Traffic Accident Reports and Legal Funding

Understanding Your Traffic Accident Report for Legal Funding

If you’ve been involved in a traffic accident, it’s important to know what your accident report means, especially when considering legal funding. This key document summarizes all the vital details of your accident. It includes information such as where the incident took place, how it happened, and who was involved.

More critically, your accident report may indicate who was at fault. This crucial detail can influence your eligibility for a legal loan. Determining fault often helps legal funding companies like Uplift Legal Funding assess the likely outcome of a case, and thus determine whether and how much of a loan they can provide to plaintiffs seeking financial aid during their lawsuit.

Having a sound grasp of your accident report not only allows you to better understand the progression of your legal proceedings but also gives you insight into your potential for receiving legal funding. Ultimately, the more informed you are about your case, the better prepared you’ll be to navigate the legal process.

Legal Funding Companies Want to Know Who Caused the Traffic Accident

When legal funding companies review the police report, the first thing they look at is the crash description.

If it can be determined, the police report tells us who caused the crash and how it happened. Ideally, underwriters want to see a clear description of the accident showing that another driver was fully at fault.

If a full description is not available, sometimes a diagram can help. A crash diagram that implies fault can often be enough for a legal funding company to make a decision.

The Type of Vehicle That Hit You Matters

An accident report will tell a legal funding company whether the vehicle that hit you was commercial or private.

Commercial vehicles usually have larger policies than private vehicles. Even if the limits are not known, legal funding firms assume there is enough coverage with a commercial policy.

Funders also avoid cases with claims against certain insurers. While some insurance companies settle quickly, others fight every case tooth and nail.

Involved Parties and Passengers

Given how insurance policies work, the fewer passengers and the less accumulated damage to other parties, the better.

If it is clear that the other vehicle was at fault, but you have many injured passengers in your vehicle, legal funding companies may not provide funding unless there is a large policy.

The best way to think about this is that you are sharing the policy with all other involved parties.

Other Traffic Accident Report Factors That Affect Legal Funding

Before providing legal funding, companies also look at several other factors, such as:

• Accident location – Legal funding companies are regulated in some states. If you live in or had an accident in a certain state, a funder may avoid funding your case or impose certain restrictions.
• Weather and other environmental factors – Severe weather can affect your case. Most statutes consider what a reasonable driver would do given current road conditions. Even if you are under the speed limit, an officer can cite you for driving too fast in poor conditions.
• Seatbelt use – If the officer cites anyone for failing to wear a seatbelt, it’s possible the offending party shares some liability.
• Any citations – Even if the other driver was at fault, it is possible you could be cited for speeding, faulty brake lights, etc. Any citation against you can hurt your case and legal funding prospects.

Uplift Legal Funding

In addition to funding car accident claims, Uplift Legal Funding provides pre-settlement funding for many other personal injury cases.

If you have a personal injury case and are in need of funding, apply online or call us at (800) 385-3660.

To learn more, see our breakdown of how legal funding works.