Going to Small Claims Court for Car Accident Case

[cktopper78]

What is the name of your state? CA

Hi Everyone. I'm going to small claims court and I could really use some advice from anyone re my case, and I would really appreciate any help/advice anyone can provide. The incident occurred back in August. My friend was driving my SUV while I was the passenger. We were in the freeway and on the second lane from the right, next to the slow lane. This vehicle, a Toyota Corrolla, was in the slow lane and moved in front of us in our lane. Then with a left signal, moved to the right (not left) back to the right lane, the slow lane. There was another vehicle entering the freeway, and the Toyota Corrolla almost hit the other car, so the Toyota Corrolla suddenly swerved and moved back to our lane. As a result, my SUV rear-ended the Toyota corrolla. There was a police report and put the driver of the Toyota Corolla 100 percent at fault, since the driver admitted he did 'SUDDENLY' changed lanes. However, his insurance declined to pay even with the police report because they argued based on their interview with myself and my friend driving my SUV, that we were following too closely. They had asked us before during our interview, if the other vehicle had completely moved to the other lane. We both said No. That's because we just remembered that the Toyota Corrolla almost hit another car, and it went too fast. They are also using the argument that when they asked my friend if there was any alcohol involved, she said told them 'YES', since she had 2 champagne 4 hours earlier at a party we came from. However, when my insurance asked her about alcohol, she said "NO". The only reason she said "NO" was because the police at the incident did check for any sign for alchohol and she passed it. And there is no mention of it in the police report. But the other party's insurance is trying to make her less credible, because her story did not matched at the 2 separate interviews. I only have liability with my insurance, so my insurance cannot take the other party's insurance to arbritration. Based on my scenario, I believe I have a pretty good case. But I'm concerned about the other things I mentioned that the other driver can used against me. I'm claiming $7,500 the maximu amount in small claims. My car was estimated at $8,300. Would like to hear anyone's opinion. Thanks in advance.What is the name of your state?

 

[teflon_jones]

Give the judge the facts of the case. Don't try and make up a third story to cover for your friend saying two different things.

In my opinion, the judge is going to rely a lot on the police report because the police officer was an unbiased party that took statements from each of you at the time of the accident and found the other driver to be at fault. Because of this, I'd advise you to keep things simple. Don't give long explanations to anything. Just answer the judge's questions as simply as possible. You don't need to explain everything you did here unless the judge specifically asks you to. In this case, shutting up is your best course of action. Rely on the police report that places the other driver at fault. The judge isn't going to care who the other insurance company found at fault. He knows they're going to try and avoid paying.

 

[ecmst12]

The judge is not going to rely on the police report because police reports are inadmissible in court. You can call the investigating officer to testify about his investigation, but unless he is trained in accident forensics, he may not be able to testify to anything that would not be hearsay - the officer did not witness the accident. What you would really need to do is call the people the officer interviewed to testify - they DID witness the accident. Otherwise it will just be you/your passenger's word (counts as one) vs the other driver's.

Teflon, why do you insist on coming around here every few weeks and posting hopelessly uninformed/misleading/incorrect information all over the place?

 

[chk207]

question for ecmst12- police report

hi there-
police reports are in admissiable in NY court as well?

 

[ecmst12]

Police reports are inadmissible in ANY court - they are hearsay, like I said.

 

[ShyCat]

The police report was admitted in our trial. Our lawyer asked that it be admitted, and the plaintiff's lawyer agreed, and the judge ordered it into evidence. I believe it became an important aspect in the jury's deliberations since the plaintiff contradicted himself between sworn testimony and statements made at the time of the accident, and then claimed the sheriff's deputy lied on the report. The man was, let's say, less than believable.

 

[Zigner]

The police report was admitted in our trial. Our lawyer asked that it be admitted, and the plaintiff's lawyer agreed, and the judge ordered it into evidence. I believe it became an important aspect in the jury's deliberations since the plaintiff contradicted himself between sworn testimony and statements made at the time of the accident, and then claimed the sheriff's deputy lied on the report. The man was, let's say, less than believable.

What you used the report for is different than how people here THOUGHT you wanted to use it. Yes, it can be used to show changes in peoples stories. No, it can't be used to prove exactly how an accident happened or who caused it.

 

[You Are Guilty]

A few thoughts (for both CA and NY):

Police reports CAN be admitted as evidence "for the truth of the matter asserted", and particularly in small claims, which has about the same rules of evidence as the Wild West, frequently are.

As illustrated in the post above, if both sides consent to the admission of the police report, even though it can be hearsay and thus, non-admissible, then it comes in. (In lawyer-speak, an objection is waived unless raised). Other times, the police report can be used for purposes other than who is at fault. Things like impeachment, or to establish the presence (or lack thereof) of a particular person at the accident site come to mind. (Although even then, the safe practice is to subpoena the authoring officer).

I'll save the discussion of multi-level hearsay in a police report for another day

 

[chk207]

please reply "you are guilty" or anyone familiar w/ hearsay exceptions

My mom was involved in a car accident on Christmas Eve in Nassau County, NY. She was driving during the day on an intersection on a green light when the other car made a left and crashed into the left side of her car. My mom's English isn't perfect, but she was able to tell the police officer what happened. The police report indicates a code 7 that means that the other driver (75 yr old woman) failed to yield right of way. However, the police report does not say that my mom told the officer that she ran a green light, it says that she was driving and the other car made a left and collided into her car. The police report also notes the name of a witness and his address. I filed a claim with the other insured's insurance company (state farm). They said that the woman is saying that she made a left on a left green arrow sign, which would mean that my mom drove through a red light. The other insurance company also told my mom that it would be helpful if we got the witness' phone number. I wanted to help in the investigation so I did some research and found the witness phone number and provided that to State Farm. State Farm called the witness and the witness said that he doesn't know if my mother ran a red light but that he thought that she was driving 50 mph.

I believe State Farm will say that my mom is 50% at fault, but she is sure that she drove through a green light. The other woman did not tell the police that she made a left on a green arrow sign after the accident, so that's probably why the police report says that she failed to yield the right of way.

My question is whether my mom should decline State Farm's offer of covering 50% of the property damage to my mom's car and sue in Small Claims Court as pro se against the State farm's experienced attys. She does not have collision insurance. State Farm is saying that if we sue them that their attorneys will argue that the police officer was not present at the scene of the accident(hearsay). Are there hearsay exceptions?

Will my mom lose anything by suing in small claims. I assume the judge will decide that State Farm should cover half as they previusly offered or more than half. But will a judge find that my mom is more than 50% at fault. Also, people can sue in Small Claims for up to $5000, but I believe the book value of my mom's car is more than that ($6000?). The car is irreparable. Should we sue in small claims or another court?
Should we just accept State Farm’s offer for 50% coverage?

What are your thoughts?

thanks

 

[ecmst12]

You need to start your own thread if you have a question. Thread hijacking is considered rude.