Oh, so glad that is out of the way! Now I can go on with life for a while longer, leaving the Attorneys to work this out. At least I hope they work this out.
Argus enjoyed riding along and staying in a motel. I could have stayed with friends but decided a motel would be better, the same one I stayed at the weekend my car got hit by the motorcycle, what seems like so many years ago. I needed to exorcise a few evil spirits, and drove the accident route for the first time since it happened, going through everything step by step. I've done this route in my mind a million times before, but have not actually driven it since the accident. Thought I might be spooked but I wasn't, actually slept well the night before, and was just eager to get it over with.
Had a very nice dinner with Meg, Mike & Laura at a genuine Chinese Restaurant, something we never do at home. We go to Thai, or Vietnamese, or Cambodian, or Laotian Restaurants. Am sure we HAVE Chinese Restaurants here, but I can't think of any. I suppose it's because we have large SE Asian population and so many individual ethnic groups. Unfortunately, I left my leftover Mongolian Beef in the refrigerator at my motel. . . It sure was good, as was the company.
The drive was easy and I left the Interstate to drive highway 14 in southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, where I always feel as if I have stepped back in time. A battered winding road that passes through very old small towns that have not yet been "improved" by urban renewal. Delightful, and lovely weather too.
Argus was his perfect Motel-Dog self, and although I brought the soft-sider crate into the room for him while I went to dinner, he would have been OK had I left him out. He just sleeps, never barks when left, but it's not safe to leave a dog loose in the room when you are gone, no matter how well behaved or experienced the dog may be.
The Deposition went well, and I really liked my Attorney who I met for the first time. The suit had originally been filed in Cook County but I had requested that it be moved to the county where the accident took place, so I had spoken with an attorney from the original law firm, as well as another attorney from this firm when the case got assigned to them, but this was my first visit with my actually attorney, who was chosen by my insurance company. I had not realized that insurance companies used private attorneys in these cases.
We discussed the accident, worked out a map of the accident site area, went over the police report (which I had never seen), and she explained to me how to handle questions. The Deposition itself took about an hour, during which time the plaintiff's attorney asked me many many questions, but I felt comfortable throughout the whole thing. My attorney had reminded me that its much easier to do these things when you give honest answers, and she was right, of course! It all went well until the very end when the plaintiff's attorney shook my hand, the one I had so recently broken - OUCH! My mistake.
So now the legal process continues. Because the other driver was "impaired", which is presumably the reason for his poor judgment, my insurance company does not want to settle for anything of course. If they don't settle, we go to trials. I don't even want to think about that for awhile, and knowing how slowly the legal process moves, that's a long way up the road. At least now I am quite sure that I CAN get through that too, if I have to. Fingers crossed very tightly that I don't have to.
