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 14 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.
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