May
24
I have a witness which provided the plate number and description of the car.I have reported the incident to police. Police said they have traced the owner of the offending car, but its been a week and seems no progress. Will the police prosecute the owner of the car for me or should I engaged a solicitor. I don’t have insurance. Damage is probably around $ 2000.
Are you thinking about selling your home yourself? then
You will have to check with the investigating officer to find out if he is going to sign a complaint. If he does not, you can sign the complaint yourself (the officer can help you with this). However, this will only be a traffic complaint and if the person is found guilty they will get a traffic ticket and points. By the way, there is usually a 30 to 60 days time limit for filing a traffic complaint (varied by state), so you should do this quickly.
In addition to the traffic complaint, you will need to sign file a complaint in small claims court. In small claims court you can seek to recover money damages. The time limit for these claims is usually at least one year (varies by state). So you don’t need to file this thing right away.
File the traffic complaint first. Then tell the guy that you will not testify if he pays for the damages before trial. This way you can avoid the hassle of filing the small claims complaint and he will likely get a reduced fine without your testimony.
Don’t forget to bring a repair quote, photos and your witness to court. Lawyers are optional at these proceedings and you should be fine doing it yourself.
I suppose it matters who the offender is. If it’s someone with some power…
Hopefully, they will prosecute. But you should report the accident w/ police report to your insurance company. You can bet they will go after them!