State Farm Auto Insurance The refused to accept blame for an accident even though Police did Bloomington Illinois

Same thing happened to me, but I went to court and won the case. I was in the right 100% and had a few witnesses. Allstate's lawyer (my lawyer) told me what a great job I did in court, and the local Allstate office called me and said they were very pleased at how things went. Two days later they cancelled my insurance.

From reading some of the other postings I get the idea that some of the responders are or were claim adjusters like myself. You have been given some good advice which hopefully you and/or your daughter will never have to use in the future.

It seems to me that the big issue is the witness that gave the business card to your daughter so I will concentrate on that issue.

1. Is it possible that the witness State Farm refers to is the same person that gave your daughter the card? It wasn't clear (unless I missed it)that he thought the accident was the other drivers fault.

2. If the witness who gave his card to your daughter was not listed on the police report then I would suggest that you have your daughter go to the police dept and ask to get the info on the card for a small claims suit. The dept has a duty to keep that info even if they don't include it on their report. I would also suggest that she ask for copies of any photos that the police may have taken at the scene.(not likely but it can't hurt) Scene photos showing a debris field can make or break a case.

3. If you can locate that witness and they say it is the other drivers fault then get both a written statement and a diagram from them to use in court. In case they can't/won't testify have the statement signed by the witness and have their signature notarized.

4. I don't recall if you named your insurance carrier but they let you down just as much in this whole thing. Whether you were going to use your collision coverage or not they should have conducted an investigation into the claim in case the other party decided to file a claim gainst your daughter. You should not be stuck investigating this thing on your own. Again the key is the witness who left the card. I think you should push your company to help you get the witness info from the police dept.

5. Hopefully, somebody took photos of your vehicle prior to the repairs. They will be needed in court and may even help shed some light on who did what.

Good Luck.

First of all, there was no court hearing. It has not gotten that far--as noted earlier. I was not aware that I may have a 'win-able' case until here. I also mentioned that I do have the witness name and phone number and his statement.

The traffic infraction cited for was 'Careless Driving', Florida #3161925, as I obtained both from the accident report(which never mentioned a witness) and the Ctiation Data report from the court records.

The only 'eyewitness', I was not there to see where this person came from or where he viewed the accident from, is the witness who said it was my daughters fault.

I am looking for next steps here. 1,600 miles away from the court house, something I am sure State Farm is aware of. It may cost me more to be 'on call' for the court date as it has to repair the car!

Thank You for your input and time/help.
Joe

What Was the Citation For?

I'd like to know what the other driver was cited for -- what was the violation? "Causing an accident"? How can the police officer give someone a violation for something he didn't see? If I told the police that I saw someone speeding, the police officer can't issue a citation just on another person's say-so. This is a mystery as to why a police officer would issue a citation under those circumstances, unless the citation is for something that might not be directly related to the cause of the accident. On the police report, there should be a listing of the Vehicle Code that the other driver is supposed to have violated. you can look it up as to what exactly the other driver was cited for, but again, unless the police officer actually saw the violation being committed, it's hard to understand why a citation was issued and what the citation was for. As for "guilt" -- this is confusing a violation of a vehicle code section with civil liability for an accident. One does not necessarily follow the other. The only thing a police report contains is what the police officer was told -- a police officer will make a drawing of the scene and note the damage to the vehicles, and speculate as to what caused an accident, but without an accident reconstructionist expert, it is impossible to tell.

It was not State Farm's responsibility to retain pictures of the other person's car -- but, the police report should have a description of the damage to the other car. You'd probably have a good chance in small claims court on this if you don't want a full-blown lawsuit over $1700 in property damage. Just make sure you find the eyewitness that's listed on the police report and see if you can get him to come to court with your daughter.

There never was a court thing, except, I assume, for the State Farm Insured for when she paid the citation.
As mentioned, my insurance company told me they would not pursue it as their exerience is that they would lose due to the eyewitness. Hence, my protracted discussions with the State Farm Representatives.

I have the phone number of the eyewitness--State Farm provided it to me along with a transcript of same. I spoke to our union lawyer who advised, that, if I went to Florida and scheduled the case, I would probably lose-for the same reason my insurance company told me.
He also mentioned that my problem was not with State Farm, but with the witness and the other party.

At that point, my daughter had been riding around in my new car from Feb through July with a messed up car. I decided to get it fixed and pay for it.

I had hoped that I would be able to arrange a small claims hearing but lacked any knowledgeable backup to do this myself.

I may do so now...thanks to your encouragement.

Joe

Your daughter should have appeared in court, but it doesn't matter because the other driver either didn't show or was convicted anyway. That means he's guilty. The case is closed, it's his fault. State Farm really should've tried to fight in court if they had proof it was your daughter's fault.

You should go to your insurance company for help. If you have Collision, your company will make the other company pay. Your rate will not increase because you have the court conviction as proof it wasn't her fault. The other alternative is to sue the other driver. State Farm will probably just pay at that point because the other driver was convicted and they're not going to track down this "witness" if he even exists, over $1700.

You were right with the first two steps but there's more.

1 Call police.
2 Don't move the car until police arrive.
3 Call YOUR insurance company.
4 Go to court and make sure there's a conviction if the other driver was cited.

Hi
As mentioned, there was only one 'witness' who came forward--he handed his card to both involved in the accident. My daughter gave hers to the police.

Your response sounds almost to the party line that State Farms' did....The other person in the accident never stated her side of the story and, as mentioned, she paid the $109 fine for the citation AND went to Defensive Driving School to avoid points.

To the untrained, this seems like an admission of guilt. They...and apparently, at least one other, do not agree.

If one looked at the car, it was apparent what happened and who was at fault. They did not bother to take pictures of the other car as it would have proved the point.

Thank You for the follow up.
Joe

What happened to the witness that gave his card to your daughter? He should have been listed on the police report as a witness. I would call him and get his side of the story.

The police report of the accident is at best a reconstruction based on what the officer was told. He didn't witness the accident.

Look at it from State Farm's side - they had an eyewitness that said it was your daughter's fault, you admit your daughter has had previous accidents that were her fault (you can be sure they knew about this) and I'm sure the other driver claimed it wasn't their fault. With all that evidence, they made the logical decision.

You need to give them something concrete to counter their evidence.