97 Jetta, Brake lights shorting post-accident

[ijs542]

Someone rear-ended me at a stop-light last summer, and managed to do a bit of damage to my right light assembly, along with my trunk lid, rear right quarter panel, and fender.

So the right light assembly is new. Every few months since, however, the bulb on the brake light seems to short out, the bulb goes all smoky and needs replacement, etc. The turn signal, etc are all fine.

At first I figured it was just a bad bulb, but now I'm on my third, and this can no longer be coincidence. I was wondering if anyone had any clue as to why this would happen?

I don't know overly much about it, but I was going to bust out a multimeter and make sure it's not getting too much power. After that, I'm not sure where to go.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jim