One of a series.
With his 67th birthday at hand, Jerry Hecht is furious.
The denouement of a nasty incident that victimized him 10 months ago this week remains tantalizingly elusive.
He says he has been trying to settle with an insurance company that he claims is “malicious and unresponsive.
“They have pressured me to settle with them in an unfair manner,” he contends. “They wanted me to take a settlement that was unfairly low. I rejected it, and I returned the check to the insurance company.”
However, Mr. Hecht is not driving his car these days. Nor has he for months.
He claims the San Diego-based carrier “illegally” reported to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles that his car had been reduced to salvage, sparking a jigsaw puzzle of complications.
He said he has pleaded, fruitlessly, with the insurance company to have the DMV remove his 15-year-old car from the “salvage” category. According to him, they have refused.
Mr. Hecht insists the car is drivable.
However, on advice from another executive with the same insurance company, he has not driven the car since February.
With the “salvage” designation blocking his path to remain current and legal, he would have been unable to obtain registration tags for 2017 anyway.
The Incident
On the Thursday before Labor Day last year, Mr. Hecht, a resident of mid-city Los Angeles, was driving east on Rosewood Street in the Beverly-Fairfax neighborhood. A young woman in a Jeep was driving south on Vista Street as he approached the intersection.
“I used to be an ambulance driver,” Mr. Hecht said, “and I remember my training. At every intersection, whether there is or isn’t a Stop sign, I always check.
“I saw her coming in one blink of an eye. Next thing I know, she is there. She must have been going 60 miles an hour.
“I was driving a 2001 Century Buick Custom, and she crushed into me.”
Both doors on the driver’s side were damaged, Mr. Hecht said. It is unclear whether the car’s asserted drivability is sufficient to overturn the “salvage” designation.
(To be continued)
