Got hit by a car – legal advice?

[acc]

If you are thinking about taking legal action, call a lawyer and get good, professional advice. Today perhaps would be a good time.

[Jason]

I would document the event by calling the police to ensure that you will win any pending case or future insurance claim. Also, I would take pictures (at the scene is best but that has past) of yourself, your bike, and your outfit that you were wearing. Document, document, document. Also, get written statements from the security guards and any other witnesses that were there.

[txgoonie]

Timur,

I will invoke Dirt and say, “I love and respect all mankind,” but when it comes to matters of money, people are selfish and evil. You have no idea if this person has an clue how much bike repairs costs; most people don’t. I admire your attempts to keep things civil, but you absolutely have to look out for yourself.

Unfortunately not involving the police and getting a report was a mistake and one that, based on my own experience with APD, cannot be corrected retroactively. If a cop wasn’t there to take a report, you’re not going to get one now.

You can try to go through her insurance, and I would. But again, without a police report, there’s no telling if they’ll play ball with your or not.

I experienced a similar situation and tried to play nice, but when the people who hit me disappeared, I had to have a lawyer send a nasty letter to them and prepare myself to go to court. Luckily the letter worked, but there was always the chance that it wouldn’t.

Also, be 100% sure that you’re okay. In an accident, adrenaline can be an amazing thing and mask injuries. Make sure you have documentation if you do seek medical care and include it in the cost.

Do not delay. Get your estimates ASAP. Send it to the person who hit you and get your check. If that doesn’t happen within a few days; find an attorney.

I sincerely hope it all works out.

[Timur]

Thanks all. I took multiple pictures of the bike, my clothes, and my bleeding hand. I am getting the estimate from RevCycles at Clarendon today and sending it to this woman ASAP. So far she has been responsive, but if I don’t get a call within a few hours of me sending her a complete quote, I will call her insurance and find a lawyer.

[rcannon100]

Sorry to hear it Timur. Getting hit stinks. Here is some advice, some of it not useful to you – but is generic.

First, I have a mounted contour camera on the handlebars. The primary goal is to record incidents like this. It avoids He Said / She Said situations.

1.5) Have someone at the scene call the police and possibly an ambulance as necessary.

Second, if you get into an accident, take pictures of everything including the other vehicles plates (assuming it is a car or truck or bus or something).

Third, use the WABA form for if you get into an accident.

** On this form it is space to get the names of any witnesses. Hopefully there might be some cyclists who saw what happened.
** Also take down the name of the police officer if one is there – and ask for a copy of the accident report.

(D) Go to the hospital and get yourself checked out.

[IV] Take you bike to a good bike shop. I took mine to Spokes. The guy at Spokes gave me an itemized estimate of repair – and advised me that my bike was totaled.

> Contact the other person’s insurance (they might contact you). Be prepared to present the other insurance company with your evidence: photos, video, witness statements, estimated costs of repair, medical expenses.

(ii) Hopefully it works out.

WABA has a page of information of what to do when you have an accident.

Final advice: After a few days, think about what is important to you and what you help to get out of this confrontation. I use to be a clerk in DC Superior Court. We were a civil II rocket docket. 1000s of cases were filed, only a ~100 would make it to trial. Those that made it to trial did so for two reasons: (a) really bad attorneys or clients who could not litigate their way out of a paper bag – who could not identify a good settlement and take it and (b) highly complex cases based on complex law or complex facts where the outcome was truly unclear.

Most where (a). Litigation and confrontation become your life – you sell your soul to it. I’ve been there. I was involved in a wrongful death litigation for 10 years. And for 10 years that’s where I lived. It was awful. And after 10 years – we pretty much were given by a jury what the other party was offering as a settlement at day one. Dont be “that guy.” Settle the case – or not – but move on with your life.

A lot of insurance companies are very good to work with. They too realize it is more economically efficient to settle than to litigate, and have turned it into a no-fault payment machine.

Hopefully you will succeed – I did. Two years ago, with photos, police report, witnesses, etc – the insurance company paid for my new bike. But if you dont – dont let it own you. It’s not worth it. Go on living your life.

Good luck.

PS: Note one quibble: you say you have witnesses – having a witness is not the same as having a witness who is willing to testify. Testifying is a time consuming process in someone else’s pissing match – even witnesses dont like litigation.

PSS: How much are we talking. You said $500? When I was in private practice, that would have covered two hours of my time. Consider that you might spend more on an attorney, then you will recover if you have to hire one (doesnt mean you shouldnt talk to one for free – but remember, there are economic choices at work here).

[Dirt]

I hope all goes well with this. I’m happy to hear that the injuries were not serious. There are lots of good people out there. She may come through nicely for you.

From a legal standpoint, if you want to have the option of legal action, I think you need to file a police report. Before doing so, sit down at your computer as soon as possible, and type out exactly what happened in as much detail as you can. Put in all the info you can related to her vehicle, where you were, who the witnesses are, etc. It will be a good reference later on. Memories of things like this are not the strong point for most humans. File the report and start the process of working with the insurance company. You’ll have to get her insurance info. That is the normal process.

If that process breaks down, then you can document what was wrong and start legal proceedings. Not sure where it goes from there… Small claims court because the damages are in the $500 range?

Not sure if that helps.

[DismalScientist]

Hate to disagree. If you are not injured sufficiently to require any medical treatment, just try to file a report. We are only talking relatively minor property damage. Wait to see if she pays. If not, then it may be the time for the lawyer or legal action. With a police report, this should be enough to get a settlement out of her insurance company, which will probably not fight you for such a small amount. The lady would likely pay anyway, because her deductible is likely larger than the total damage and letting the insurance company know will only increase her rates.

If you hire a lawyer, you will likely piss away a substantial amount of any settlement you get. I’ve been on both sides of things like this and hiring a lawyer would be worthless in all occasions.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Timur 27709 wrote:

…I see a very young and good looking female (she was blonde, not that there is anything wrong with that)… I see her about half a second before she hits me…

Man, the singles scene is getting tough in this town. Glad I’m married.

More seriously, I agree with Dismal Scientist.

[Timur]

If I were single, I would probably get a nice pity date out of this. Instead, I get to deal with money, repairs and injuries…

[baiskeli]

She probably wants to pay out of pocket to keep it off her insurance record. Which is probably good for you, since that would be simpler and faster. If she doesn’t pay up fast, you can use the threat to go to her insurance as leverage.

[txgoonie]

@baiskeli 27722 wrote:

She probably wants to pay out of pocket to keep it off her insurance record. Which is probably good for you, since that would be simpler and faster.

That’s undoubtedly true, but, most non-cyclist have no idea how much bike parts and repairs costs. Seems a lot of people have heard drivers promise up and down to pay for whatever damage there is…until they get the estimate.

[Timur]

This is a $400 bike from bikesdirect, so $400 is the limit here no matter what. Thats below most insurance deductibles, so hopefully it will work out.

[Dickie]

Some great advice here, and if nothing else your incident has probably helped many of us re-think how to deal with a similar incident should it occur. Most importantly, you’re alive and relatively unscathed. Make sure over the next few days you continue to check yourself for possible injuries that didn’t show up at first. But most importantly get back on the bike as soon as you feel fit. I had a terrible accident many years ago and expunged ALL of cycling from my life, I was just too scared to ride again. It took me 15 years to get back in the saddle. All the best to you, glad you’re OK.

[KLizotte]

A few years ago my car was hit while it was parked on the street by a woman backing out of her driveway; I was at work at the time. Long story short, she fessed up and said she would pay for the repairs out of pocket. She was a stranger to me and I knew the damage was in the $2-3K range so I asked for her insurance info while saying nicely that I would think about her offer. Well, the nice lady went crazy on me and refused to give me her insurance info. She also made it clear that she did not want her husband to find out about the incident and to only call her at work. At this point I knew she was untrustworthy. I called a couple of times to ask for her insurance info again but got nowhere so I called the police. The policewoman went to the lady’s house, stayed there a long time, then eventually came back with the required info. The next morning I called her insurance company (Geico) and was surprised to discover that she had already confessed her crime to them; they were very easy to work with and my car was fixed without delay or hassle (though Geico now pesters me all the time about buying their products).

I don’t recall if I filed a police report; if I did, it was after the fact w/o any witnesses.

If the chick who hit you admits to her insurance company that she did it, I would not expect any problems from the insurance folks in terms of a payout. The amount is very small potatoes to them.

Unless you were injured, I don’t think a lawyer is necessary in a case like this; you will end up paying mega bucks in attorney fees.

For anyone in an accident, always get the insurance info from the driver.

[dasgeh]

I agree with most of what’s been said here, but I have to put a plug for calling the police in situations like this. It makes the world safer for the rest of us — it contributes to official statistics (which, for example, could help certain awesome county employees get more bike infrastructure), and it holds the woman responsible. It may be true that this is the only time she’s ever done anything like this. Or she may just be very nice and very cute and a very inattentive driver (a good friend of mine fits this bill). If she’s not cited, then any pattern that exists won’t be noticed, and she’ll continue to be a dangerous driver. None of need more of those, and getting multiple citations will help get her off the road.

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