Sacramento Uber & Lyft Accident Lawyer

Sacramento Police publish the conditions under which an officer writes a collision report at the scene: a serious injury or death, a driver under the influence, a hit-and-run where the plate was captured, or city property involved. A rideshare crash outside those categories is documented at the counter, online or by post instead, and the department states those reports are not investigated and exist for insurance purposes only.

That distinction matters more than it sounds, because a report recording what you said rather than what an officer found carries different weight with an insurer. Where an officer did write one, it is released online for five dollars, usually five to ten days after the crash.

If any public entity is involved, the City of Sacramento takes claims at one office and one office only. Its own claim form says so in terms: claims go to the Office of the City Clerk at 915 I Street, and are not to be sent to Risk Management, the City Attorney or any other department. For injury and death claims, state law treats a claim sent by mail, properly addressed with postage paid, as presented on the day it is deposited in the mail (Government Code section 915.2).

Outside the city limits the report is usually a Highway Patrol document. The Sacramento County Sheriff states plainly that it does not take collision reports and routes unincorporated county collisions to the Highway Patrol, so the Sheriff is the wrong door to knock on for a crash report.

Burg & Brock represents people injured in rideshare collisions in Sacramento and throughout California. The firm’s office of record is in Sherman Oaks.

A first conversation costs nothing. In a Sacramento case the early questions are which agency holds the report and whether a public entity belongs in the claim, because that answer sets a six-month deadline instead of two years.