After being inured in an automobile accident, injured victims will normally provide official statements to police, file reports if the officers fail to do so, make statements to either party's insurance company, and possibly relay the circumstances surrounding their accident to their attorneys.
When a stressful accident occurs, victims will not always have perfect recall and it is possible for details to be lost or distorted following an incident.
However, victims must take care to ensure that they relay the circumstances surrounding the accident and their damages fairly and honestly.
Failing to do so can result in several problems.
Credibility Witness credibility is always subject to attack in court.
One effective way to discredit a witness' testimony is to prove that the witness made a materially false statement on the record.
If a police officer discovers that an accident victim misrepresented the circumstances surrounding the accident while writing a report, the officers will be more likely to believe the testimony from others at the scene who may allege that the injured victim was at fault.
If an insurance company discovers that a claimant was lying with respect to the circumstances surrounding the accident or the damages, the insurer or its adjuster may deny the entire claim, even if it was partially legitimate.
Many accident attorneys, will advise you never talk to the other party's insurance company or give them any form of written statement.
In many cases any such information could be used against you to discredit your claim.
Slander As a general rule of thumb, accident victims should avoid making statements about the other party if they have no basis for making such a claim.
Under certain circumstances, a cause of action for slander may arise following an automobile accident.
If the injured victim made a false and defamatory statement that so damages the reputation of the other party as to induce other parties to avoid conducting business with him or her, the speaker will be liable for slander.
In the United States, truth is an absolute defense to slander; if a statement is true, the plaintiff may not recover damages no matter how damaging the statement was.
Most false statements surrounding an automobile accident will not qualify as defamatory.
The statement must lower the reputation of the victim in the community.
For example, loudly proclaiming that the other party was a drunkard and drinks on a regular basis in front of his or her colleagues will probably qualify as slander if the speaker has no basis to make such a claim.
However, if the speaker smells alcohol on the other party's breath, he may notify the officer, insurer, attorney, or other party that he smelt alcohol on the other party's breath.
Fraud Most false statements made after an accident will be unintentional; in such circumstances, one party does not correctly remember the situation and has incorrectly filled in the gaps in his or her memory.
This is a common occurrence after stressful events that ordinarily will not result in any sort of criminal liability, although it can negatively affect the claimant's credibility with respect to the accuracy of other events.
However, some parties see accidents as a way to either evade responsibility for their actions, claim damages that do not exist, or make false claims against the other party's insurance.
When a person misrepresents his or her position and makes a materially false statement in order to induce the victim to take a certain action to his or her detriment, the person commits fraud.
Misrepresentation is a tort and fraud is crime.
Claimants who deliberately inflate damages or who knowingly make false statements about the accident in order to collect damages will incur civil liability for misrepresentation and criminal liability for fraud, insurance fraud, or any other offense pertaining to the misrepresentation.
Additionally, claimants will have almost no credibility in court at a later date if some of the damages were legitimate and they attempt to collect.
Recalling the exact position of every vehicle immediately prior to an accident can be a challenge and no one expects victims to provide an omniscient account of the situation.
However, victims should avoid inflating damages or making false statements in order to increase the recovery.
Many automobile accidents eventually boil down to two parties making unsubstantiated claims against the other, making their relative credibility very important.
Victims who attempt to deceive the other party, investigators, or the insurance companies may find that the damages arising from the accident are the least of their problems.