Here's how the story goes:
I was on the freeway following directly behind my sister 2-3 car lengths behind, travelling around 40-50 mph. As she was making her lane switch to the left (clear lane, no cars near her) with her signal on, this vehicle in front of her (from where she made the lane change, her previous lane) decides to abruptly cut into her lane. Since she was in the midst of accelerating because her lane was free and the car to her right suddenly made that lane change, she bumped/kissed the bumper of that vehicle (her right front bumper hit his left rear bumper). She wasn't able to react quickly enough to get on the brakes. Damage is minimal. About $300 in repairs (my estimate). The car who cut her though ate up part of the left lane from swerving probably because he thought he wouldn't get hit and got shocked by the impact.
Anyway, he pulls over to the nearest exit and we follow him into a gas station to assess the damage and exchange information and let our insurance providers handle the situation. We also check to see if everyone was ok and no one seemed to have suffered any injuries. I didn't play the blame game whatsoever although I was pissed because the guy was clearly at fault here and he was acting like we were at fault. No police report was filed either, because it didn't cross our minds (I believe this was the case) or the damage wasn't big enough to file any report with a police officer. No other witnesses were involved.
The following day, my sister hears from our insurance agent that that person she got involved in the accident with is filing claims for injury. That insurance agent is asking us to fill out some forms that need to be submitted to the dmv and she told us to write down that we are completely at fault.
My first reaction goes like this. I understand that if a person gets injured, then we have to file a report with the DMV. I do however do not want her to admit fault because she really never was fault to begin with. I believe that by law, it generally is the person who rear ends the other guy who's at fault but that shouldn't apply in this case. I told my sister to present her case and her side of the story to her insurance agent and her agent said she'll see what she can do to help us out.
My sister today got an update from her agent that her case doesn't look good and it would most likely be the case that our insurance will have to pay for his injury claims. I told her to keep questioning her agent and be adamant about the accident not being her fault.
The guy who she hit (because of his negligence) doesn't have a police report, witnesses or evidence whatsoever besides the pictures we took in the parking lot of the gas station. Basically, it's his word against my sister's. I do not understand though why it seems that his word has more leverage than ours especially if he cannot prove that we are completely at fault.
so what do you guys think about this? I'm really pissed off because imho we are losing this fight when it wasn't my sister's negligence that caused the accident. I would tolerate/accept a decision of double negligence at worse for both parties regarding insurance claims since fault cannot be clearly proven but fault is already being completely placed on my sister.
Any input? Feedback? Good or bad, whether it works to my advantage or not. I need opinions and I would appreciate it. This just frustrates me especially since things our turning out to be completely unfair.
I was on the freeway following directly behind my sister 2-3 car lengths behind, travelling around 40-50 mph. As she was making her lane switch to the left (clear lane, no cars near her) with her signal on, this vehicle in front of her (from where she made the lane change, her previous lane) decides to abruptly cut into her lane. Since she was in the midst of accelerating because her lane was free and the car to her right suddenly made that lane change, she bumped/kissed the bumper of that vehicle (her right front bumper hit his left rear bumper). She wasn't able to react quickly enough to get on the brakes. Damage is minimal. About $300 in repairs (my estimate). The car who cut her though ate up part of the left lane from swerving probably because he thought he wouldn't get hit and got shocked by the impact.
Anyway, he pulls over to the nearest exit and we follow him into a gas station to assess the damage and exchange information and let our insurance providers handle the situation. We also check to see if everyone was ok and no one seemed to have suffered any injuries. I didn't play the blame game whatsoever although I was pissed because the guy was clearly at fault here and he was acting like we were at fault. No police report was filed either, because it didn't cross our minds (I believe this was the case) or the damage wasn't big enough to file any report with a police officer. No other witnesses were involved.
The following day, my sister hears from our insurance agent that that person she got involved in the accident with is filing claims for injury. That insurance agent is asking us to fill out some forms that need to be submitted to the dmv and she told us to write down that we are completely at fault.
My first reaction goes like this. I understand that if a person gets injured, then we have to file a report with the DMV. I do however do not want her to admit fault because she really never was fault to begin with. I believe that by law, it generally is the person who rear ends the other guy who's at fault but that shouldn't apply in this case. I told my sister to present her case and her side of the story to her insurance agent and her agent said she'll see what she can do to help us out.
My sister today got an update from her agent that her case doesn't look good and it would most likely be the case that our insurance will have to pay for his injury claims. I told her to keep questioning her agent and be adamant about the accident not being her fault.
The guy who she hit (because of his negligence) doesn't have a police report, witnesses or evidence whatsoever besides the pictures we took in the parking lot of the gas station. Basically, it's his word against my sister's. I do not understand though why it seems that his word has more leverage than ours especially if he cannot prove that we are completely at fault.
so what do you guys think about this? I'm really pissed off because imho we are losing this fight when it wasn't my sister's negligence that caused the accident. I would tolerate/accept a decision of double negligence at worse for both parties regarding insurance claims since fault cannot be clearly proven but fault is already being completely placed on my sister.
Any input? Feedback? Good or bad, whether it works to my advantage or not. I need opinions and I would appreciate it. This just frustrates me especially since things our turning out to be completely unfair.
