My mom was involved in a very minor traffic accident while in Atlanta recently, and lives very far away from there. There were two right turn lanes, she was in the left/outer turn lane and the other vehicle was in the right/near right turn lane. The two vehicle hit while making the turn, and not that it matters, but she did not leave her turn lane.

We offer to exchange insurance info and let them work it out, mostly because we felt pretty sure it would be deemed a no-fault accident and each would cover their own damages. Car on the inside lane (after calling his father) insists on calling the cops if we wouldn't accept responsibility, which we wouldn't. 2 hours later the cop shows up, and issues both drivers citations for...can't remember exactly, but same charge for both. They both have court dates (not sure if same date/time). My main question is, what happens during that court hearing? Do they both plead their cases and the judge assigns a party being at fault (or more likely, no-fault), or is her court date just a standard traffic citation hearing like a speeding ticket or other minor traffic citation? Basically, does she need to show and plead her case or can she have a local lawyer handle the traffic citation and pay the fine or w/e.

I know TWW isn't official legal advice yada yada yada, but looking for opinions for anyone more experienced here than I. She has contacted an Atlanta area lawyer who will represent her but it doesn't sound like they've covered this point yet.

5/30/2019 11:15:44 PM

I am not a lawyer. I don't have extensive experience with this.

However, I would expect that these court cases are separate, and neither will have to plead their case against the other (there is not a plaintiff and defendant). If this was a civil case where one party was suing the other, then I would expect that both parties would plead their case. If the court cases are just for the citation issued by the officer, then your mom would only be pleading guilty/not guilty to the crime and paying the fine. She could maybe plead her case to have the citation dropped. When it comes to whose insurance pays for what, I always thought that was something the insurance did their investigation on and made their own determination. I didn't think cops assigned blame, they just created records of the accident and collected information of those involved.

I may be totally wrong.

5/31/2019 9:41:33 PM

The insurance companies will decide fault between them, although the tickets will be one of the things they consider

6/2/2019 1:09:29 PM

In Georgia the city or town gets to keep all the fine money so theh tru to screw you over with a ticket any way they can.

8/23/2019 8:27:36 AM