Wife got into car accident and police issued no ticket! Injury! Car totaled! Insurance battle? Attorney?

My wife was involved in a car accident.

The accident happened at a four way stop sign intersection.
My wife was traveling Eastbound.
The other driver was traveling Southbound.
Long story short, they both got to the intersection at the same time and my wife had right of way being on the right. The other person either didn’t yield to right of way or ran the stop sign. It happened real fast.

My wife was hurt and went to the hospital directly from the accident scene and wasn’t able to talk to the police officer before leaving the scene. The other person lied and told the officer that my wife didn’t stop so when the officer came to the hospital he was expecting to give my wife a ticket for not stopping until she straitened him out on what happened. Now he says he won’t issue any tickets because he is unable to make a determination about what happened. That is him basically saying he f’ed up.
The people who hit her already called my insurance agent and yelled at him, blaming my wife 100 percent for the accident.

There were no witnesses other than the two cars involved.

So here we are with a totaled car, injured wife, insurance battle, and no ticked issued.
How do you think things will pan out and where do we go from here?

I spoke to a lawyer who suggested we pay 5-10,000 for an accident reconstruction and that he won’t get paid unless we get any money. But if we lose we are out the$5-10,000.
Now what money does he think we will get? Pain and suffering? Missing work? Daycare?
Our car had full coverage which is only worth $6000 or so and my wife had a $40,000? dollar surgery to fix her arm which the PIP on the vehicle will pay $4500 out immediately and her health insurance(which is really good) will take care of the rest.

I have heard of people who fought in court and won, and basically any extra money they won went to the lawyer. I don’t want to enter contract with him if he is just leading me on for his own benefit.
I am not in a financial position to pay out of pocket for the accident reconstruction and I am afraid if I go the legal route I won’t end up any better off and perhaps worse than we are now.

Would I have any avenue in which to challenge the officers’ decision not to issue a ticket? Can I go over his head? Can they go back and issue a ticket days later?

Has anybody else been here and what happened? I am at a complete loss on which direction to proceed at this point.

For the recent years, our court system has been receiving considerable number of personal injury lawsuits resulting from motor vehicle accidents. This is very much evident on the daily news reports about the accounts of tragic vehicle collisions. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) affirmed that a car accident occur every ten seconds.

In California and in most states in the U.S. wherein “no fault” legislation has not yet been adopted, these occurrences are under the law of negligence. Meaning, any person, who has been proven to operate his vehicle without due care, is required to pay his injured victim for any harm or damages that resulted from his action or inaction.

Because of this, motor vehicle owners and drivers should be considerate enough to exercise “reasonable care” especially when traveling along the busy streets and thoroughfares. That is, if they do not want to face the various penalties and legal obligations that may emerge.

Causes of Vehicular accidents

According to the reported incidents, these dealings have been the major causes of vehicular accidents:

• Speeding beyond the allowable and posted limit set based on the traffic condition

• Inappropriate or too much lane changing

• Driving under the influence of alcohol or any illegal substance

• Tailgating

• Rubbernecking

• Unnecessary operation of stereo systems

• Too much conversation with other passengers

• Improper use of cell phones

• Failure to abide by the road signs and warnings

In some cases, traffic accidents have been caused by other reasons that are not related to the drivers’ actions. These are:

• Motor vehicle defects – in this particular case, the injured victims may sue the automobile manufacturer or supplier under the product liability law

• Poorly maintained roads and traffic control malfunction – this instance may entitle the injured victims to file charges against certain government entities. However, these cases are under special rules and definitely necessitate the assistance of motor vehicle accident lawyers for proper legal advice.

Legal Procedures

In any court arguments, the plaintiffs always carry the “burden of proof.” This means they must substantiate their allegations before they may obtain suitable compensation. In a road collision, the plaintiff has to establish these elements of his case:

• The defendant has been neglectful in operating his vehicle

• Such carelessness has been the proximate cause of the accident

• He has incurred injuries or damages from the accident

• He has not violated any traffic rules when the accident transpired

If he was able to convince the court that these elements are factual, the defendant may then be obliged by the judge to pay him compensatory damages for his:

• Physical pain and suffering

• Emotional distress

• Hospital and other treatment expenses

• Loss of wages

• Damage to property

• Lawyer’s fees

Seeking the Aid of a Competent Lawyer

The legal procedure in filing personal injury lawsuits can be very complicated since the injured victims may have limited knowledge about the associated law provisions. Thus, it is just proper for them to hire experienced motor vehicle accident lawyers in order to have better chances of winning their legal battle.

With a lawyer’s adequate understanding and skills in managing vehicle accident litigations, the injured victims do not have to worry much on their claims. Rather, they will have more time to spend with their families while waiting for their injuries to completely heal.

About The Author

Rainier Policarpio

Our expert lawyers are well experienced in handling cases resulting from motor vehicle accidents. For further details and inquiries on how to obtain credible legal representation, just log on to our website at http://askaccidentlawyers.com/

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