Traffic accident in Guanacaste: how the evidence shaped the case

On November 14, 2023, near a gas station in Filadelfia de Carrillo, two vehicles collided. Nothing unusual for a public road in Guanacaste, until weeks later our client, a foreign resident of the area, learned that simply having been involved in the crash automatically made him a defendant (“imputado”) in a court case, without anyone yet knowing who had actually been at fault.

The accident and its immediate consequences

In Costa Rica, when two vehicles collide, the law does not wait to establish who was at fault before opening a case: Article 157 of the Traffic Law provides that the drivers involved are treated as defendants from the outset, simply because they took part in the accident. That is how both our client and the other driver became parties to a case before the Carrillo Traffic Court (Juzgado Contravencional de Carrillo). And it was not just a matter of paperwork: under Articles 171 and 200 of Traffic Law N.° 9078, the court placed a lien (“gravamen”) on both vehicles involved, meaning neither car could be transferred or freely used while the case remained open.

The case moved forward at the typical pace of the Costa Rican system: statements, notice by public edict in La Gaceta (the official gazette) to each vehicle’s registered owner, hearings being scheduled, an exploration of whether a settlement (“conciliación”) between the parties was possible, and, finally, a public oral hearing set to resolve the matter on the merits. Almost a year and a half passed between the accident and the final ruling, with the lien on our client’s vehicle in place the entire time.

Reviewing the evidence instead of assuming fault

Nearly two years after the crash, the central question in the case still had no answer: who had caused the collision? Neither the police report, nor the accident diagram, nor the statements on file allowed anyone to reconstruct with certainty how the events had unfolded.

That is exactly what happened in this case. The file included the other driver’s statement, the police report, and the accident diagram; our client, for his part, exercised his legitimate right to remain silent until he had defined his strategy with his attorney. But even taken together, none of that evidence made it possible to establish with certainty how the collision had happened, or which of the two drivers had failed to comply with the Traffic Law.

Reasonable doubt: what the law requires

In Costa Rica, no one can be punished unless there is sufficient evidence to establish responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt. This principle, known as in dubio pro reo, is set out in Article 9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and rests directly on the presumption of innocence found in Article 39 of the Constitution, a principle that protects a foreigner exactly as it protects any Costa Rican citizen.

Faced with that doubt, the court did exactly what the Constitution requires:

In the absence of evidence establishing, beyond any doubt, how the events occurred… [the court] must… acquit [them] of all penalty and liability.

Ruling N.° 2025-000142, Carrillo Traffic Court

The oral hearing

By the time the case reached the public oral hearing, the question was no longer who to blame but what the record could actually prove. That is where the inconsistencies were laid out: a police report and a diagram that did not settle the sequence of events, and a statement from the other driver that nothing else in the file corroborated.

On August 31, 2025, through that ruling, the court acquitted both our client and the other driver involved of all penalty and liability, and ordered the liens on both vehicles, in place since the start of the case, to be lifted.

Our client regained full, unrestricted use of his vehicle and closed out, without any penalty, a case that had dragged on for almost two years.

Confidentiality Notice: This story is based on a real case handled by Libre Verdad. To protect the privacy of those involved and comply with our professional duty of confidentiality, the names, certain facts, and some identifying details have been changed. Any resemblance to identifiable individuals is solely for illustrative purposes.

What to do if you are involved in a traffic accident

A traffic accident in Costa Rica does not end the day the crash happens. For any foreigner who lives in or spends time in Guanacaste, being involved in a collision, even without being at fault, can mean becoming a defendant, having your vehicle placed under a lien, and facing a case that stretches on for months or years, with hearings, notices, and deadlines that need to be tracked closely.

This case also offers a practical lesson: what you say, or don’t say, right after an accident matters. The right to stay silent without first consulting a lawyer, the quality of the police report and the accident diagram, and how the scene is documented can be the difference between a conviction and an acquittal when, as in this case, the facts are never fully clear.

Legal proceedings in Costa Rica reward preparation: in traffic matters, what is recorded in the first days shapes what a judge can decide months later.

Libre Verdad is a litigation firm in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We represent both foreigners and Costa Ricans in traffic cases from the very first moment: the initial statement, tracking the case file, assessing whether a settlement makes sense, and full representation at the public oral hearing if the case gets that far.

Related reading:

Another case where the evidence on file, and what it could not prove, decided the outcome before a Costa Rican court.

• A lifetime on the same land: a family farm dispute in Nicoya

More on this area of law: Litigation at Libre Verdad.