If I was involved in a rear end accident, what do I do?
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If I was involved in a rear end accident, what do I do?
I was involved in a rear-end collision accident with my girlfriend me being the passenger. I was not injured even though I believe the car was totaled and there seemed to be no signs of stopping from the other party no tire marks, heard no
Asked on July 9, 2016 under Accident Law, Florida
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
You don't have any options if you were not injured and it was not your car--a person can only pursue his or her own claims in court, not the claims of another person. Your girlfriend could sue the other driver and also the owner of the other car (if that's not the same person as the driver) for the cost to repair her car (or if it's totalled, it's then-current fair market or blue book value), since based on what you write (hit from behind by another car which did not even seem to try to stop), the other driver was at fault. If the other person does not have insurance, he or she may not have money also, however--people who have property, assets, money in the bank, good jobs, etc. can generally afford insurance and buy it to protect themselves; usually the people with no insurance have little or nothing to lose, so it's not worth buying insurance (and/or they can't even afford it). Therefore, you girlfriend could sue, win the court case, but still not collect money, if there is no money to collect. A good option is for her to sue in small claims court, as her own attorney or "pro se," since by doing so, she will be risking very little--if she wins and gets money, she will come out ahead, but if she doesn't win or can't collect, all she's lost is some of her time and fairly small filing fee.
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