Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
Accident from police chasing suspect.
A friend of mine was driving some last Sunday and was t-boned by a guy who was being pursued by the police dept at 90mph on a surface street, his vehicle was totalled and was taken to the hospital after the officers made no effort for 10 mins to check on him. He will now have high medical bills, he lost his truck, and cannot work right now because he works for himself and does construction type work on a small scale, he's having severe pains still, the suspect was driving a ''stolen'' vehicle that was not reported stolen until AFTER the incident so his insurance company says they have no one to go after, the police were pursuing this person for a traffic infraction. One attorney advised that he cannot sue the police department or the city and he just has to take his losses. Is there anything he can do? Can the police chase people with no regard for public safety and ruin peoples lives and be free of liability? I have some suspicions that the suspect has some sort of connection to the female r/o of the truck, as the ''stolen'' vehicle was a 2000 Chevrolet which has transponder keys and you cannot ''peel'' the columns on those vehicles. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as my friend is extremely worried about the future.
6 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Accident from police chasing suspect.
Breaking this down to its simplist answer, your friend was hit by an uninsured motorist. What coverages does your friend have on his own ins. policy? Collision coverage will take care of the vehicle. Rental will help, too. Uninsured motorist and Med Pay coverages will take care of medical bills, wage loss and pain and suffering. It doesn't matter that the ins. co. has no one to go after. If your friend has these coverages, he has someplace to go for help. If he's in the Orange County area or nearby, call me for a free consult and review.
Re: Accident from police chasing suspect.
(1) Your friend may recover from his own insurance if he has proper coverages (i.e., comp and collision, Uninsured - Underinsured motorist, med-pay, rental, etc.)
(2) If the other car was indeed stolen, then there is no liability against the owner of that vehicle. The owner is just another victim, unless of course you prove they're connected. In that case, discovery of additional information is needed.
(3) Police departments and Cities or County's, have statutory immunities in these situations. If the police department had implemented a viable "pursuit policy" then there are Appellate Court cases that says it is sufficient to grant police immunity. The immunity, however, is not absolute but rather qualified. If the facts show that the pursuing officers were not following departmental "pursuit policies" (i.e., no lights and sirens while on a hot pursuit) then your friend may assert his claim.
This will be a tough case to handle. So, I recommend your friend to hire someone who knows what he/she is doing and has handled similar cases successfully in the past.
Good luck.
Re: Accident from police chasing suspect.
1. If the injured person has uninsured motorist insurance through their own carrier they can look to that.
2. The driver of the stolen vehicle may be insured.
3. The police may still be potentially liable.
4. There are certain "Victim of Crime" funds through the state that may help for the medical bills.
Re: Accident from police chasing suspect.
There are more facts needed for me to properly advise you. If the police chase was unreasonable under the circumstances there may be a good claim against the police department. Please call my office and we can discuss this. Scott Jarvis (562)597-7070
Re: Accident from police chasing suspect.
There are a few possibilities, 1. Your friend may be able to go after her uninsured motorist policy if she has one, 2. Go after the owner of the vehicle, 3. Go after the driver himself, 4. Go after the police department if the chase was unreasonable and 5. Collect through a special fund for victims of crime. To exercise any of these options, please feel free to contact me at 818.943.0462.
Re: Accident from police chasing suspect.
I've had these cases before. I would just go after the driver and owner of the car. It will be tough to prove the police were unreasonable in chasing the liable driver but it could be pursued. Contact me if interested and good luck.
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