Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Hello,

I received a letter from Progressive Auto Insurance

pertaining to the "at fault" information now being considered in the case

of the recent auto accident. In this letter it determines that I am 100% at

fault for the accident, with the reason being "failing to keep a safe distance".

As we had discussed, and I believe we had gone over

this twice, just for clarity. Neither one of the drivers, including myself

was at fault for the accident. Stationed at a corner of crossing is a stop light at which the other driver was stopped. It is hard to "keep a safe distance" when the other driver is stopped. While I,

myself, was approaching about 25 yards or so away up the incline of the

street. The person in front of the other driver began to pull away as the

light turned green and the person involved in the accident, began to follow

them. Suddenly, without warning, the first person decided that they would

turn at this light instead of going on further and so they stopped dead and

turned their wheel, this caused the young lady behind them to stop

suddenly, a move she might have though better of had she been a driver with

more experience than having been only driving since last October 2010. The

better choice for her would have been to continue around the other car and

head up the street, but unfortunately she did not do this. This caused

myself to suddenly have to change my speed and direction about 20 feet

away, a plausible following distance( if indeed the first person was moving

at all), and slam on my brakes in order to make adjustment for the sudden

change in decision. On a flat plane surface, this would have allowed myself

to slow to a stop some feet behind the young lady, but the incline caused

me to slide at a slow rate of speed beyond the usual stopping distance.

Having no place to go, on either side, I had no choice but to hope friction

could slow me to a stop. My auto connected with her tail end at about 5

miles per hour or so but was still enough to crumple my hood. The person

who made her stop suddenly, continued on their way.

This is the reality of what happened. The "investigation" would have

proven this if indeed it contained more than merely a question and answer

session with those involved. I have driven a car since I was 16 years old.

I am now 50 years old and until now I have been able to claim that I have

never had an at fault accident. I myself have had two hits from behind

while stopped a red light, by those with other concerns on their mind, but

I myself have never had an at fault accident. I have been with Progressive

since 2003 and my record continues to speak for itself. One can see how many tickets and accidents I have had in that time. You will not see any.

Now I recognize that perhaps they have a check list of "reasons for fault"

that they need to search through in order to fill out the forms with the

"best answer". But I refuse to be victimized by this. I will accept fault

as per the driving laws that state that a car hit from behind is "always"

free of responsibility as they are defenseless from being hit from behind.

I know, I have been there myself. But the record must show this as the

reason. I will not tolerate being victimized by a check list. How can I

possibly have "failed to keep a safe distance" behind a stopped car 25

yards away?

The insurance company, however, refuses to let the record show the truth of the incident, and I do not want my record to read something that is not in keeping with the facts. Is there anything I can legally do?

Thank You

Mark M Boudreaux

2 Answers from Attorneys

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