I actually had an incident like this a while back. A fire truck blew through an intersection where I was making a legal left on a green arrow, and tagged the back of my truck. I pulled over to assess damage, and judged it to be covered by the “bygones” deductible. The fire truck never stopped, continued onward to (I guess) the fire emergency.
I forgot about the incident for a few months until the sheriff called me up with a hit-and-run warrant. It seems that a do-gooder followed me and reported my plates. I explained my side of the story, and they said if I sent the county $517 to cover the paint job on the fire truck, they’d forget about it. Lucky break, as I reckon it.
You can’t control whether the other party gets a ticket, and I don’t think it matters, but at least you stood your ground and got everything on the record. You have video, the bus also has video, the insurance company will get it, and you’ll be insulated from any trumped-up claims (don’t forget your car was forced onto the yard of a third party).
Nothing good comes from claiming bygones in an auto accident, especially when the county is involved.
I’d think the driver, et al, would be a lot more worried about you suing them than about launching a frivolous lawsuit against you–or you countersuing them if they were to try to file a lawsuit. Again, IANAL, but as I understand it, defamation of character means you’re knowingly making FALSE statements about a person with the intent to cause harm. Notifying the school district of an accident that actually happened would not fall into that category. (And again, you’re not saying, “Fire him! Blackball him!” either to the district or pubicly. Furthermore, in presenting his case in any lawsuit, the driver would damage his own reputation. I doubt very much he’d get even the most money-hungry attorney to represent him in such a lost cause.
I would definitely avoid sneaky “leaking” tactics. IF the news station decides to investigate–and an anonymous tip about an accident in which nobody was injured may not pique their interest–they’re going to want to know your name and other specifics. At minimum, you’ll end up looking bad. Really, that’s not the way to go.
If you’re nervous about all this, you could consult an attorney. A short consultation should give you valuable advice, and as you saw, even the mention of an attorney can change people’s attitudes.
The bus has MY video, according to the supervisor that was one of the buses without cameras (true or not, I don’t know, but that’s what she told me).
As for the damage to the property, that’s why every time I told the story…to witnesses, to the bus driver, to the supervisor, multiple times to the police I always stated “and then he pushed me up the curb and into the retaining wall” and I verified that that info was in the police report. I wanted to make it abundantly clear that even though my car hit the wall, it’s the responsibility of the party at fault to repair it. It hasn’t been brought up to me since then, so I assume they either just fixed it on their own (doubt it cost more than a hundred bucks) or they dealt with it via the bus company or their insurance.
County isn’t involved. So far as I can tell, it’s a private bus company, not one owned by the school district. I could be wrong though. I just going by the name on the bus.
I more meant that they could sue me just to shut me up. So far as I understand it, frivolous lawsuits like that can get a lawyer disbarred, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t happen left and right.
It should be noted that I’ve essentially been ‘made whole’ already. My car is still in the shop, but their insurance is paying for it. No real injuries, but I’m supposed to be getting a check for the office visit. It’s not like I’m out anything and I’m certainly not looking for a payday (I wouldn’t say no if they offered it to me, but I’m not asking for anything).
If I were to do this (and I’m not really planning on it), I’m not sure how I could look bad by ‘leaking’ it. The information about the incident would clearly lead back to me and it’s not like it would be a big deal to respond with an emailed statement about what happened. But you’re right, this likely isn’t even newsworthy. Well, unless it’s been a regular thing with this company or this driver. But in any case, that’s why I sorta kinda considered calling a local news station while it was still an active accident scene. That’s different than calling them about an accident that happened three weeks ago.
I’m certainly not going to go so far as to hire an attorney for a consultation about something that hasn’t happened.