At the time of the accident , What should I do?

With car accidents:

You should get at least the following, for all vehicles involved:

• Name and operator’s license number for the other driver(s) involved and his/her/their vehicle(s) license plate number
• name of the insurance company and policy number for the other vehicle(s)

If there were independent witnesses to the accident, get their names and some way of contacting them such as a phone number and/or email address. Independent witnesses are people who saw the accident but were not in any of the vehicles involved.

With slip and fall or other injuries:

a) Get evidence to prove that the accident happened.

• If there is anyone who saw your fall, get their name(s) and some contact information such as phone number(s) and/or email addresses .
• If you fall in a place such as a store or shopping mall, make a report to the store manager, mall security etc. Make a note if there were any security cameras viewing your fall location. If the store made an incident report, ask for a copy.
• Get as many names of people who were present were present and saw where you fell as possible. If EMS (ambulance) attends, tell the EMS attendants how and where the fall happened.

b) Get evidence of where and how the accident happened.

• As soon as possible afterwards, take photos of the accident scene. Use your cell phone if you have one with you.
• Come back later and photograph the scene if necessary. Photographs should show what hazard it was that made you fall, if possible.
• Make a note as to where exactly you were when you fell. For example, it could make a big difference if you slip on a city sidewalk or if you were on private property and whether an icy patch was caused by drainage coming from nearby.

With motor vehicle accidents:

2. Make a police report:

If the police come to the scene they will probably do a report. If the police don’t come to the accident scene, you can go to a police station with the above information and the police should make a report if anyone was injured or there was more than $1000 in vehicle damage. Ensure to keep a legible copy of the police report and your statement (if you were driving). As a driver, you should not check the box at the bottom of the statement, abouve where you sign,that says it can be disclosed to anyone who wants it. If you’re a passenger, you do not have to provide a statement, but if you do provide one it will be disclosed to all the other people involved in the accident, their insurers and lawyers. Even if the police don’t lay charges or make a report, you can still make a claim if you are injured . Talk to us about this.

3. As soon as possible after the accident:

• If you are injured, get medical attention. It’s best if you see your regular family doctor if you have one. If that’s not possible, go to a walk-in clinic.
• Contact the insurer for the vehicle you were in at the time of the accident (“your insurer”).
• If your own vehicle was damaged in the accident and you have collision coverage, your own vehicle's insurer will pay for the repairs.
• If you’re injured, your insurer will pay the cost of certain treatments and provide some income replacement if you miss work. These “no-fault” benefits are provided no matter who was at fault in the accident and they do not affect the amount of the premiums paid in the future.
• If you are a passenger and your driver is at fault, or partly at fault, do not worry that you are harming him or her by seeking compensation for your injury. The reason we have insurance is to compensate people that we might accidentally injure. No friend would expect you to forego many thousands of dollars in compensation that you deserve and should have, just so that he can save a few hundred dollars per year on insurance for a few years. In fact, once his insurer pays for the damage to another vehicle, it is considered a paid claim and his premiums will go up. It will make no difference to the amount that they go up if there are also personal injury claims to be paid as a result of the same accident.

Do I need a lawyer?

Feel free to take advantage of our free initial consultation.

While the friendly insurance adjuster for the at-fault person may be happy if (s)he is the only one advising you as to what to do and the merit and value of your claim, you are well advised to have an experienced lawyer filling that role and advising you as to what evidence is needed. Insurance companies benefit by communicating with you directly, recording communications and paying less compensation, which is in conflict to your interests. It is quite common for us to settle claims for many times what our clients were offered before coming to us.

When should I talk to a lawyer after the accident?

Unless you need our help with another problem, wait till after you have reported the accident to police, seen a doctor and made the arrangements you need to make to accommodate the interference with your life that the accident has caused.

While you have two years within which to preserve your rights by starting a court action, the evidence gathered at the time of the accident and shortly after is sometimes critical to your claim and we recommend that you contact us sooner, rather than later. You do not have to communicate with the wrongdoer or anyone from his insurer or sign anything for them. Doing that will not be helpful to your lawyer, who wants to have copies of any statements made and know who said what to whom. This is even more important where there is a chance that there will be a dispute over who is at fault for the accident and what problems and losses were caused by the accident.

Should I talk with the other side's insurer after the accident?

While it makes sense to talk to the adjuster from the other side, if necessary to get your car fixed or replaced, for the reasons stated above, we recommend that you not discuss the accident or your injuries and other resulting problems with the adjuster for the other side or sign anything for them

The other guy’s insurance adjuster says I have a minor injury or that it’s “capped” and it’s only worth $4000.

While insurance adjusters may regularly tell people that their injuries are “minor” and subject to a maximum payment of less than $5000.00, we recommend that you not accept such advice from them. If an injury results in chronic pain or persists in affecting the way that you work or otherwise carry on your life, that usually brings it outside the category of “minor”.

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