My girlfriend hit a lady in a bicycle, but wasn't at fault. What next?

Question

So this lady apparently was riding on the sidewalk and while my girlfriend was waiting to make a left she heard a scream and saw the lady run into her car. My girlfriend parked and asked her if she was ok. The lady was franticly asking for a napkin to clean off the small scrape on her arm. She then called her boyfriend and he was there within a minute. He called the cops and the ambulance, they came pacing through the street. Four cop cars and one ambulance for a scrape. The cops pointed the blame on the lady riding the bike because first she was riding on the sidewalk and second she dented my girlfriends car on the side meaning she ran into the car with her bike. The officers let my girlfriend know that she wasn't at fault, they gave her a case number and that was that. The ambulance took this lady to the hospital because she complained that her arm hurt. My girlfriend gave her her phone number and now the lady is calling wanting info from my girlfriend. Can the lady sue? What to do?

Answer 1

The girl can't sue, since you friend had the right of way if that dumb woman was on the sidewalk.

Answer 2

go to insurance company and pray for a miracle

Answer 3

call the insurance company ,,give them all the details....especially the accident report # the cops gave her.

If she can she should also go wherever she has to  and get a copy of the report herself for her personal files.

Do not delay.

She has no case. But they try anyway.

Do not talk to the woman  atall

Answer 4

Document everything, including the names of everyone involved. Get times, dates, exact locations, everything. Take photos of the car, the accident scene, anything that was involved. Note the time of day, the weather conditions, where your girlfriend was going, where she had been, etc. Get the name of the cops at the scene (they gave her a case number, if they didn't give names or badge numbers, try to get them.) Get the name of the ambulance company and the paramedic's names if possible. Try to find out what emergency room she went to. Keep all this information together and try to have it in a format that isn't easily altered (a bound notebook with consecutive page numbers is a good way. If its on a computer, the information should be encoded so that the date of entry and any subsequent entries or changes can be tracked).

This might sound like unnecessary work or perhaps paranoia, but some civil cases don't get to court for months or years. People's memories blur, witnesses move away, police notes get lost, and you find yourself before the judge facing a plaintiff who has well documented notes, healed injuries (except the "emotional trauma") and lots of "witnesses" who will swear on a stack of bibles that the driver was either:

-> drunk

-> driving recklessly

-> talking on a cell phone

-> under the influence of drugs

-> all of the above

If you have all your info documented, you can stand up and refute everything they say. If its written down, your credibility is 500% better than the plaintiff who is asking for the moon and has no credible documentation.

This might be a case of someone over-reacting, or it might be a scam artist. Either way, cover yourself - it sounds like you might need a lawyer somewhere down the road. Good luck.

Answer 5

The police report stated that the lady on the bike was at fault so you need to have her fix your friends car and if not then sue her.