Delivery Driver Accused of a Hit-and-Run Collision

Attorney Answer

Stop writing the sentence that begins "I remember the motorcycle." You have not said whether anyone was hurt, and that fact decides how serious this is. Either way, your recollection of that motorcyclist is what the other side wants. Do not give it to the police, to a dispatcher, to your company, or to any insurer until a criminal-defense attorney has heard it first. Being accused is not being charged, and what you do between the two decides a great deal.

Cal. Veh. Code § 20001(a) covers accidents resulting in injury to a person other than the driver, or in death. It requires the driver to stop immediately at the scene. The penalties are on another level: up to one year in county jail and a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, and where the accident results in death or permanent serious injury, two to four years in state prison or 90 days to one year in county jail.

That is the injury section. If no one was hurt and the complaint is only about damage, the governing section is Cal. Veh. Code § 20002(a) instead: an immediate stop, then identification to the owner or written notice followed by notice to the police or the CHP without unnecessary delay, and a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Pinning down which section applies comes first.

Both sections turn on a driver being involved in an accident, not on causing one. Remembering the motorcyclist does not by itself answer the accusation — it can place you there. Whether a driver knew, or should have known, that an accident happened is a genuine issue — and not one to work out on your own in an email.

Your employment adds a second layer. Cal. Lab. Code § 2775(b)(1) treats a worker paid for labor or services as an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity shows all three statutory conditions: freedom from its control and direction, work outside the usual course of its business, and customary engagement in an independently established trade of the same kind. Courier drivers are often labeled contractors, and the paperwork label is not the test.

Classification matters because Cal. Lab. Code § 2802(a) requires an employer to indemnify an employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred in direct consequence of the employee's duties. Whether it reaches a particular situation is a question for a lawyer with your contract in front of them.

The other edge: the company is not on your side by default. It has its own insurer and its own exposure, and anything you tell a dispatcher or an incident-report app is a statement it can hand over.

The civil side runs separately. Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a) makes everyone responsible for an injury occasioned to another by want of ordinary care, and Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 gives two years to bring an injury action.

What you can do

1. Talk to a local criminal-defense attorney before you speak to the police, the company, or any insurer.

2. Do not write out, type, text or record what you remember — not in an email to a dispatcher, not in a company incident-report app, not in a note to yourself. Anything created can be obtained.

3. Do not delete anything that already exists: route history, GPS or telematics data, dashcam footage, delivery-app records, messages. Preserving is safe; deleting can create a separate and worse problem.

4. If the company or any insurer asks for a recorded statement, say you will respond once you have spoken to a lawyer, and then do that.

5. Find your own paperwork — your contract or hiring agreement, your pay records, your insurance declarations page — and read whether you are classified as an employee or a contractor. Take it to the first meeting.

6. Leave your vehicle as it is until your attorney has seen it.

7. Ask that attorney about the DMV accident-reporting requirement in Cal. Veh. Code § 16000(a), about notifying your own insurer, and about whether the company owes you a defense or indemnity under Cal. Lab. Code § 2802(a). Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. A claim for injury from a collision runs on Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1, which allows two years, ordinarily from the accident. If you receive a citation or charging papers, that date controls and is far shorter. How long the state has to bring a charge is governed by rules not covered here, and the DMV reporting deadline is shorter than any of these. Nothing here computes a date for you. Have a local criminal-defense attorney review your dates now.