Florida - Scratched A Car In A Drive-thru And Now I'm Being Sued For $50k.

Location: Florida

(I know I messed up but be nice)

September 2024, I was fully stopped at the entrance of a Starbucks drive-thru. I decided to turn into the parking lot and squeeze by the car in front of me. I took my foot off the brake, rolled the car, and scraped a woman's car (about the size of a dinner plate) at 0mph. We parked in the lot, she (40ish yo) got out of the car and called the cops. I was apologetic, bought her and her daughter (13 yo) coffee. There was also a 9mo child in a carseat in the back. Everyone was out of the car and walking. We chatted very casually, no one was upset. We each spoke to the cop, exchanged insurance (I had full coverage) and I paid the ticket for "negligent driving".

Imagine my surprise when my insurance company said I was being sued for 3x bodily injury for everyone in the car. There was no ambulance, no note of injury in the police report, nothing. I was assured by my insurance that they would handle everything, I wouldn't need to do a thing. Eventually the claims for the children were dropped. I moved across the country in November 2024 and hadn't heard a peep.

A couple months ago, I got an email that her lawyer wanted to settle with my insurance for $25k. Nobody contacted me outside of that email. Today, I got an ad letter from a lawyer that said a lawsuit was filed against me on July 7th 2026. I looked myself up in the county clerk, and it's real - she's suing me for permanent disability, loss of quality of life, etc etc.

I understand someone can sue you in civil court for basically anything. But what the actual fuck? No one has attempted to serve me papers, called, text, or send a carrier pigeon. I'm really not trying to fly from Oregon to Florida to deal with any of this. I cannot overstate how not a big deal this was. Trial is apparently scheduled for 2028. I regret paying the ticket and I wish I had taken that to court to have it dismissed, but it's too late for that. What can I do?