Your Insurer Says Your Spouse Was at Fault, but the Police Report Disagrees: How to Dispute It in Ohio

Attorney Answer

Ask your insurer in writing for the basis of its decision and send it the report; if that fails, you can complain to the Ohio Department of Insurance. Neither insurer's fault decision binds a court, and if the at-fault finding is blocking a claim against the other driver, you can sue that driver within two years. Know, though, that the officer's conclusions in a report are generally not evidence of fault in court: the report persuades insurers more than it proves a case.

Two different disputes. If your own insurer is charging the crash to your record or your deductible, the dispute is with it. If its finding is standing in the way of a claim against the other driver, the dispute is really with that driver, and a court can decide fault for itself.

What the report can and cannot do. Ohio Evidence Rule 803(8) lets public records of an agency's activities, and of what an officer observed under a duty to report, come in as evidence, but Ohio's version has no clause for an investigation's conclusions. An Ohio appeals court held in Petti v. Perna, 86 Ohio App.3d 508, 621 N.E.2d 580 (3d Dist. 1993), that a deputy's conclusions about the cause of a crash he did not witness were not admissible; that error was found harmless in the case. What the officer saw, and what the drivers and witnesses said, can matter more than the officer's conclusion.

Fault in a lawsuit. A court compares the drivers' fault under Ohio Rev. Code § 2315.33:

The contributory fault of a person does not bar the person as plaintiff from recovering damages that have directly and proximately resulted from the tortious conduct of one or more other persons, if the contributory fault of the plaintiff was not greater than the combined tortious conduct of all other persons from whom the plaintiff seeks recovery in this action and of all other persons from whom the plaintiff does not seek recovery in this action. The court shall diminish any compensatory damages recoverable by the plaintiff by an amount that is proportionately equal to the percentage of tortious conduct of the plaintiff as determined pursuant to section 2315.34 of the Revised Code.

If you think your own insurer is handling a claim unfairly, you can file a complaint with the Ohio Department of Insurance. Insurers' claim-settlement standards are in Ohio Adm.Code 3901-1-54.

What you can do

1. Ask your insurer in writing for the specific basis of its fault decision.

2. Send it the report, along with photos, witness names and anything else showing how the crash happened.

3. If it will not reconsider, file a complaint with the Ohio Department of Insurance.

4. If the finding blocks a claim against the other driver, pursue that driver or their insurer directly, and sue before the deadline if needed.

5. Even if you are handling this yourself, you would be best served by a brief phone consultation with a local Ohio attorney before you act. Most lawyers offer a short initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — and on how your court actually handles this — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. A lawsuit over the crash must be filed within two years under Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.10(A).