Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 2/14/2009

Question
My son was in an accident last August. His car was hit from behind. This caused his car to flip over and land in the woods.  He and his passenger weren't hurt, but it took 5 people to pry up the hood so they could exit the car (which all stated that it was the ladys fault).  Now, here come the police and they say it was my sons fault and issue him a citation for improper lane change!  We can't get the police officer to return our calls and he didn't list any of the witnesses on the accident report.  So, the insurance co automatically said it was my sons fault, beacuse he was issued the citation.  
He faught the citation and won.  We called the insurance co to tell them and they said that they already paid the lady and maintain that it was his fault. However, she also told me that the woman maintains that he caused her to do a 360 in the road.  This we did not know, because he was busy flipping over in his car.  So this is new info to us, which lead me to look back on some pictures that we took of the skid marks (the next morning) and they show that she did do a 360, but also show that she did come from lane one into two (where my sone was already established).  She said that she was in lane two the whole time.
I'm wondering if this is enough evidence to show them.  Can they reverse their decision? Accident happend in late August, has it been too long to present this info.? Also, what about the witnesses that were there, aren't the police supposed to write down that info. and put it in the report? Just wondering what I/we should do, if anything.

Answer
Hi Erin,

It is not too late to try to show your info to the insurance company. However, it may not cause them to change their mind. It is tru that the police office should have listed witnesses but, the often do not if they feel they have all the info they need to determine fault.

If the insurance company does not accept liability after you show them your evidence, the only thing you can do is to file a law suit against the other driver. If the judge believes your story over hers and the judge determines that the other driver was at fault, then you can present that judgement to the insurance company and they will have to pay you.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh