Introduction
While most car accidents result in nothing more than a little property damage, even the most minor of car accidents can end up being quite expensive. Possible expenses include, but are not limited to; damage your vehicle, damage to the other driver’s vehicle, property damage and personal injuries.
Getting in an accident can also lead to meetings with insurance adjusters, doctors and/or hospital visits, and potentially even a lawsuit. Which is why we recommend to call the police following any car accident. If there ends up being a lawsuit, a police report will be a valuable piece of evidence.
The following article goes in to detail about what to do if you are involved in a parking lot car accident where the police were not called, therefor no police report was filed. To receive help or if you have any questions about a potential car accident lawsuit, give our personal injury team a call at (480) 467-4392. With a free consultation, you have nothing to lose!
Parking Lot Accidents Can Cause Whiplash
In most parking lot car accidents the victim of the damage will be minimal. At first glance it may seem like the best idea is to simply record the person’s driving and insurance information, should you need to make a claim. While this thought process makes sense for someone that wasn’t in the car when it got hit, it’s a totally different story if you were in the car during the collision.
Rear end collisions can cause the victim to unexpectedly jerk forward with their torso moving slightly before their neck and head. This can cause an extremely serious and painful injury, referred to as whiplash. According to engineering experts, whiplash can occur from collisions at speeds as slow as 5 mph.
Whiplash is dangerous not only because of the sever amount of pain that it can cause, but because often times the victim does not feel pain until hours or even days after the event occurred. People don’t notice either because their body was producing adrenaline or because they were so preoccupied dealing with the accident that they simply didn’t notice they are in pain.
Personal Injuries Are Expensive
Receiving whiplash or any other type of injury because of a car accident is not only painful, but costs time and money to recover from. While having insurance will surely cover some of the costs, the victim may find themselves having to cover some of the expenses themselves.
Since you are a victim in this scenario, it does not seem fair that you should have to pay the bill because of some other driver’s negligence. In such a situation the victim should strongly consider consulting with a personal injury attorney that specializes in car accidents.
A personal injury attorney can help the victim receive the compensation that they need to fully recover from the car accident. They can do this by filing a car accident lawsuit against the insurance company or even the other driver.
Filing a Car Accident Lawsuit Against an Insurance Company
There are many reasons that we recommend contacting a car accident attorney following an accident before contacting anyone else, but the main reason is because most drivers don’t realize their insurance company will never (or very rarely) fight for them.
Insurance companies are in the business of car accidents and deal with them on a daily basis. Insurance companies have full time employees and lawyers that will do everything in their power to give the victim the smallest amount of compensation for their accident.
This reason alone goes to show the importance of collecting as much information as possible at the scene of the accident, you never know if you are going to have to use any of that information as evidence in a lawsuit.
Obtaining a Police Report
In a car accident lawsuit all evidence that can be gathered is important, but there are some things that hold more weight than others. One of those things, and arguably the most important, is getting a police report.
A police report is so highly valued because police are government employees and a judge will always value their word as the truth. Which is understandable, as it is part of the police officer oath of office to tell the truth and defend justice.
Another reason that a police report is so highly valued is because it gives a non-biased opinion of why the accident occurred and who is responsible. It is important to note that just because a police officer deems one driver as responsible for the accident in the police report, does not mean that driver is guilty. This decision is made by the judge after all evidence has been viewed and cases of innocence made.
A police report can be obtained by calling the police immediately after the accident occurs and having an officer come to the scene of the accident. They will then perform an investigation and put all of their findings into a police report. This police report can then be requested from both parties via the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Parking Lot Accident With No Police Report
While in this article we have explained why we believe having a police report is a crucial article of evidence in a lawsuit, it does not mean that there will always be a one. It is not required by law to have a police report if there was a car accident. If both parties think they can resolve this issue without involving the police, it is their legal right to do so.
In cases where a police report was never created, both parties will have to rely on other articles of evidence. Such as:
- Medical records
- Insurance collision reports
- Witness testimonies
- Testimonies from each driver
- Physical evidence, such as pictures of the accident or parts of the vehicle
Of all these pieces of evidence, the most important will be the medical records. The reason being that doctors, like lawyers and police officers, are legally bound to state the truth. When matched up with other evidence, medical records can do a great deal in proving an injury claim.
How JacksonWhite Can Help
At JacksonWhite our personal injury team has been helping Arizona car accident victims receive the compensation they deserve for over 10 years. Our team, lead by attorney Jared E. Everton, has a proven record of success when filing lawsuits against insurance companies.
We offer a free case evaluation and guarantee that (if we end up representing you) we will win your case or you don’t pay! To get in contact with our team give us a call at (480) 467-4392 or fill out the form below.
