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I was recently involved in an accident, which wasn't my fault. Nobody was injured.
Now I am looking for a lawyer to protect my rights, because the police report isn't well written.
I read about ****George Laughrun**** in this forum.
Yes, let your insurance handle it. Give them a call. If you need a Lawyer, they have one represent you through them. From what you've written, it does not appear you need a Lawyer. Don't panic.
ETA; When you say the Police report is not well written, what do you mean? Is it vague or does it actually put you at fault of partial fault?
This sounds like a property damage case that your insurance company needs to sort out with the insurance company for the other driver.
I'm not sure what you mean by "protect your rights" since nobody was injured. If you are worried that your insurance company will determine that you are at fault and up your rates, that's something you'll need to hash out with your agent. Whether and how you can dispute such a determination would be governed by the terms of your policy.
Yes, let your insurance handle it. Give them a call. If you need a Lawyer, they have one represent you through them. From what you've written, it does not appear you need a Lawyer. Don't panic.
ETA; When you say the Police report is not well written, what do you mean? Is it vague or does it actually put you at fault of partial fault?
Thanks everybody for your help.
The police report pretty much put the other driver in fault, but also states that I "exceeded a safe speed limit", because of the wet conditions. That will mean for the other insurance company, that they will most likely deny my claim and won't come up for my damage. But I didn't speed, not even for this conditions.
Unfortunately I don't have a collision, just liability. That's why my insurance doesn't come up for my damage and therefore I have to deal with the other insurance myself.
Does anyone know, if a lawyer could talk to the cop on my behalf regarding the crash report or should I talk to the cop myself?
I hate to break this to you but the lawyer isn't "protecting your rights". He's sticking it to the insurance company to collect on your claim.
He will only "protect your rights" if you have the proper coverage and you see the chiropractor of his choice. After that you should have a few months of rehap and physical therapy at his recommended therapist.
If all goes well you should be out of the body cast in time for the holidays!
I hate to break this to you but the lawyer isn't "protecting your rights". He's sticking it to the insurance company to collect on your claim.
He will only "protect your rights" if you have the proper coverage and you see the chiropractor of his choice. After that you should have a few months of rehap and physical therapy at his recommended therapist.
If all goes well you should be out of the body cast in time for the holidays!
The police report pretty much put the other driver in fault, but also states that I "exceeded a safe speed limit", because of the wet conditions. That will mean for the other insurance company, that they will most likely deny my claim and won't come up for my damage. But I didn't speed, not even for this conditions.
Unfortunately I don't have a collision, just liability. That's why my insurance doesn't come up for my damage and therefore I have to deal with the other insurance myself.
Does anyone know, if a lawyer could talk to the cop on my behalf regarding the crash report or should I talk to the cop myself?
Thank you!
You can talk to the cop about it, to get an explaination of why he thought you were traveling too fast. However, it does not matter who talks to him, he won't change what he wrote in the report.
In my state, the Police usually don't fault either person, unless it's overwelmingly obvious or there are witnesses to the fact. One other reason they will fault either driver is if it was a major accident(serious injury/death) and they do an investigation. What they will do is write down what each motorist says, for instance; "Operator of vehicle number one states he was traveling west on Main St., when vehicle number two made a left turn in front of him, causing the collision".
My wife was in an accident a few years ago. She was at a four way stop sign intersection. She stopped, when traffic was clear she drove into the intersection. Before she made it to the other side, a car blew a stop sign and hit her car at the front right fender and door. The person kept repeating himself that he was sorry, that he was unfamiliar with the area and did not see the stop sign. He even said it to the cop. The cop wrote down what he said in the accident report and found him at fault. HOWEVER, the insurance companies settled and found that the other driver was 90% at fault and my wife was 10% at fault. Boy, was I ever mad!!
The insurance company explained it like this, the closer the damage is to the front of your car, USUALLY your more at fault. The closer the damage is to the rear of the car, your USUALLY less at fault. The went on to explain that, if the damage to your car id towards the front, they think you should have saw the accident coming and you should have avoided it, even though the other driver completely blew the stop sign.
Last month, my parked car was hit by a 70 year old driver, who bent my rear door. According to the police report the driver claims to see people who were loading something into my trunk. This will alert you to utilize caution. I was at the main entrance to Walmart, where 4 of their workers were loading a 42 inch TV into my trunk. One worker opened my side door to pull the box through. The police report was basically generic and put no one at fault. The insurance company was trying to tell me that they were unable to use my witnesses because they were not listed on the report. Police came an hour later, the witnesses gave me their information. The insurance company wanted to to fault each driver because I fail to have on my warning lights. But, how could they fault me when I was parked and the driver clearly states that he saw my car being loaded. This was enough to take away his license, because he is wreckless. If you see people, use caution and go around. I did not let this go and had them hook me up with their supervisor, who contacted each witness and relation to where they were standing. They did not use any of the Walmart employees, but lucky for me one of the witnesses was just a bystander who collaborated my story of an old man who grew impatient with waiting and drove to close to the standing vehicle. Obviously he could see people, but not a door ajar. As soon as my policy date is up, I will be dropping them. Maybe they thought I could absorb the high premium because I'm younger. The driver and I had the same carrier. My check arrived in the mail today from his insurance. Maybe his insurance will drop his old senile self.
Last edited by Brooklyn_QueenBee; 10-09-2007 at 07:54 PM..
Reason: spelling
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Insurance companies are bogus
