How To File A Third-Party Lawsuit

[Confused in Texas]

I have never been sued, so I am new at all of this. I also wrote a post in regards to my problem yesterday, but now I have another question. I was rear-ended in September 2006 which caused my car to be totaled out in the end. The driver that hit me had no insurance and had a medical condition called COPD which can be very dangerous, so he is a menace to be out on the road. He also hit another lady right before he slammed into the back of me. My car was only 4 months old, and since I didn't have uninsured motorist, it left me owing my finance company $7000.00 difference after my insurance paid. A friend suggested filing a third party suit against the person that hit me. Do you have any suggestions on how to go about filing? I live in Texas and need to handle this fairly quickly. Any advise suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Mr. Knowitall]

You can sue for up to $5,000.00 in small claims court. For more than that, you need to file in a regular trial court - start by reading this.

[lwpat]

And it is not a third party lawsuit. You are suing the other driver directly. You can get the small claims forms from the local magistrate. Evne if you win all you will get is a judgment that you will then have to try and collect. If he was uninsured he may not have any assets to attach. I think TX does allow garnishment of wages so that may be a avenue of recovery.

Next time purchase gap insurance. Uninsured would not have helped since it only pays the value of the vehicle when the other driver is at fault.

[Confused in Texas]

Thanks for the response. The bad part about my whole mess with all of this is that when we purchased the car, we told the dealer we wanted Gap insurance, which they didn't put on the paperwork. We didn't realize this until after the fact that the car was wrecked and totaled. That was a mistake on my part that won't be made again.