Weighing a Civil Compromise After a Hit-and-Run

Attorney Answer

Be careful, and sign nothing yet. A civil compromise is a criminal-case mechanism, and the paperwork that comes with it can also end your civil claim for money. Those are two different things, and a lawyer should read the actual documents before you decide anything.

Start with the criminal side. Cal. Veh. Code § 20001(a) required a driver involved in a collision resulting in injury to a person other than the driver, or in death, to stop immediately at the scene. Its penalties under subdivision (b) reach up to a year in county jail and a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, and rise to two to four years in state prison, or 90 days to a year in county jail, where the collision caused death or permanent, serious injury. A civil compromise is a route by which a defendant charged with certain offenses asks the court to dismiss the case after satisfying the person harmed. A California statute decides when it is available and which offenses qualify — and that matters, because whether the offer is even legally available on these facts is the defense lawyer's problem to prove, not yours to assume.

Your civil claim is separate. Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a) 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." What you may be owed does not depend on how the criminal case ends.

The two tracks meet at the paperwork. Under Cal. Civ. Code § 1541, "An obligation is extinguished by a release therefrom given to the debtor or the released party by the creditor or releasing party, upon a new consideration, or in writing, with or without new consideration." If the compromise documents include a release, signing can extinguish the driver's obligation to pay you — not only for what you know about today, but for injuries that turn out worse than they look now. That is the risk to weigh. And there were three of you: an arrangement built around one person's satisfaction is not the same thing as a settlement that fairly values three separate claims.

What you can do

1. Do not sign anything, cash anything, or tell anyone you are satisfied until a lawyer has read the actual documents. That is the one decision here that cannot be undone.

2. Ask for the proposed paperwork in writing and in full, including any release. An offer described over the phone is not the offer.

3. Get a medical evaluation and keep every record, even if you feel mostly fine. What an injury claim is worth is not knowable in the first weeks.

4. Ask a local personal-injury attorney to review the offer against the claim's actual value and against what insurance is available. Most will look at it at no charge.

5. Ask that lawyer specifically whether accepting would affect the other two people who were hurt, and whether the criminal case carries its own avenue for compensation that the compromise would replace.

6. You are free to tell the prosecutor and the court that you have not agreed and need time to get advice. You are not obliged to answer on the defense lawyer's schedule.

7. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with someone who handles these cases in your area is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 sets two years for an action for injury to, or the death of, an individual caused by another's wrongful act or neglect, and vehicle damage runs on Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1)'s three years. When your period began, and whether anything affects it, depend on facts this page does not have, and you should not assume the pending criminal case changes them — ask. Have a California attorney review your dates before you make any decision about the compromise. This page does not calculate a date for you.