit of you being insured.

Make sense?

Let the insurance company worry about recovery, not you! Besides, there was more than actual loss sustained.... what about punitive? Now get out there and fight for your FULL restitution and make those bastards (thieves) pay !!!



:)
Click to expand...

Yea, but you also cannot be paid for a bike twice. On top of the deductible, if your insurance rates went up as a result of paying the claim, you should be able to sue for the difference in rates.
 
InsuranceDude said:
Yea, but you also cannot be paid for a bike twice.
Click to expand...

You can in criminal court. :teeth

It's up to insurance to go after the victim. How many insurance companies follow probation and restitution payments? :rolleyes Especially when teh offender chops wood under the table for a living? :laughing None in my 13 years :teeth
 
Eugene said:
The bike was totaled and I got an insurance payout.

I don't have a car, so I was taking public transportation while I was out of a set of wheels. My time was the biggest cost there.
Click to expand...

figure out your salary per hour and that is how much they owe you per hour that you had to ride the bus to work.
 
Definitely send in the paperwork for your losses, including receipts, if any, and a copy of your deduction payment.

More than likely you won't have to appear in court.

Hopefully, the judge will order restitution as a condition of probation.

But just be forewarned -- just because restitution is ordered, getting the culprits to pay is another issue entirely. In which case you can pursue your claim in civil court...

Good luck.
 
InsuranceDude said:
You are right in the fac thtat you cant sue for the bike if Insurance already paid out for it. You can also sue for the costs of public transportation.
Click to expand...

I would wonder if an individual could seek restitution for the value of the bike, on behalf of the insurance?
 
Deductible
Minutes on your phone bill calling about it
Extra gas
Vehicle rental
How much more than the insurance did you spend on a replacement bike? You would not have spent it had your bike not been stolen.
How much time did you spend doing paperwork or on the phone? What is your time worth?
Did you miss work? Do you work on commission and miss a potential sale?
How much time, effort and money did you put into the bike that was stolen? Parts can be covered by insurance, your time isn't.
Did you have to take the bus or BART? How many times? Add up the costs and include the time added to your commute.

Overall, how was your life affected? Did you have to stop going out at night to see friends because you didn't have transportation? Did someone else have to drive (and did you thank them by buying dinner or other incentives)? Did things go unfinished around the house because of your increased commute time? Did this put a strain on your relationships?

Just some things to get you thinking.
 
if time is money than yes I would attempt to go after them for lost time... Your company has already created a value to your time, so every minute spent in excess of your typical commute time could than be compensated for. My restitution came in the form of the difference in gas. my truck got @9 pmg my bike @50... I did the math and got @ 1000 in restitution
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top