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Fighting an Accident in Court


AudiOn19s

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Dragging this out, fighting fault, causing us stress and possibly requiring us to move our anniversary trip at the cost of $XXXX to us is what's really beginning to piss us off about the whole situation.

 

That's what I meant; he is clearly causing undue, unnecessary stress and lost time now. I generally hate the overly litigious nature of these situations. But, fuck this guy for doing this to you. He needs taught a lesson in manners through his wallet.

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The two charges are standard traffic violations carrying 2 points each. They may not need you, but if you get the subpoena call the prosecutor who issued and let them know you will be out if the country then and you need a new date.

 

It's your choice about the personal injury claim. Document all medical visits, time taken from work, etc. you get paid for all that and make sure the ins company pays full amount. Make sure to ask for a set aside for any future medical if you know there are future appointments or you expect she will have pain requiring treatment related to this accident in the future.

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That's what I meant; he is clearly causing undue, unnecessary stress and lost time now. I generally hate the overly litigious nature of these situations. But, fuck this guy for doing this to you. He needs taught a lesson in manners through his wallet.

 

It's doubtful he's doing it intentionally to delay the process, he's in a bad situation and trying to improve his position slightly, if he can get out of the charges his insurance won't go up quite as much. It's very common and often the individual isn't thinking how do I fuck the other guy but rather how do I get a little less fucked. Honestly, most times these tickets bounce anyway because the officer didn't directly observe the accident, and often they end up having a little effect on the outcome of fault for the purposes of payout. It just sucks that it takes time.

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Did he have state minimum in ins? Isn't that like $30k in coverage? Maybe he's fucked and doesn't have enough coverage for the Porsche....

 

I worried about this from day 1. Nobody is allowed or willing to tell me. He was on his parents policy so I hope they have sufficient coverage. He hit two other vehicles in the accident but damages on those were much less

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What Geeto said is correct. Whichever party issued the subpoena is the party that wants you as a witness. Contact the attorney for that party, tell them you have prepaid tickets and will be out of the country on an anniversary trip and ask them to seek a continuance. Seeking a continuance because a witness is unavailable is usually no big deal if done sufficiently in advance. But do it promptly. Seeking a continuance at the last minute annoys people, including judges, and is much harder to get done.
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I worried about this from day 1. Nobody is allowed or willing to tell me. He was on his parents policy so I hope they have sufficient coverage. He hit two other vehicles in the accident but damages on those were much less

 

If you had full coverage on the Porsche, your own insurance will pick up the remainder of the tab if he doesn't have enough coverage as part of your uninsured/underinsured coverage. They may even sue him personally once the subrogate your rights. I know in NY they aren't allowed to raise your rates for accidents that are not your fault but Ins is state regulated and I don't know about Ohio.

 

If your own insurance company is involved they should be able to tell you his coverage if they know.

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Oddly enough, still no Subpoena in the mailbox last night.

 

If you are that worried about it and have the prosecutors information, call them and ask if you are going to be called and if so can you push the date. Being proactive can only help your situation.

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I wouldn't delay the trip over it. If you have a good insurance agent, they should be doing all of the leg work and fighting with the other insurance company. You would not get a subpoenas for the preliminary hearing. Subpoenas are only sent out for the officer that wrote the ticket. If it goes to trail, then expect to receive a subpoena. In franklin county, MM traffic violations almost never go to trial. First time he went to court was arraignment court, where made the plea of not guilty. Then it goes a preliminary hearing, where the prosecutor will try to settle it there. Usually, it ends in a plea of no-contest if an accident was involved, where he neither admits or disputes the charge and judge will find him guilty. But because he plead to no contest, the case can't be used in civil trial in the future. It also seems like his insurance company is probably going to fight you tooth and nail. Go on your vacation, go have fun. If you want your car fixed fast, file a claim with your insurance company and have your insurance company go after his. You might have to pay your deductible up front, but if they win the case and get the money, then you will get that back.
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  • 2 weeks later...

So we spoke to the prosecutor last week. She stated that she wouldn't move the date but took a statement from Yasmin over the phone, excused is from needing to attend and said worst case they extended the trial out to another date that we would have to attend later.

 

So we go on our anniversary trip thinking there was no issue

 

Check the case today, charges dismissed because of no prosecution witness' present.

 

Fucking unbelievable. So this ruins our anniversary trip either way now because I'm pissed as shit about the whole situation.

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Sucks indeed, sounds like you got the prosecutor who is on his/her second day of the job.

 

however, if it makes you feel better it doesn't mean he is automatically not at fault. The accident and it's settlement are a civil matter, his ticket is a criminal one and they have different standards of proof.

 

put it out of your head and don't worry about it on vacation. deal with it when you get back.

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So we spoke to the prosecutor last week. She stated that she wouldn't move the date but took a statement from Yasmin over the phone, excused is from needing to attend and said worst case they extended the trial out to another date that we would have to attend later.

 

So we go on our anniversary trip thinking there was no issue

 

Check the case today, charges dismissed because of no prosecution witness' present.

 

Fucking unbelievable. So this ruins our anniversary trip either way now because I'm pissed as shit about the whole situation.

 

I know this is only going to further enrage you, but the Prosecutor likely offered up the dismissal without the defendant saying so much as a word, At least that's what transpired in my case. I literally signed in, then 5 minutes later Prosecutor dude walked up to me and says "Im dropping the charges due to the fact the witness (other party in the accident) didn't show up, your free to go"

 

Fact of the matter is Columbus DA's give absolutely zero fucks about Traffic crimes. Seriously, you'll be sitting in court with Crack heads that got busted stealing 40's of Old English from 711 sitting on your left, dudes that spent there last $20 on the bag of Heroin they are being charged with sitting on your right. These are the people the Prosecutors/Judges are there to deal. As I said in my own court-thread a few years back, Columbus DA's seem to do every last thing they can to get petty traffic offenses thrown out/dismissed as fast as possible.

 

That said, sounds like the Prosecutor made you a promise she likely didn't keep, nor had any intention of keeping. Now that is something id be extremely pissed off about. They swore an Oath to see Justice Served to the best of their control ("Justice" being a punishment that both of you see fit).

 

Not only did she fail to uphold Justice, she straight lied to you (or "gravely misspoke) in the process.

 

I'd file an official complaint. Prosecutors are held to much higher standards then your average Attorney and should never be pulling shit like that.

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No, sounds like a Prosecutor who didn't want to fiddle fuck with a petty traffic offense.

 

Chances are if he/she is handling one traffic offense then he/she's caseload is almost all traffic offenses. It isn't like he/she does murders on monday and traffic court on tuesday, as a prosecutor you likely work your cases by subject matter.

 

Also, conviction rate is a metric for job performance in a prosecutors role. Its actually a national problem as it incentivizes bad behavior on the part of the prosecutor in releasing exculpatory evidence.

 

Despite being pro law enforcement, a lot of judges are very hard on the prosecutors for minor professional mistakes. The reason you might see a traffic court case get bounced is there are enough things leading up to the judge possibly dismissing it (like frequent requests, forgetting to ask for a stay etc...) that it is better for them to have "settled" it than have it negatively affect their conviction rate.

 

Again, as to the accident in question, you might find that the only thing the ticket did is delay things as an ins company may not pay when there is an outstanding legal action. It doesn't mean he is any less at fault for the accident, it just means there wasn't enough evidence to convict of a criminal charge.

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So we spoke to the prosecutor last week. She stated that she wouldn't move the date but took a statement from Yasmin over the phone, excused is from needing to attend and said worst case they extended the trial out to another date that we would have to attend later.

 

So we go on our anniversary trip thinking there was no issue

 

Check the case today, charges dismissed because of no prosecution witness' present.

 

Fucking unbelievable. So this ruins our anniversary trip either way now because I'm pissed as shit about the whole situation.

 

 

Hate to say it but figured something like that would happen.

 

Now I would go after them over the principle of the entire situation. File a complaint with the prosecutor and anyone else you can about the entire situation.

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Im fighting Allstate. They are weighing taking a 17 year old's word that his protected turn arrow had just turned yellow when he turned in front of us. Ignoring the fact that this was on U.S. 40 in Reynoldsburg on a Sunday. How is it reasonable to believe that a lane would be completely clear for 2 light cycles for me to run a red light? Oh and thr light had turned yellow as I stated as well.
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So we spoke to the prosecutor last week. She stated that she wouldn't move the date but took a statement from Yasmin over the phone, excused is from needing to attend and said worst case they extended the trial out to another date that we would have to attend later.

 

So we go on our anniversary trip thinking there was no issue

 

Check the case today, charges dismissed because of no prosecution witness' present.

 

Fucking unbelievable. So this ruins our anniversary trip either way now because I'm pissed as shit about the whole situation.

 

Sorry to hear that. Everyone has off days and there may be circumstances we are not aware of. But it really disappoints me when I hear about lawyers who apparently don't grasp that the practice of law should be regarded as a calling, not a job to be half-assed for a paycheck.

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