The Significance of Accident Reports in Personal Injury Law

If the police are called to the scene of an accident, they will usually complete an accident report.  This report will state details such as the date, time and place of the accident, as well as all of the parties that were involved in the accident.  Probably the most important part of any police accident report is the officer’s determination of fault (liability).  This decision on the part of the officer can establish the merits of, or, can weaken, or eliminate, the merits of your personal injury claim.

Let us take the example of an accident that you are in that is the fault of another party.  If the officer arrives at the scene and concludes in his/her accident report that you were at fault for the accident, you are going to have a hard time with a bodily injury claim.  This is because the claims adjuster assigned to your claim will likely point to the officer’ s accident report as an "objective" basis for why your claim is being denied. 

So, if you are ever involved in an accident, please call the police if anyone is injured, and do your best to explain to the officer exactly the way the accident occurred, so he/she can accurately determine who was at fault for the accident.

Many personal injury claims, if not most, depend on who was placed at fault for the accident.  That determination is made by a police officer in his/her report.