Ask Me Help Desk - Witness Statement 3 Months Later For Car Accident

Please help! Without getting into the details of the accident right now, in general, what extent of influence would a witness to a car accident have if they were not found until 3 months after the accident? I live in California and saw an accident a little over 3 months ago, in mid March. I did not stop to be a witness at the time. About two weeks ago, I was walking in the same area and saw a flyer that had been posted in search of finding anyone who knew anything about the accident and responded. I ended up giving a statement to the insurance company over the phone recently. I hope it makes difference in finding justice. How do these things usually work when it's about 3 months after the fact? I would be grateful for any response, thank you so much in advance!

Regardless of how much later many insurance companies, even police, do not acknowledge witness reports to accidents because they say that if you have 20 witnesses you have 20 more stories and the stories all conflict. Studies have shown that when people do not see an entire event, like they turned their head or blinked for a split second or it happened too fast your mind fills in the blanks. So no matter how reliable and correct your statement is they can not be sure you were not one of the ones that your mind filled in the blanks.

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Originally Posted by skittles2055

Please help! Without getting into the details of the accident right now, in general, what extent of influence would a witness to a car accident have if they were not found until 3 months after the accident? I live in California and saw an accident a little over 3 months ago, in mid March. I did not stop to be a witness at the time. About two weeks ago, I was walking in the same area and saw a flyer that had been posted in search of finding anyone who knew anything about the accident and responded. I ended up giving a statement to the insurance company recently. I hope it makes difference in finding justice. How do these things usually work when it's about 3 months after the fact? I would be grateful for any response, thank you so much in advance!

I'm a liability investigator in NYS so I can't address California but I can address how insurance companies/personal injury/private investigators work here.

The person taking your statement - and hopefully it was in person and not over the phone - has developed a pretty good sense of whether you are telling the truth, saying what you saw or what you think you saw. If there was a reward posted for the info your statement is certainly going to be suspect.

Also, depending on the experience and skill of the person taking the statement you were asked the same question more than once, just phrased in a different way, in order to ascertain the truth.

What you saw combined with whatever someone else saw often paints the entire picture of the accident. It is not the least bit unusual for witnesses to have seen the accident with different viewpoints - was the light green? Was the light red? - and each one to absolutely be positive he/she is telling the truth. That's why a skilled investigator can sort through it all.

Keep in mind that one insurance company does not have to share their work product - which is your statement - with the other company so there is a possibility, depending on the nature of the accident, that the other insurance company (once your name gets out) as well as Attorneys on both sides will also contact you.

Did they talk to you about the possible need to testify if this does not settle? They should have provided you with a copy of your statement. If they did not you need to get a copy just for purposes of remembering what you actually did see if this goes to some sort of hearing and your memory is foggy.

It is not the least bit unusual for me to take statements of witnesses and parties 2 and 3 YEARS after an accident - it appeared settled, there were additional injuries, suddenly someone balked. It's much more difficult for the witnesses to remember, of course, but it does happen.

And did you make a difference to one of the parties by stepping forward? You certainly did and not everyone would. I know you didn't step forward to be praised but pat yourself on the back.

The time frame will make the statement a bit more suspect, but if it jives with the physical evidence it should be accepted. And while NOHelp is correct about the general reliability of eyewitness testimony, its still an important factor.

I can relate an incident where I was an eyewitness and I know it made a difference. I had just a turn into the aisle of a parking lot and saw two cars further down the aisle backing up. They were parked exactly opposite each other so if they continued to back up they would collide. I started beeping my horn and one car stopped, the other didn't. I gave my name and phone number to the driver of the car that stopped as a witness. The insurance company called and I told them what happened. I later got a call from the father of the driver telling me the other driver's insurance company paid in full on my testimony.

Thank you for your replies so far! I appreciate your time and knowledge.

There was no reward posted so that should help make things seem a little less suspect.

I have been in email contact with one of the two parties that was in the accident/person that posted the flyer and was informed that there are no other witnesses thus far and I guess the case was closed or something and settled at 50/50 fault and would be re-looked into or whatever if new info was presented. The party had been seeking a witness for weeks through various means with no avail until they tried the flyer and got my response.

Apparently the insurance company that contacted me and took my statement was the other party's, not the insurance company of the person posting the flyer. Unfortunately, my statement was taken over the phone and the guy didn't even mention anything about recording the call, which I thought was a little odd and led me to believe I would be contacted again to make something more official.

The party posting the flyer said the guy from the other person's insurance company who 'took my statement' called her personally and basically told her my statement was inadmissible because I didn't see anything. Isn't it a little strange that the OTHER person's insurance guy called her at all, like he is being the judge and giving my statement zero value, when he didn't even record it? (Or supposedly did not record it because he gave absolutely no indication if he was)

Let me clarify the "didn't see anything" part. I did not actually specifically see the accident as it happened. I did, however, hear the horn honk and the cars crash and looked to see the crash immediately after it occurred and can describe details from there.

There was no talk whatsoever about possibly testifying and I certainly did not receive a copy of my statement. I did, however, write down my statement for my own sake so that I could be best prepared and most accurate before I called to give my statement to the insurance guy so I do have a somewhat complete record of what I said. He asked few questions and did not dig for details so I didn't say much more than what I'd originally wrote down for my own sake.

Anyway, for the most part it just doesn't seem right, like the guy who took my statement is being shady or not following the book or something. Thanks for reading and your time! Happy 4th of July :)

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Originally Posted by skittles2055

Let me clarify the "didn't see anything" part. I did not actually specifically see the accident as it happened. I did, however, hear the horn honk and the cars crash and looked to see the crash immediately after it occurred and can describe details from there.

Without knowing the details of the accident, I would tend to agree with the adjuster. Unless you actually saw the accident occur (like in my situation) then your testimony is unlikely to change a 50/50 liability.

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Originally Posted by skittles2055

... I live in California and saw an accident a little over 3 months ago, in mid March. I did not stop to be a witness at the time. About two weeks ago, I was walking in the same area and saw a flyer that had been posted in search of finding anyone who knew anything about the accident and responded. I ended up giving a statement to the insurance company recently. I hope it makes difference in finding justice. How do these things usually work when it's about 3 months after the fact?....

What stands out to me is that you have your recollection of what happened, which has virtually nothing to do with a witness statement. What is a 'witness statement'? "A witness statement is a statement summarizing the oral evidence that a witness will give at trial. The purpose the witness statement is to set out the evidence of the witness; in some jurisdictions the statement will stand as the evidence in chief of the witness (particularly in non-criminal trials), and the trial will simply proceed to cross examination. In other jurisdictions, the witness statement only serves as a "preview" of the evidence to be given by the witness as part of the discovery process. Generally speaking, in the United States witness statements are generally eschewed in favour of an extensive discovery process including deposition of key witnesses prior to trial." Witness statement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In my view, the importance of the witness statement is to assist in establishing the facts and to prevent the witness from changing his/her testimony later on, sometimes two or three years later.

If it was the other guys insurance, and you were giving testomony that was against the other guy, they may not want to record it, or have it as evidence. Or they may just record all calls and you were just not aware it was being recorded. But unless the case has been settled, it can be used.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

If it was the other guys insurnace, and you were giving testomony that was against the other guy, they may not want to record it, or have it as evidence. Or they may just record all calls and you were just not aware it was being recorded. But unless the case has been settled, it can be used.

Not at all uncommon for unfavorable statements to insurance companies to disappear; favorable statements remain.

Lesson here about being sure when you talk to people over the phone that you know who they represent and get a name and identifying info - but most people are trusting and simply don't do that.

Witness statements often help an Attorney - I can't speak for insurance companies - decide whether to proceed with a matter or not. Also, once all parties know what you saw life becomes easier - no guessing on any side. If you don't give a statement you have a good chance of being subpoenaed.

Depending on the accident the fact that you heard the horn BEFORE the impact is very valuable. That's one of the things I look for.

When I take a statement I give the witness/Defendant my card - 50% of the people give it back after they talk to me and then they have absolutely no idea who I am, who I represented, who has their statement. Maybe 1% of the witnesses/Defendants ask for a copy of the statement/report.

Of course, at one and a half cents a card, using the same card twice increases my profit margin. :D