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The City of Dallas has unanimously passed a law that will charge an at fault, non-Dallas resident who causes an automobile accident with a “clean-up” fee. Let me restate what this means. When there is an accident there is often debris left behind such as broken parts, broken glass, oil and other automobile fluids. In some cases there may be blood or other organic matter left to be cleaned as well. Typically the clean up from an accident is done by the city fire department or police. The clean up requires man power, the use of city vehicles, brooms, gloves, etc.

At first blush, it makes sense that a city would want to be reimbursed for this clean-up. But, here is where my issues with this law begin. The law first targets non-Dallas drivers. This makes some sense, because non-Dallas drivers do not pay property taxes in Dallas. Although they do pay sales taxes, tolls, and generally bring revenue to the city. Discriminating on who pays a fine based on residence only just seems unfair. It would be akin to charging tolls only to non-Texas drivers.

The law also targets the at-fault driver. Determining who is at fault is often very difficult. Quite often the officers investigating accidents do not state who, in their opinion, is at fault. If the officer was not a witness to the accident, or does not have the required training and experience to be considered an expert in accident reconstruction or investigation, the officer’s opinion as to who was at fault is often not allowed as evidence in a trial regarding the accident.

This law will essentially require the officer to decide who is at fault (especially if a driver was not a Dallasite), and might even give motivation to find the non-Dallas resident at fault for the accident in a revenue grab by the city. When proposed, this one budget item was expected to bring in 1.1million dollars (per year I presume). City of Dallas Budgeting for Outcomes: FY 2008-09 Annual Budget p.16. http://www.dallascityhall.com/council_briefings/Briefings0808/Proposed_FY09_Budget_%20081108.pdf Typically, officers do not determine ultimate fault, just factors of causation.

My next issue with this law is that Dallas officers were among the first in the DFW Metroplex to stop responding to non injury accidents. For what seems like a decade to my memory, clients have complained of calling the Dallas police department about an accident and an officer not showing up at all. If the officer showed up, they often just tell the drivers to exchange information. I never liked the officers not showing up. However, I do not want officers showing up to see if one of the drivers was not from Dallas, and then doing an investigation in hopes of finding the non-Dallas driver at fault so that the city can collect a clean up fee.

I expect that most drivers charged the clean up fee will simply pay it. I am quite curious what will happen as non-Dallas drivers assessed the fee start to fight the fee. The obvious attack is to go after the qualifications of the officer’s training and the self serving determination of fault. A very aggressive attorney would also likely fight to transfer the venue of the court battle out of Dallas County, claiming a fair trial cannot be had in a county that would possibly benefit from the outcome. Will the costs of fighting these court battles in the courts of the surrounding counties overshadow the profit of charging the fee?

Next, what happens if the person assessed the fee cannot pay it? Your automobile insurance will likely not cover this fee. I have heard estimates of $200 to $954 dollars as potential costs for clean up. This is money the driver has to come up with out of their own pocket. Many will likely not be able to pay. Will the City of Dallas then charge them with additional fees or crimes? Will the city put them into collections?

At first glance the new law sounds appealing to a city trying to make its budget work, but the deeper you look into what this law means, the more problematic it becomes. In the end I think it s a bad law, and that it will cause more trouble than it seeks to correct.

News reports of the new law:
http://cbs11tv.com/local/city.of.Dallas.2.824890.html

http://www.nbc5i.com/newsarchive/17551317/detail.html

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7558191&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Even though Texas law requires all vehicles or drivers have valid insurance, there are still plenty of uninsured drivers on the road. One of the most aggravating experiences after an accident is to find out the person who hit you had no insurance or a problem that invalidated his insurance.

But, don’t ever think that it’s over just because the person who struck claims to not have insurance. As a lawyer, I investigate the defendant to see what there may be. Sometimes a driver will claim not to have insurance in hopes that you will just go away. Sometimes they have coverage when they thought they didn’t. Sometimes they are in a borrowed car that is covered. The best situation is to find out they were on the job. If it can be shown they were on the job, doing what hey were supposed to for their employer, the employer is responsible for the damages. If these and other avenues such as an assets check do not work out, at that point it is essential to verify if you have uninsured motorist coverage (UM).

If there is simply no way to recover from the person that struck you, and they did not commit a crime that would give you access to the crime victim’s fund, then your only hope is that you had coverage for damages caused by an uninsured driver. If you don’t have such coverage now, you should get it. This type of coverage is automatic in Texas unless you specifically sign a waiver of such coverage. If you can’t recall signing a waiver, the insurer should be able to give you a copy if one exists. If the insurance company cannot produce a signed waiver, they have to cover the damage, but they can require you to pay the premium if it had not been charged.

The process of sorting things out in any accident is stressful. When it looks like the other side has no insurance it becomes agonizing. Hiring a lawyer on a contingent basis allows you to have the situation investigated at no cost to you. I recommend if you have been in an accident with a driver whose coverage you question, hire a lawyer now. Let the person with the time and experience to investigate the matter take care of that for you.