Responding to an Injury Demand After an At-Fault Crash

Attorney Answer

Declining treatment at the scene does not defeat their claim — soft-tissue injuries commonly show up a day or two later, and adjusters and juries know it. But it is a real weakness in their case, and the number in a demand letter is a number someone chose, not a number you owe. Your main option is to put this in your insurer's hands and stop talking to the other side.

What they have to prove comes from Civil Code § 1714(a): "Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself." Fault is only the first half. They must also prove the injury came from this crash.

That is where refusing treatment at the scene actually bites. Civil Code § 3333 sets the measure: "For the breach of an obligation not arising from contract, the measure of damages, except where otherwise expressly provided by this Code, is the amount which will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused thereby, whether it could have been anticipated or not." Proximately caused is the operative phrase. A gap between the crash and the first treatment is the standard argument that something else caused the complaint, or that it is worth less than claimed. It is an argument, not an answer — and it is the kind of argument an insurance adjuster is paid to make on your behalf.

If you were partly at fault, or they were, the claim divides rather than disappearing. In Daly v. General Motors Corp., 20 Cal. 3d 725 (1978), the California Supreme Court reaffirmed and applied California's pure comparative system, under which recovery is reduced in proportion to a party's own share of fault rather than eliminated. Any share attributable to how the other person drove reduces what they collect.

One thing to be careful about at the end rather than the beginning: Civil Code § 1541 provides that an obligation is extinguished by a release given to the released party by the releasing party, upon a new consideration, or in writing. If this is ever settled, the payment should buy a written release — otherwise nothing stops the claim coming back.

What you can do

1. Send the demand letter and everything else you have received to your auto insurer today, in writing, and keep proof you sent it. Policies impose prompt-notice duties, and this is what your premiums bought.

2. Stop communicating with the claimant and any lawyer for them. Direct all of it to your carrier. Do not offer money, do not apologize in writing, and do not agree to any number.

3. Preserve what already exists — photos, the police report number, dashcam or vehicle-data recordings, repair estimates, and anything recording what the claimant said about their condition at the scene. Do not write out a new account of the crash for anyone but your own lawyer.

4. Ask your insurer for your declarations page so you know your liability limits, and ask whether the demand is inside them.

5. Before you give any statement about how the crash happened — to police, to an investigator, or to the other side — speak with a local criminal-defense attorney.

6. Ask a local attorney to review the demand before you or your insurer respond, and to tell you whether you face exposure above your limits.

7. 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 personal injury claim against you runs under Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 and its two-year period for injury caused by another's wrongful act or neglect, and Code Civ. Proc. § 352(a) can extend that where the claimant was a minor or lacked legal capacity. A demand letter may also set its own response deadline, which is not a legal deadline but can matter. When the clock started depends on your facts — have a local attorney check the dates before responding.