Portland, OR asked in Car Accidents for Oregon

Q: I was involved in a car accident where the guy backed into my company van.

It happened in a bank parking lot and I was waiting behind him to go threw to park my van on the street since the bank didn’t allow parking in their parking lot before 6 pm. It was around 4:30. Do I fill out the accident report for the dmv or does my employer?

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: I would coordinate filling out and filing the accident report with your employer. Just make sure it gets done if it is required under Oregon Law. Note: note very accident requires the filing of an accident report with Oregon DMV. Accidents with very little or no damage to the vehicles and no injuries do not require that a report be filed, but it never hurts to file a report if you aren't sure.

What is extremely important is to report that accident to the insurance company that insures the vehicle and also report it to your personal auto insurance company. This should be covered by your employer's insurance but you want to make sure that both insurance companies have notice of the accident because failure to timely notify an insurance company can result in a denial of coverage.

You don't mention being injured but if you were, and you were driving for your job at the time of the accident, you will need to open a worker's compensation claim. You can still have a private claim for personal injury and hire you own attorney but the medical side of your claim will be a worker's comp claim.

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