What If The Police Report Makes It Sound Like You Bear More Fault For The Accident Than You Do?
The police report is the least of your worries after a car accident. You are more concerned about the visit to the emergency room, even if you feel like you are not hurt. If you go, you will get a big bill, perhaps only for the doctor to tell you that you seem fine and you should come back if you later start having symptoms. If you don’t, then you might start feeling pain the next day, and the insurance companies will never believe you that the pain is the result of the car accident instead of an old injury or a mysterious incident that happened after the accident. You are worried about the volumes of paperwork the insurance company will ask you to file and about the recorded statements where charming insurance adjusters will try to get you to let down your guard so they can catch you on a hot mic, saying that your symptoms are due to pre-existing medical conditions instead of to the accident, or that you were distracted by your cell phone or by everyday stress when the other car hit you. The police report, by contrast, is a straightforward document that can only help your claim, or can it? If you need to file a car accident claim, but the police report seems biased against you, contact a Columbia car accident lawyer.
How Do Insurance Companies Determine Fault for an Accident?
In South Carolina, insurance companies follow the rule of comparative fault. This means that most accidents are not entirely the fault of one driver or the other. Instead, the insurance companies can divide the fault between two or more parties, if more than one party contributed to the accident. The responsible parties can be the drivers involved, but they can also be cities that maintained unsafe roads or bars that served alcohol to drunk drivers, among others. If you bear partial fault for the accident, you can still get an insurance settlement for your vehicle damage and medical bills, but the settlement amount is less than it would be if you did not bear any fault for the accident.
A Car Accident Lawyer Can Help You Correct an Erroneous Police Report
Before you file an insurance claim, or before you submit the police report to support your claim, read the police report carefully. Think about anything in the police report that the insurance company might use to justify paying less on your claim than the full amount of your accident-related losses. You have the right to challenge an unfair police report, but your chances of getting the police to amend it are better if you submit other evidence, such as photos or a doctor’s report, to support your proposed changes. A personal injury lawyer can help you with this process.
Let Us Help You Today
The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you get justice after a car accident where the police report was unfair to you. Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.
Source:
msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/after-a-minor-accident-that-wasn-t-my-fault-the-responding-officer-wrote-the-report-in-a-way-that-shifted-partial-blame-onto-me/ar-AA1X2jVs?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=699fc2638c7a4d599fd1180ac006d8e9&ei=27
