June 15, 2011

REP. SUSAN JOHNSON’S BILL MAKING IT EASIER
FOR CAR ACCIDENT VICTIMS PASSES LEGISLATURE
Police Report Must be Available to Victims Within 30 Days

State Representative Susan Johnson, announced her legislation to make it easier for victims in car accidents to get their accident reports from the police passed the legislature unanimously.

Investing in Windham & Creating JobsRepresentative Johnson joined Governor Malloy in announcing $8.3 million in state funding a new medical center adjacent to Windham Hospital that will create an estimated 125 jobs

Johnson, vice chair of the state legislature’s Insurance & Real Estate Committee, introduced this legislation after the Mettell Family who lost their son Joshua, a first grade teacher at Natchaug School, in a fatal motor vehicle accident contacted her about the difficulty that their attorney had in getting the accident report from the police.

“It concerned me that this was not an uncommon occurrence,” said Johnson. “Regularly victims and their families could not obtain accident reports from the police. On a number of occasions lawsuits had to be filed just to force the accident reports to be released.”

Johnson’s legislation (HB 6484) simply modifies current state law so that accident records will be available to people, including their attorneys and family members, who were involved in an accident within 30 days of the accident.

Johnson added, “This bill is a simple change that will make it much easier for victims and their families to get hold of essential information and help move cases through the system more quickly, efficiently and fairly.”

Susan Johnson is serving her second term representing Connecticut’s 49th General Assembly District in Windham. She is Vice Chair of the state legislature’s Insurance & Real Estate Committee.