Responding When the Other Driver's Injury Lawyer Contacts You

Attorney Answer

You are usually not the right person to be handling this. Send the request to your auto insurer and let it respond for you. And do not treat a scene where everyone was up and moving and talking as the end of the matter — California gives an injured person two years to bring a claim.

Start with the deadline, because it explains why you are hearing from a lawyer now. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 provides: “Within two years: An action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.” Claims for damage to a vehicle run separately under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1), which allows three years. A claim can therefore surface long after a scene where nobody appeared hurt. Injuries that were not obvious at the roadside — neck, back, shoulder — are the most common reason a lawyer appears months later.

A request for your address is not a finding that you did anything wrong. Fault in California is measured by Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a), which provides: “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.” Whether that describes what you did is decided on the facts of the crash, not on whether you answered a letter.

Addresses are usually requested so a claim letter, and later court papers, can reach the right person. But the party who normally deals with the other side after a crash is your liability insurer, not you. That obligation comes from your policy rather than from a statute — the insurer handles claims made against you and, if a lawsuit is filed, typically provides and pays for a defense lawyer. Handing the correspondence to them is both the easiest step and the one that protects you most.

What you can do

1. Report the accident to your own auto insurer if you have not already, and give them the date, the location and the other driver's information.

2. Forward the lawyer's letter or message to your insurer, and ask the insurer in writing to respond on your behalf.

3. Do not give a recorded statement, sign a release or a medical authorization, or discuss how the crash happened with the other side's lawyer or insurer.

4. Keep everything you already have: photographs, the traffic collision report number, the information exchanged at the scene, and any repair estimates.

5. Do not post about the accident or discuss it on social media.

6. Ask a local lawyer before responding to the request directly — especially if you were uninsured at the time, if the letter mentions a lawsuit that has already been filed, or if the amount being discussed is above your policy limits.

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. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 gives an injured person two years for a personal injury claim and Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1) gives three years for vehicle damage; if a public entity or one of its vehicles is involved, Cal. Gov't Code § 911.2(a) imposes a six-month claim deadline instead. Which of these controls, and when it began to run, depends on facts this page does not have. Have a local attorney look at the letter and the dates rather than calculating anything yourself. One duty of your own sits outside all of those: California requires a driver involved in a crash to report it to the DMV on form SR-1 within 10 days when anyone is injured or any one person's property damage exceeds $1,000, regardless of fault and regardless of whether police attended (Cal. Veh. Code § 16000(a)) — and a scene where everyone was up and moving is exactly where that report goes unfiled. Now that an injury is being claimed, if no SR-1 was ever filed, raise it with the insurer or a lawyer or with the DMV now, because an unfiled report can lead to license suspension.