A District Attorney Investigator Asking About An Old Insurance Claim

Attorney Answer

A district attorney's investigator is not an adjuster, and the visit is the part of this to take seriously. That office works for the prosecution. Nothing on this page can tell you what the investigation is about — it could concern the other driver, it could concern the denial, it could concern the claim you made — and the honest answer is that you should not try to find out by talking to the investigator. You are not required to give a statement. Speak with a criminal-defense attorney in your county before any further contact with that investigator, with police, or with either insurance company.

That is the answer to the urgent part. The rest is context you will want when you sit down with a lawyer.

Using your own uninsured motorist coverage after the other driver's insurer walked away is ordinarily unremarkable — it is close to what the coverage exists for. Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2 requires that a policy of bodily injury liability insurance issued or delivered in California contain, or have added to it by endorsement, uninsured motorist coverage at limits at least equal to those specified in subdivision (m), and that coverage can be deleted only by a written agreement on the forms the statute prescribes. Be precise about its reach, though: that section is the bodily-injury requirement. It is not the coverage that pays to repair a car. The part of your policy that paid for the repair is a different piece of the contract, and what it required of you is a policy question rather than a statutory one.

One piece of the aftermath is governed by regulation and is worth knowing. When your own insurer pays and then goes after the party it believes is responsible, Cal. Code Regs. tit. 10, § 2695.7(p) requires it to notify a first-party claimant in writing whether it intends to pursue subrogation, and to say so if it decides not to. Under subdivision (q), an insurer making a subrogation demand must include the claimant's deductible in that demand and must share what it recovers proportionately with the claimant, unless the claimant has already recovered the whole deductible. If you paid a deductible on that repair, that is a real entitlement, and it is unaffected by anything the investigator is doing.

On the denial itself: Cal. Code Regs. tit. 10, § 2695.7(b)(1) requires an insurer that denies or rejects a third-party claim in whole or in part, or disputes liability or damages, to do so in writing. If you never got a written denial from the other driver's insurer, that document — or its absence — is something a lawyer will want.

What you can do

1. Talk to a criminal-defense attorney in your county before responding to the investigator in any way. That is the first call, not the second.

2. If the investigator contacts you again, you can say you want a lawyer before answering questions, and then stop. That is not evidence of guilt.

3. Do not write out an account of the accident or the claim for anyone, and do not contact either insurance company to explain yourself.

4. Preserve everything you already have and change nothing: the police report, the claim correspondence, the repair estimate and invoice, the payment records, and any texts or emails with either insurer. Do not delete anything.

5. Ask your own insurer in writing for the written notice of its subrogation position and for an accounting of your deductible under Cal. Code Regs. tit. 10, § 2695.7(p)–(q). That is a claims-file request, not a statement about the accident.

6. Ask a local lawyer whether the Department of Insurance is worth involving over the other insurer's handling. That is an agency complaint, and it is a decision to make after, not before, the criminal-defense conversation.

7. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts, and on how your county's district attorney handles these matters, is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Because the accident is well behind you, the civil deadlines are the ones most likely to have moved. A claim for injury to a person runs under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1, which allows two years, and a claim for vehicle damage under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1), which allows three. Whether either period is still open on your facts is not something this page can calculate, and the elapsed time is exactly why it should be checked immediately rather than after the investigation resolves. Have a local attorney review the actual dates now.