Legal Question in Insurance Law in California

I got in a car accident. It was my fault and the other party reported it. There was no police report and the police are not involved in any way. However, due to the fact that the other party changed the date of the incident on the claim, my insurance company is investigating me for fraud. They are inquiring as to whether or not I consipired to have the date changed on the claim because I changed my policy on the date of the accident. I gave my statement to the investigator and stuck to my original story that the accident happened after I had changed my policy. The investigator is trying to get my phone records to see if that is the case, meaing that he wants to read actual conversations I had over the past month. I know that he needs my consent, and I have not given it. My insurance company towed my car from my house to the repair shop and had the shop do the repairs under the assumption that I had full coverage. After this authorization was made, and I agreed to it, they are threatening to make me pay for the repairs. My question is, since they told me I had full coverage and took my car to be repaired under said assumption of me having full coverage, can they now say that I am responsible for the damages if their investigation somehow proves there was fraudulent activity? My argument is that I would have never authorized the repairs if they hadn't told me that they would pay for them.


Asked on 1/09/12, 1:41 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

If you committed fraud, you have a lot bigger problems than whether you have to pay for the repairs. You will need a criminal defense attorney. To answer your direct question, however, think of it this way. Do you really think that you can defraud someone into saying they will pay for a repair, and then when they find out you defrauded them, you can still make them pay for the repair because you wouldn't have authorized it if you had known you weren't going to get away with your crime? Really? You have to ask that?

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Answered on 1/09/12, 1:49 pm


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