No Ticket Issued in Accident?

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gacuna

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Hi,

This was my first accident, and really no one knows who was at Fault this accident happened in Chicago, and the policeman did not issue a ticket what does this mean? Who was at fault, he said both of us had insurance and that it was an accident, so who is to blame?

I have only liability. So, does anyone know what does this mean when no ticket is issued, or who is to blame?

Thanks.
 
it has to be fgured out. If you are in a no-fault state, the insurance company usually pays your own damage instead of the other's damage, and his will pay his.

If you are not in a "no-fault" state, the insurance company will have to try to figure out who was to blame, or spoken more correctly, who was negligent. Since most states nowadays have a "comparative negligence" rule, both drivers' negligence will be evaluated and the damage will be apportioned:

Example:

Driver A and B drive along a 30 mph road in opposite directions. Driver A is driving with a speed of 50 mph. Driver B makes a left turn, does not see driver A, both crash.

Both drivers were negligent: driver A because he was too fast, driver B because he was not careful enough to see driver A and yield. If they cannot agree it will be task of a court to apportion fault. Let us say a jury finds that driver A was 40% negligent, driver B 60%.

Driver A's damages amount to $ 100,000, driver B's damages to $ 50,000.
Driver A was 40% at fault, so he will have to pay driver B 40% of $ 50,000 = $ 20,000. Driver B was 60% at fault, so he will have to pay driver A 60% of $ 100,000 = $ 60,000.

Some states have slightly different rules of comparative negligence, for example if one party is 50% or more at fault, he cannot recover at all. I am not sure if any state stil lhas contributory negligence rules, that would mean if he was not totally blameless he cannot recover at all.

The best thing for you to do is to see if your insurance company finds a way to figure it out and finds a compromise with the other party's insurance.
 
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