I Smell Something

What is the name of your state? California

On 08/11/2003, my wife (D1) broadsided another vehicle (D2-w/3 occupants) at a T-intersection 1/2 mile from our house. There was no visible or reported injury to the other vehicle's occupant at the time. Police on scene concluded that my wife was at fault and cited her for failure to stop at a stop sign (to lessen the hassle, she did not contest the citation and paid the fines and went to traffic school). The Police Report makes no mention of D2 had the right turn signal on and ready to commit the turn by veering right and slowing down unto the street my wife was on. It had the wrong lane called out for D2, and inaccurate statement of my wife admitting all responsibility (my wife stated that she did not make such a statement to the on scene officer - and I believe her).

On 10/12/2005, we received an plain unlabeled white envelope that the plaintiffs' attorney has filed a pain and suffering, medical and loss of wages lawsuit on 07/29/2005 for total damage of approx. $500,000 (statue of limitation is 2 years). We still have not been officially served in any way. A few questions for you senior members:

Q1: Shouldn't the court filing be sent through something more than a plain un-labeled envelope to the defendants (I had almost mistaken it for junk mail)?

Q2: Could the Police Report be amended for inaccuracy?

Q3: I have AAA as our insurance carrier, what's their track record for defending against potential fraudulent ambulance chasing claims?

Please advise ASAP, because I don't have that kind of money and I smell something...

Thanks in advance!

driver949 said:

Shouldn't the court filing be sent through something more than a plain un-labeled envelope to the defendants (I had almost mistaken it for junk mail)?

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Certainly. I prefer the big yellow ones!!
Seriously, California has several methods of proper service.... including:
§ 415.20
(a) In lieu of personal delivery of a copy of the summons and of the complaint to the person to be served as specified in Section 416.10, 416.20, 416. 30, 416.40, or 416.50, a summons may be served by leaving a copy of the summons and of the complaint during usual office hours in his or her office with the person who is apparently in charge thereof, and by thereafter mailing a copy of the summons and of the complaint (by first-class mail, postage prepaid) to the person to be served at the place where a copy of the summons and of the complaint were left. Service of a summons in this manner is deemed complete on the 10th day after such mailing.
(b) If a copy of the summons and of the complaint cannot with reasonable diligence be personally delivered to the person to be served as specified in Section 416.60, 416.70, 416.80, or 416.90, a summons may be served by leaving a copy of the summons and of the complaint at such person's dwelling house, usual place of abode, usual place of business, or usual mailing address other than a United States Postal Service post office box, in the presence of a competent member of the household or a person apparently in charge of his or her office, place of business, or usual mailing address other than a United States Postal Service post office box, at least 18 years of age, who shall be informed of the contents thereof, and by thereafter mailing a copy of the summons and of the complaint (by first-class mail, postage prepaid) to the person to be served at the place where a copy of the summons and of the complaint were left. Service of a summons in this manner is deemed complete on the 10th day after the mailing.
You can certainly try to challenge the service.... however, in doing so, you will admit service was made!!!

Could the Police Report be amended for inaccuracy?

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If you can get the officer to file a supplemental report, yes.

I have AAA as our insurance carrier, what's their track record for defending against potential fraudulent ambulance chasing claims?

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4.7.

Please advise ASAP, because I don't have that kind of money and I smell something...

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Simple answer.... turn this over to YOUR insurance company. They will handle it.... and the smell. You did have insurance didn't you??

Thanks for your fast reply, JETX.

Yes, we do have insurance (19 years of clean record until then) and AAA has been more than generous with D2's damage claims, but unfortunately D2 and its passengers have decided to sponge the system for more. I have informed AAA of the summons and given them a copy, along with the plain unlabeled envelope. I hope AAA will defend the principle and do the right thing.

By the way, I am curious of JETX's unfinish answer to Q3 (4.7.?). Any additional direction is appreciated.

driver949 said:

Q2: Could the Police Report be amended for inaccuracy?

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It is almost impossible for you to get the police to "amend" the report. At best they might allow you to submit a witness statement to include with the report. But, it really holds no more weight than if you present it in court through your attorney at trial.

Her citation and her subsequent plea on the violation will weigh heavily against her.

- Carl

CdwJava said:

It is almost impossible for you to get the police to "amend" the report. At best they might allow you to submit a witness statement to include with the report. But, it really holds no more weight than if you present it in court through your attorney at trial.

Her citation and her subsequent plea on the violation will weigh heavily against her.

- Carl

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I disagree... at least in MY experience.

I have amended numerous reports... sometimes at my own initiative, sometimes at one of the parties.... and even sometimes on the advice of other officers.

JETX said:

I disagree... at least in MY experience.

I have amended numerous reports... sometimes at my own initiative, sometimes at one of the parties.... and even sometimes on the advice of other officers.

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Well ... two years after the fact, and after the court matter has already been resolved? I don't see anyone amending the report. I've amended reports prior to submittal to the DA (or otherwise accepted in to court), but after that all I can do is add a supplement. We get in mucho trouble for amending the original report after it has left the office ... it causes a lot of problems.

- Carl

CdwJava said:

Well ... two years after the fact, and after the court matter has already been resolved?

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Carl, I agree with you on that one.... but that is NOT what you said ("It is almost impossible for you to get the police to "amend" the report.").
If you had added "two years AFTER the report"..... no problem.

JETX said:

Carl, I agree with you on that one.... but that is NOT what you said ("It is almost impossible for you to get the police to "amend" the report.").
If you had added "two years AFTER the report"..... no problem.

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True. But, in general, amending a report of ANY kind once it has left our hands for another entity (court, DA, insurance compant, etc.) is NOT going to happen out here. We are generally taught that there are no amendments - only supplements. A supplement may correct or modify information contained in the report previously, but going back and re-writing some portion of the report is generally frowned upon and, in some cases, outright unlawful.

We just don't tend to amend reports out here at all. It may happen somewhere, but I have never known it to happen.

- Carl

Thank you both for your input, so looks like it's almost pointless to revise the Police Report.

Back to my original Q1 - as of now, we still have not been served per Sec. 415.20, or Section 416.XX. All we have is a copy of the court date-stamped summons (dated 07/29/2005, but received on 10/12/2005) in a white plain unlabeled envelope through the normal USPS daily mail run. The odd thing is that there was no law firm cover letter or law firm envelope used,

Q1: Who could have sent it? (Postmark was from LA County but all parties including the law firm are in OC)

Q2: Technically, has the statue of limitation expired if the summons wasn't serviced properly or timely?

Q3: Is this one of the tactics attorney uses in order not to give defendants enough of time to respond?

Sniff... sniff... I smell something....