Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
past car accident
i scratched a guys car about 2 years ago in 2007.. we
never filed insurance of any kind and we talked about
settling it personally. I had a job and saved up thinking i
was going to pay within that year of the accident, but the
owner of the car never contacted me until this year, 2009,
demanding i should pay him. it sounds fishy, and i want to
be an honest person and pay him, but in the times that we
are in, that is not possible for me to do so at this time.
what can i do? pls ty :]
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: past car accident
The statute of limitations for a suit for injury to personal property in California is three (3) years. [See Calif. Code of Civil Procedure, Section 338 (c)]
So, legally the other guy could still sue you to recover damages for the scratch to his car.
If you cannot afford to pay him the full amount that he is demanding, you could offer to pay a lesser amount now and give him a promissory note for the remainder, to be paid over an agreed amount of time, perhaps with interest at the current rates.
If you cannot agree on the total amount due for the repairs, you can insist that he get a couple of repair estimates to determine a fair amount. (If he did sue, a judge would require that anyway.)
He would not be entitled to more than the cost of repairs; but he is not required to repair the car before suing you.
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