If you or someone you know has ever been involved in a car accident before, you probably know that the police often investigate and write reports about what they find. Even if criminal charges are not assessed in your accident, the police report may still be very important to your case. The report may contain valuable information about evidence we need to prove your claims for damages in court.
If you plan to file an auto insurance claim, the insurance company will likely want a copy of the report. In some cases, insurance companies require a copy of the police report to process the claim. We may also need the report to assist with your personal injury lawsuit against the other driver. Police reports are not always admissible as evidence themselves, but they may contain details to help us find admissible evidence. If nothing else, the police report may also add some legitimacy to your claims, giving them more weight in front of a jury.
Ask our Philadelphia car accident lawyers for a free initial case evaluation by calling The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940.
Using a Police Report for an Insurance Claim
Insurance claims and car accidents go hand-in-hand, and insurance companies often want to see a copy of the police report from the crash. If you cannot provide a copy of the report, the insurance company might become suspicious of your claims. Insurance companies often want the police report so they can verify the accident and make sure it is not a fraudulent claim.
In some cases, insurance companies require a copy of the police report to process the claim. This means that if you cannot provide a copy, or there is no copy, you might have difficulty getting compensated.
Using a Police Report in a Car Accident Injury Lawsuit
If an insurance claim does not cover all your damages or is otherwise unavailable, you may file a personal injury lawsuit against the driver who hit you. Having the police report may help us locate evidence our car accident lawyers need to prove your claims in court.
Depending on the accident, the police might have conducted a thorough investigation. When accidents cause severe injuries or death, investigations tend to be more in-depth, and the police may turn up important pieces of evidence.
While the report itself is not typically admissible in court because of rules against hearsay, it may still lead us to evidence that is admissible.
Information Often Contained in Police Reports for Car Accidents
What is in police reports that makes them so important? Admittedly, some reports are more detailed than others, and more severe accidents tend to be more thoroughly investigated, and reports may contain more useful information.
First, we should check the report for information about the other driver. It is not unusual for defendants to argue that someone else was driving the car or that the car was owned by someone else. The police report should contain information about who was driving, the car they drove, and the legal owner of the car.
Next, we should check the police report for information about evidence we may not be aware of. For example, the police, in their investigation, might find open alcohol containers in the car, leading to an arrest and chemical testing for a DUI or DWI. We might use this information to get the arresting officers to testify about what they saw.
Is a Police Report Admissible Evidence in an Auto Accident Case?
As helpful as police reports may be after a car accident, they are usually inadmissible as evidence in court. Since these reports are based on second-hand accounts and information, and they are themselves out of court statements, introducing them as evidence would violate the rule against hearsay. Even so, there are numerous exceptions to the rule that allow us to use the reports in court.
One possibility is that the police officers who responded to the accident and possibly arrested the defendant may testify in court. While we cannot introduce the report as evidence, testifying witnesses may use the report to refresh their memory while testifying, as long as they don’t just read from the report.
Another possibility is that a witness made a statement to the police that was included in the police report, but the same witness made a contradictory statement on the witness stand. We can use the report to confront the witness with their prior inconsistent statement and possibly undermine their credibility if they are testifying against you.
Using a Police Report to Bolster Your Car Accident Case
Even if we cannot admit the police report from your accident into evidence in court, it may still be extremely important in other ways.
First, simply having the report may lend some legitimacy to your claims. If the police do not write a report, it usually means that the accident was not reported. Not only is failing to report a car accident to law enforcement a legal violation, depending on the facts of the accident, but it will also make you look bad. If the accident was serious, why not report it?
The report may also help us resolve disputed facts. For example, the defendant might argue that the impact of the crash was minimal, and the cars only have very minor cosmetic damage. The police report might describe more severe damage and bodily injuries. Even though we might not admit the report into evidence, it might convince the defendant to stipulate these facts, as we might find other ways of proving them.
Contact Our Car Accident Lawyers for Help Getting Your Report
Ask our car accident lawyers for a free initial case evaluation by calling The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940.
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