Did you know California law requires a police report to be filed for all car accidents in the case of death or property damage exceeding $1,000? Drivers are required to report to local law enforcement any accident that results in injury, death, or property damage exceeding $1,000. Often this law is ignored due to ignorance of the existence of the law or a driver may simply not understand who to notify. If you’ve been in a car accident in California, get a police report. The existence of a report makes matters much easier should you file an injury claim at a future date.

People frequently exhibit no signs of injury immediately after an accident and go on to develop symptoms later. In the absence of a police report, you will likely have a more difficult time obtaining compensation for your injuries. Many insurance companies operating in California require their insured to file a police report, as the report will frequently contain information about the causes and effects of an accident. However, even if you didn’t know to file a police report you still have the right to file a claim or file suit to cover your damages.

You should always request a law enforcement officer come to the scene of an accident. An officer is trained to observe the scene, talk to witnesses and gather important information about the involved parties and their passengers. If alcohol is a suspected factor in the collision, an officer will likely conduct field sobriety tests and if appropriate make an arrest. Waiting even 24 hours to report the crash may mean critical evidence could be lost forever and that might affect your ability to recover compensation for your injuries.

Even if you aren’t at fault, without a police report the process will be much more complicated. The other driver’s insurance company will likely question your claim and without a written report you may have a difficult time demonstrating and proving fault. If you don’t have the other driver’s information after a California car accident, you have options. Even if you were involved in a hit and run or were too injured to collect the information after the crash, you should still file a police report with the information you have available.

We represent people who are injured because of the careless and reckless acts of others.  At the end of the day your case can only be settled one time and you need to know all of the facts beforehand. The reason that insurance companies have paid our clients in excess of $130,000,000.00 is that we get the facts and are not intimidated at the prospect of going to trial when insurance companies fail to offer full compensation. We help with serious injuries that require serious representation. We are the Law Offices of Guenard & Bozarth, LLP. Our attorneys have more than 60 years of experience specializing in only representing injured people. Call GB Legal 24/7/365 at 888-809-1075 or visit www.gblegal.com We would be honored to represent you!