Legal Advice for Car Accidents
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If you are involved in a car accident, chances are you will be involved in a lawsuit, too. Here is some advice on what to do and what not to do to help your case.
Note: The advice provided here is for general education only. If you have been in an actual car accident, you should meet with a good local personal injury lawyer because the laws are different in different states. Also, every accident is different, so each one must be handled differently depending on the facts.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Do not hit and run. That is a serious crime. Pull over if you can do it safely. Try to move your car out of oncoming traffic. If anyone is injured or wants an ambulance, call 911. Now, assuming all that is taken care of, here is some general legal advice.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY
1. Don’t Confess or Admit
Immediately after an accident, some people are tempted to blurt out things like:
“Oh, my god! I’m so sorry!”
“It’s my fault! But, I thought you saw me.”
“I didn’t even see you. I must have fallen asleep.”
“I can’t believe I did this again! I’m such an idiot!”
“Can we work something out? I don’t have insurance.”
My advice is: Don’t do it. If you want to be a martyr and take all the blame, you can do it later. But, at the scene of the accident, don’t offer any confessions or admissions. It might not be all your fault. It’s hard to know exactly what happened. Don’t guess. And, don’t tell people what you think happened. It will be much easier to defend your lawsuit if you keep your guilty thoughts to yourself. If it was your fault, you will pay. For now, just exchange your driver’s license and car insurance information with the other driver.
2. Don’t Blame or Curse
If you think the other driver caused it, you may be tempted to blurt out things like:
“You stupid #?!%&~ ! Didn’t you see me?”
“You #?!%&~ moron! Look what you did to my car!”
“Are you crazy? What’s the matter with you?”
“I don’t believe this! This is all your fault!”
“Didn’t they teach you to drive where you come from?”
Don’t do this either. Even if you are 100% correct and the other driver was 100% at fault, you still don’t want these words to come back to haunt you during a lawsuit. A jury will not want to help you too much if you sound like an out of control bully. And, never, ever use racist, sexist, or other highly offensive language under any circumstances.
2. “I Don’t Know” Is a Good Answer
If police or paramedics are involved, they might ask you, “What happened?” That is a very vague question. You don’t know what happened because you could not possibly see everything before, during, and after the accident. Therefore, “I don’t know” is always a good answer to such vague questions.
3. How to Answer Specific Questions
Police and paramedics are there to help you. But, remember that anything you say will be written down and made part of a report that will later be used in a lawsuit, if there is one. So, be careful what you say to them.
If they ask you specific questions, you will save yourself a lot of future harm if you stop and ask yourself three questions before you answer any of their questions:
a. Did I hear the entire question?
b. Do I understand the entire question?
c. Do I have an answer to the entire question?
You probably will not be able to answer “yes” to all of these questions.
a. If you did not hear the entire question, then ask them to please repeat it.
b. If you don’t understand the entire question, ask them to please explain it.
c. If you don’t have an answer to the entire question, say, “I don’t know.”
Be as truthful as you can. But, don’t guess. Also, don’t offer information unless you need to tell paramedics about your relevant health problems or medical conditions.
MEDICAL ATTENTION
Obviously, if you need medical attention at the scene of the incident, ask for paramedics and immediate transportation to a hospital. But, even if you are not bleeding and don’t have any broken bones, you might still want to go to the hospital immediately for tests if you hit your head, have a headache, or feel dizzy or faint, because you may have an internal head injury and not realize it.
Even if you don’t go to the hospital immediately, you may start feeling aches and pains the next day. As soon as you feel any symptoms from the accident, or worsening of pre-existing symptoms as a result of the accident, seek immediate medical attention if you want to make that part of your lawsuit in the future.
Don’t make up any symptoms. But, don’t try to suck it up, either, because your little neck and back pain might turn into a condition that could have been prevented if treated early but now requires painful, risky, and expensive surgery.
GET A GOOD LAWYER
The advice in this article is the type of advice that a good personal injury lawyer should give you. A good lawyer should meet with you in person to prepare you for your deposition. A deposition is the most important part of a personal injury lawsuit. You should be totally prepared for it. It is a question and answer session in front of a court reporter who records everything that anyone says. Sometimes these sessions are videotaped. They can be as short as a few hours or as long as a few days. The other side’s attorney will ask you questions about the accident, your injuries, and anything else that is relevant to the lawsuit. You must answer the questions, under penalty of perjury.
If you don’t feel comfortable with your lawyer for any reason, get another lawyer quickly. The longer you stay with a bad lawyer, the more you hurt your case and the more that lawyer can take out of your final settlement or judgment.
CONCLUSION
In my ten years as a lawyer, I met a lot of great people who were involved in car accidents on both sides. Even though being in a lawsuit is very stressful, my clients always appreciated my straightforward advice. Now, that I’m no longer practicing law because I’m writing full time, I thought I’d share some of the secrets of the legal profession with all of you who might need it. Be awesome! Be your own hero!
Also see, “When Is a Car Accident and Act of God?”
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[For “How to Think Like a Lawyer,” click here.]
