Determining Fault After an Accident | Studio 10

Joe Emer: After a car accident, it’s common for people to wonder whether they may have done something wrong. Maybe they were speeding slightly, didn’t react quickly enough, or even received a citation. But does believing you were partially at fault mean you should not talk to an attorney? Joining us today to break that down is David Greene from Greene and Phillips. Good to see you, David, as always.

David Greene: Yeah, good to see you.

Joe Emer: Alright, so if someone thinks they may have been partially responsible for an accident, should they still talk to you guys?

David Greene: Well, they should. And a lot of times you’ll see cases that we’re involved in, and it will have the client that we represent at fault. And many times these reports are completely wrong. We have ways to provide information to the officer that may have mixed it up. There may be video evidence that we have access to. We have a former state trooper who works for us full-time that can explain to them how our person was not at fault, and many times they’ll change it. But if you think you’re at fault, you still want to probably talk to us. I mean, there’s some very clear things where you were at fault, okay? If you run off the road, hit somebody or something of that nature. But if someone hits you and there’s a question about it, go ahead and call us because a lot of times you’re not at fault and it’s the other person that has caused the accident.

Joe Emer: So what happens then? Say the report says you’re at fault. You guys look at it. You determine they’re not at fault. What happens then?

David Greene: Well, then it can be flipped, okay? So one of the neat things about what we do, and I just wanted to address this with everyone, one of the neat things is that an accident report is not admissible evidence in a case. So just because the accident report shows you at fault, you may not be at fault, number one, but even if it shows you at fault, it may be a situation where the evidence does not show that or support it, and so the witnesses can actually change that and make it put together. It’d be a very good result for you.

Joe Emer: Speaking of which, one of the things you say at Greene and Phillips is, we believe you when you’re talking to clients out there. How does that play into all of this?

David Greene: It makes a huge difference. A lot of times we believe what you saw because you were involved in the crash. You know what happened. It’s stamped in your mind. You know what happened. You can explain it a lot better than most anybody else, and you have to think about it just because the officer might have you at fault. They were not there. You were there, and so you can certainly explain your side of the case. We’re going to believe you. We’re going to look at your case. If we think we can prove it, we’re going to represent you. We’ll take your case. Contingency only, which means we only get paid if we win for you.

Joe Emer: All right. All of these are great points and important things to keep in mind should you ever be in a situation like this. If one of our viewers is in a situation like that, how can they contact y’all?

David Greene: Very simple. Go to GreenePhillips.com. Come by 51 North Florida Street. We’re in Mobile right here in Midtown Mobile. It’s easy to reach us.

Joe Emer: All right. Sounds good. We’re going to have all their contact information online on the Studio 10 tab at Fox10tv.com.