If you got into a car accident, it may have surprised you to learn that the driver was a city employee. After all, you might expect government workers to uphold the law and drive carefully. The truth is that city employees are just like normal people, so that means a lot of them are bad drivers just like the general population. However, your rights after an accident with a city employee may be different.

City Employee Driving Their Own Car During Their Personal Time

There is nothing special in regard to a city employee when they are on their own time in their own car. If you get into an accident with a city employee when they aren't on city business, it would be just like an accident with any other driver.

City Employee Driving Their Own Car on Official Business

If you get into an accident with a city employee driving their own car on city business, you now have a potential claim against the government. An example of this might be an employee tasked with bringing documents from one government building to the other while driving their own car. Since the city is telling them to drive, the city is responsible for what happened.

You would make your claim with the driver's insurance as usual. However, if the damages exceeded their insurance limits or the insurance company otherwise tries to not pay, the city is also liable for anything you're not able to recover.

City Employee Driving a City Car on Official Business

When the vehicle involved is a city vehicle, things are a little different. You often can't sue the driver at all while they're using government property on government business. Instead, your claim would only be with the city. The good news is that the city would still have their own insurance or possibly self-insure the vehicle for accidents, so you would just need to prove fault for the accident and possibly have slightly different paperwork for your personal injury lawyer to help you with.

City Employee Driving a City Car on Personal Business

When a city employee is allowed to use a government car for personal reasons, liability goes back to the employee. For example, they have a take-home car that they're allowed to use on personal errands. You would file with the insurance policy on the car, with the employee being personally liable for anything not covered by insurance.

Contact a car accident attorney company, such as Arrington Schelin, a Professional Corporation, for more information.