Can I sue taxi company if no police report was filed?

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Can I sue taxi company if no police report was filed?

3 taxi-passengers were involved in a collision in a tunnel. None of us filed a police report. Currently the only information at hand is the plate number and taxi driver’s cell. What actions should I take if I choose to file a lawsuit?

Asked on November 1, 2010 under Accident Law, New York

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 13 years ago | Contributor

It is not necessary that a police report have been filed in order for passengers in a car (or taxi cab) to bring a lawsuit. To file a lawsuit, or rather, to first consider whether you should, you should speak with an attorney; the attorney can evaluate:

1) Whether there are grounds for a lawsuit and against whom. It's not necessarily the case that there is liabilty, or the legal obligation to pay, every time there's an accident; instead, there must be fault--typically negligent, or unreasonably careless, driving. Only people at fault can generally be sued.

2) What the claim might be worth--what you can sue for is related to your injuries. If you were fortunate enough to escape relatively unscathed, it's probably not worth suing.

3) Whether you can find the cabbie--though with what you have, a personal injury attorney should be able to.

4) Whether you'd be able to collect if there was a lawsuit and you won--if the taxi driver and/or his company did not maintain insurance, it may not be worthwhile suing.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.

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