The Sacramento Bee recently reported on an incident involving a bicyclist who was sued after she was hit by car. You may be asking yourself, “Wait, how can drivers sue cyclists after hitting them with their cars?” Well, in the case of this incident, the cyclist had stopped in the left turn lane when a car pulled into the lane behind her and hit her.
Reportedly, the police arrived following the incident and took everyone’s statements about what happened. Afterwards, they gave the cyclists a receipt for their police report. However, when the cyclist later attempted to get reimbursed by the driver’s insurance company, she found out that the police report had never been filed.
Why Did the Cyclist Get Sued?
At that point, the driver refused to acknowledge that he or she had hit the cyclist and the driver’s insurance company sued the cyclist for damage done to the car during the incident, claiming she had backed her back into the car.
The cyclist started a GoFundMe page to help pay for her injuries, damage to her bike and legal defense. She suffered a concussion, damage to her gluteus and bruising. Her bicycle was totaled. She raised $9,000 in less than a week. The cyclist fought the driver and the driver’s insurance company for two years before finally settling out of court for $2,000.
Despite the results of her case, the cyclist did not lose hope. Instead, she started a website called bikewoke.com to help other cyclists who find themselves in similar situations in the future.
To learn more about bicycle accident lawsuits and how they work, get in touch with the experienced San Jose personal injury lawyers at Needham Kepner & Fish LLP today.