PLEASE HELP. Canadian with a dumb car accident in US (Los Angeles, California)

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Accident was in Los Angeles, California; but I'm from Canada.


I, 26, drove my mom’s car down to LA, California, with my friend from there, to visit some friends and take a trip; I had just finished school. I was behind the lights and suddenly I hit the car in front of me, a 1990 mazda. He had bumper damage, nothing else, and there was no damage to my car at all except for a little bent license plate. A few days before this event my mom’s insurance company made her, my mom, and I sign a waiver a day or two before this that I wouldn’t drive her car (not that I had before) after she asked them about to quote how much it would be to include me in her policy but it was a lot so we said never mind; but I still took off with her car. I have been driving endlessly since I was 16 with not a single accident, except one speeding ticket last year which wasn’t fair due to the signage in that small town (trying to say that I’m a really good driver :|).

A police cruiser stopped beside us a second later and he saw it wasn’t a big deal and drove on. There’s was a young guy, 21, and his girlfriend sitting in the car. He comes out holding his neck, which took me by very surprise and made me laugh a little as it was probably like at 5 km/h. We then pulled to the side street and then the girl in the car claimed she had neck and back pain. I exchanged information with him, and she kept talking to her mom and sisters on the phone (who are responsible for amplifying the whole thing). I asked/begged him to not call the police as it was my mom’s car and we had just signed a waiver with her insurance company two weeks ago that I wouldn’t drive her car; But he told me to wait until her mom and sisters come. They came and right away start being on the phones none-stop. I kept looking at the girl in the car and I was fully sure she was faking it, it was obvious, but the driver didn’t show any more signs of a “neck pain”; which he now claims he has.

Before I knew it 3 huge firetrucks came, but only stayed a very short while. The head fireman told the girl to go home and take a Tylenol and a hot shower! Then they made a little fuss and he went back and asked her in a funny tone if she still wanted to go to the hospital; she said no. an ambulance came and didn’t stop; it just turned around and left I guess on word from the firefighter. The police came, one unit with two cops, and said “well okay, there’s no crime or injury so we’re out of here, but with a little confusion they stopped as they claimed she was injured; by this time she had moved to her mother’s car and was sitting there. One of the officers were very rude to me and asked me if I was carrying something and pushed up my sweater to check and went through my car; oh BTW this was in South-Central LA, where they all lived. It’s a really bad neighbourhood and everybody here keeps telling me here that people from there are just waiting for an opportunity like this; the other officer that was nice/sympathetic towards me asked me what the hell I was doing there but I didn’t know. Then the officer took all the info down; very fast and vague but I think he was more detailed with their side of the story as he was on that side for most the time. After many hours, I got a small slip with the other guys’s information and also it states “0 injuries on it” (I’m thinking maybe this was the slip he filled out initially, not sure but that’s the only paperwork I got.

Is this a felony?? I really don’t want a charge in Canada or even the States.

His insurance called me a few days later and I told the agent my side of the story and she told me we could handle it outside insurance if we wanted. I tried contacting him twice but he didn’t return my call after the second time. The insurance called my dad and is waiting for me to call them. WHAT SHOULD I DO?? WHAT SHOULD I SAY??? WHAT’ S THE BEST WAY OUT OF THIS??? PLEEEASE HELP. She has always had a perfect record paying less than a $170/month for two cars. Should I try to find the firefighter and get a report/statement from him??

Should I tell them my mom knew or that she didn’t know I had borrowed her car or maybe that she was with me and had to leave; I’m desperate I’m down to lie, anything to get out of this and I have no problem paying for the guy’s bumper; and I’m headed back in a few days.

Jason Troy. S. said:

I’m desperate I’m down to lie, anything to get out of this

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Therein lies the problem.

If you don't have insurance then you'll need to face these problems yourself. Hire a Cal. attorney who specializes in auto accidents. Expect and pay for the auto damage that you caused. Wait for any medical claims. Don't be surprised if there are medical injury claims.

Good luck

There is no crime involved. You rear-ended a vehicle and the occupants are claiming soft tissue injuries.

You can attempt to pay for the loss out of pocket if you want. The waiver you signed may disclaim coverage by your mothers insurance so you may be on the hook to take care of the damages out of pocket anyway.

Could be a crime - sounds like he stole his mom's car.

Hello!

Thank you for taking the time to read all that and respond to it )

Second, I apologize for being disrespectful with the whole “I'm down to lie" line. I was really panicking and didn't know how to write. I am sorry!

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I had a few more questions and would be grateful for your time and knowledge:

#1. Do I have the right to ask my mother’s insurance company not get involved and try handling this myself? I don’t care about the car damage claim; it’ll be at the very most a few hundred. My real concern is on the injury claim(God willing lol)(s). I currently go to College and am currently 50k+ in debt on student loans and have absolutely no income, savings or anything to my name!! I can prove it! #2. What would this mean?

Legally, according to Canadian law at least, I am allowed to drive her car without my own and just her insurance as we live in different cities and therefore have different addresses. They checked this at the border and let me through. The waiver/exclusion that was signed would be the problem if it ends up going through my mom’s insurance, but I’m wondering if they legally are allowed to do that since we have different addresses. So I don’t know how “helpful” they’ll be; especially since I haven’t called them yet myself and they are waiting for my call. #3. At least they spy on injury claim persons since I think injury claims take quote a long time and might get lucky so the whole case would be dropped?

Anyhow, My mom and I are very close but I don’t want to do this to her; She’s an AWESEOME, incredibly Cool, and a very hard working lady; she has worked God knows how many hours a day to keep her SMALL business running in this economy. (I’m not proud but don’t look me the wrong way I have helped her as much as my stress and personal disorders have allowed ). However, since there is no felony charge involved, my priority now is not to ruin her clean record.

#4. Will it be more discouraging for them if they are suing me directly for the injury claims? Will his car insurance company be doing it?? For the both of them?
#5. Do you guys think the report/statement from the firefighter would help?

I’m headed back in a few days. #6. Can I still get an LA lawyer with me not being here? Can you give me a ballpark figure? I’m hopefully planning to visit LA again in couple years and wouldn’t want any problems. Last time I was here I got speeding ticket, almost two years ago, and I paid like 70 bucks more an did the online course because I was told the points would transfer to Canadian records; which I didn’t want as I had my own car back then (I recently found out that this wasn’t the case)

Pardon me if I’m being maybe rude and cynical about them; but I am very distressed that they are doing this; the whole scene was really a joke; even to the firefighters and initially police officers. #7. Can I fight back accusing them of fake injury claims?

Thank you,
Jay

You signed a form stating you did not drive your mom's car ever, that means you are most likely EXCLUDED from coverage on her policy. That means they will not get involved in any claims. This is BAD. You will have to pay all claims out of your own pocket.

Did you have mom's permission to borrow her car?

If you are sued, you will need a lawyer in CA to defend you. This will not be cheap.

And no, you will not be able to say that the injuries are "fake". If they received medical care, then they were injured and due compensation.

Expect to be paying for this for a long time. And more lies will not help you, you are going to have to come clean to your parents and everyone else.

k something weird happened.

So my mom's insurance wrote us a letter stating that it is legally not liable for this case, however they withdrew $1500 from her account for my coverage (without any permission; which was the estimate we got before I borrowed her car) and weird thing is I think they are standing by it.

what does this mean?

It means that NOW you are covered by your mom's insurance, but on the date of the accident you were not. Better start saving up.

What province do you and your mother live in? Based on what you've said I would not be surprised if the insurance company is quite correctly finding your mother in breach of her insurance contract. In certain circumstances an insurance company will still defend an insured who is in breach, but they'll seek reimbursement from the insured.

aterriblerugbur said:

What province do you and your mother live in? Based on what you've said I would not be surprised if the insurance company is quite correctly finding your mother in breach of her insurance contract. In certain circumstances an insurance company will still defend an insured who is in breach, but they'll seek reimbursement from the insured.

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You really don't know what the hell you are tallking about do you?

Isn't the OP confused enough without you adding that senseless verbiage to the pot?

And what difference does it make if this family is from British Columbia or Quebec?

There's no need to be mean about it. The reason I asked is that some provinces use a publicly-run insurance corporation for all motor vehicles, and some provinces are privatised.

British Columbia has a public insurance corporation, and all drivers and vehicles in the province are insured through the same corporation. By law they are required to defend their insured in some circumstances even when the insured is in breach of their policy. In such a case, the corporation will pay a lawyer (or their in-house) to defend/settle, and then they'll go after the 'insured' for the costs they paid.

I don't really know how the systems work in other provinces, though, which is why I wanted to know which province.

But you're right, I don't really know that much about what I'm talking about. I have some limited experience with the BC insurance corporation and thought there might be something useful in that. Apparently not, so I apologize for cluttering up the thread with irrelevancies.

OP, being in an accident and causing physical injury isn't a felony or a crime. However lying about it in court IS.

You signed an insurance waiver to not be covered. You weren't covered them. Apparently the insurance company is now requiring you to be covered as a term of your mom's insurance because it's clear she breached the contract by letting you drive, and she'll probably keep doing it. She's not credible. So now you're probably covered.

It doesn't matter whether or not you can afford to pay or whether or not you have student debt. If someone injured you, would you like being told by a judge, "Well, the person who hit you has a lot of debt, so I'm going to take pity on them and make you pay for what they did"? No, because they caused the damage!

Well, you caused it, you're on the hook. You won't go to jail unless you lie.

Case Closed?

Hi again,


I called his insurance a while ago and they said that the claim has been closed. Then I found out today that my mom never sent in the waiver letter that we both signed before the accident but still the insurance charged 1500 to cover me before the insurance. But now the insurance are telling us we'll give you that money back if you sign the waiver that you won't be driving the car effective date: before the accident. Do you guys think there might still be a chance for injury claims? Should I signed the waiver?

NO! It is MUCH better for you to pay the $1500 to have coverage for the accident then to have to pay for all the damages out of your pocket. It is a stroke of luck that your mom never submitted the letter (or maybe she knew you might pull a stunt like this). Count your blessings and promise to make better decisions in the future.