If you don’t speak English that doesn’t mean you don’t have rights!
In fact, if you are injured in an accident, the law does not care about your ability or rather inability to speak English if you are in the United States legally or if you have a driver’s license.
When it comes to traffic accidents, the only thing the law cares about is
1) If you were injured and 2) whose fault it was.
The problem is that when an accident occurs with a driver who speaks Spanish, it usually means that the other driver speaks English.
Who do you think the police are going to believe?
Generally, they listen more carefully to the person who looks like them and speaks their language. Then
ces in conclusion you could say that you will believe the driver who speaks English.
This is not fair because when the driver who speaks English is at fault, he will simply tell his side of the story to the police and blame the driver who only speaks Spanish. The speaker who only speaks Spanish is often scared, unable to explain or convince the police officer, and may not even have a driver’s license. What happens next is that the negligent driver’s insurance company refuses to pay for any of the medical expenses, damages to the car, causing pain and suffering to the person who only speaks Spanish. This is not fair!
This is why it is important to have a lawyer who knows the law, who is not afraid of insurance companies or the police. Remember what we said: If someone is injured, the law only cares about the injury and who was at fault. But there’s even more good news! The police report never enters a judicial process because the police officer was not a witness to the accident.
A few months ago I re
featured Gambetas, a family of four who were involved in a terrible car accident against a light pole by an American driver. Fortunately the entire family survived. However, her mother received a cut throat and her child fractured her skull. The Americans said it was Gambetas’ fault. The Gambetas family does not speak English and could not explain that the Americans were min
tend and that it was really his fault for hitting his car causing it to crash into a pole.
The police prepared the report on behalf of the Americans and even took measurements of the tire marks to prove that they were correct. This was terrible for the Gambetas because the insurance company believed what the police report said and refused to pay any money. Gambetas had large medical bills, no car insurance, no health insurance, no driver’s license and no hope. Therefore, they called me, Attorney Marco, to see if I could help them.
When they explained their story to me, I immediately identified the problem and started fighting for them. At first, the insurance company continues to believe the police report. But I conducted my own investigation and they found out the truth. The Gambetas drove their car to the bank to get some money. They were on their way to the store to send the money to their family in Guatemala. This was something they did every week and they always took the same route. They knew their neighborhood very well. However, the Americans lived four hours away in Georgia, I noticed that at the last minute they headed to the exit where there is a Wendy’s hamburger restaurant. Without seeing the Las Gambetas, they drove next to them, crashing their car, causing it to then crash into a pole.
I hired an animation specialist and gave him all the details of the Gambeta story. He took his story and made a video, featuring the car guys and the burger restaurant. The video was powerful, because it showed how the accident really occurred.
I also took a photo of the boy’s head after his fracture healed, which left a very ugly scar all over his head. I prepared a very strong letter showing that my clients were hurt and that we would like to prove in court that it was the American’s fault. After this letter was rejected by 3 finally the insurance company said “YES” and paid an amount of $200,000 dollars for my clients
Know your rights. Don’t be afraid to speak up. And if you or your family are injured in a car accident, call me. I speak Spanish and I promise you that you will be treated fairly by the courts and insurance companies.