Car accident that may become involved. How do I report to the DMV?

April 27, 2008 8:23 AM

QUESTION: The DMV form wants me to indentify injured persons - should I report the other party as injured because the insurance company has told me about their injury claim?

I rear-ended another vehicle; there was limited car damage and nobody looked visibly injured or complained of injuries at the time of the accident, at least until the police officer came. Afterwards, my insurance company informed me that the other party has claimed injuries and hired a lawyer.

I undestand that injuries may not be felt fully at the time of the accident and if I had a problem like this, I would probably want to have a lawyer on my side, too. As the guilty party, I feel very vulnerable and since the form I have to file (SR-1, Report of Traffic Accident Occuring in California) will be public information, I want to be careful, too.

So, the form wants me to indentify injured persons - should I report the other party as injured because the insurance company has told me about the injury claim?

It seems to me that doing that could be interpreted as me personally acknowledging the injuries, whereas I do not know about any first hand. The form instructions say “Identify any person involved in the accident (driver, passenger, bicyclist, pedestrian, etc.) who you saw was injured or complained of bodily injury or know to be deceased.”

Thanks in advance for any comments. If you have an opinion or had any similar experience, I will very much appreciate it if you share.

The DMV form is available here, if anyone wants to take a look: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/sr/sr1.pdf. Throwaway e-mail: [e-mail].

posted by anonymous to law & government (6 comments total)

It looks like there's enough room to explain. So I would just state, No one looked injured or complained of injury at the time of the accident. Later, I was told that Joe Smith is claiming injury." I would not check the "injured" box.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 8:34 AM on April 27, 2008

I believe that often, your insurance company will take care of filing the SR-1 for you. Maybe ask them if they will take care of it?
posted by zachlipton at 9:23 AM on April 27, 2008

If they have a lawyer, you may want to consult with one yourself.
posted by fructose at 9:27 AM on April 27, 2008

I would merely state that no ambulance was necessary. I'm pretty sure that's a reasonable definition of "injury accident."
posted by rhizome at 10:53 AM on April 27, 2008

I would only include injuries that you know of first hand. Since they did not claim injury to you at the accident site I would not include them on the form. Your position is that no injuries occurred. If they claim otherwise, let them prove it. Don't help them by putting their fake injury on your form. If you want a legal answer you will have to consult a lawyer. (If they sue you your insurance company will provide you with a lawyer.)
posted by caddis at 11:57 AM on April 27, 2008

You couldn't testify in court that the other party is injured, so I don't think you should put it on the form. Your insurance company should help you with any questions though. In this case, their interests and yours are the same.
posted by happyturtle at 3:16 AM on April 28, 2008