QuestionQUESTION: Here is my situation- D2(me) was Eastbound with a yellow traffic sig as I passed through. D1 was facing west on road in the turn lane attempting to turn L. D1 stated he thought D2 was coming to a stop and not passing thru the intersection so he proceeded to turn left. D1 front bumper area made contact with the front left corner area of D2. D2's front left tire was torn from the vehicle and damage done to D2 driver door. The vehicle came to a rest on the NE corner of the intersection. D1's was stopped facing directly south bound in the eastbound lane of the road. The police report states no fault of mine (D2 age 41 never been in a wreck in my lifeI've been lucky) and all fault on him D1age 16. Thank goodness 2 witnesses stopped one directly behind each driver and gave their statements for my side. I didn't even see it happen,The light turned yellow as I hit the white line going 30 in busy traffic too late to stop. My trucks front end was directly underneath the opposate light when he turned into me. I did take pics to prove it since it tore off the wheel and there was visible marks. I'm glad I did, his ins. adj got a hold of me and said He D1 said I tried to beat the red which isn't true. I'm a very big worry wart and my own ins. hasn't been as helpful as I thought they would be,I just found out this today about the he said she said and have not talked with him about this yet to be fair though. What do you think should the police report hold up? I had my truck for 10 years well taken care of but only Liability for ins. It was my much needed 4 wheel drive where I live in the winter. Thanks for listening any input would be helpful. Thanks for the site to help people in general.
ANSWER: Katie,
It seems you have a great case. Number 1 priority for you is to contact both witnesses, or at least confirm their contact information. The police report is not so much helpful to explain how the accident occurred, but is very helpful to identify the witnesses. If you can get the witnesses on the phone, and they can confirm your side of the story, then the adjuster should be able to do so as well. Two witnesses are golden and any adjuster would be a fool to make a liability decision that competes with two independent witness statements unless the circumstances were really strange.
Witnesses are golden, police reports are hearsay.
JP
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I was really worried about the red light thing. I did pass thru on a yellow and i was afraid I would get a its both your fault answer, which I know it wasn't. He wasn't even in the middle of the lane he was behind the line when he decided to go I guess. That intersection the turning lane line is about 3-4 foot behind the light that I was really just about thru. Should have given him a great view really. The witness behind him said he was lookind down and just looked up saw the light and gunned it . He was also in a truck. Worse case scenario if things went south that should be pretty easy to take to court wouldn't you think. I would hope the judge would see I have driven down this road years 2 miles from my house and this person had not been driving long. The ins adjuster didn't have the police report for some reason he said it had kept getting switched around because 2 days later I went to the doc bacause my neck was so stiff and wouldn't turn whiplash to the side but it is coming along well been on med for 4days getting mobility back. doc told me to make sure I was well and pain free before I signed any thing. I will follow his advice but no fractures just a icouple nice bruises and my neck is on the mend. The adjuster asked for the names and #s of the wittnesses which I did give him. You may have gotten this response twice I don,t think the first one went thru. I rated you all 10s
Take Care,
Katie
AnswerI hope I haven't skipped anything on your questions. I logged back in and saw some pending questions from you and it seems one of them was a duplicate, but I don't think I responded to this one.
Medicare is definitely throwing a kink in the injury adjusting realm with their regulatory and statutory subrogation rights that trump all other recovery rights. Due to the recent regulation (last year), insurance adjusters are required to maintain records of all injury pay outs and check the injured party's medicare record to make sure medicare didn't pay for some or all of the related medical. If medicare paid for some or part of the medical, then the adjuster is obligated to pay medicare back. This is a simple analogy, but it the basic premise behind asking for identifying information from you in the way of a SS#. I would not worry about it. Additionally, if you are claiming any type of lost wages or such, then obtaining your social security might be required because proof of income is normally best documented by tax records, which would show your SS#. It is a common practice and fraud prevention method.
If you will make sure the witnesses can be contacted, and provided they are on your side, you should have no problem at all. Patience and perseverance are key to an amicable and fair settlement.
Sincerely,
JP
