Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
auto insurance claim
My car, while being driven by my son's fiance, was struck from the rear by a 20 yr old guy who was not licensed or insured. He was driving his parent's car. The parents were insured with full coverage but their son was not covered at all. Their insurance company admitted liability for the personal injury but they do not want to pay for the damage for my car because they are saying that the 20 yr old son who caused the accident was not licensed or insured. I have liability but no comp or collision insurance. My son and his fiance are both insured. This accident happened March 10, 2009.
Who do you think should be responsible for the repair of my car; the 20 yr old unlicensed and uninsured boy, his insured parents or, the parents insurance company.? Their attitude so far is that I am just out of luck. The cost to repair my car is about $9,000.00. I cannot drive it since the entire rear end is smashed in. The car is a 2003 Infinity.
5 Answers from Attorneys
Re: auto insurance claim
Please check either your insurance policy or son or his fiance to determine if any of you have uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. If you do, call us at 213.388.7070 to discuss how you can demand reimbursement for cost of repair, pain and sufering, loss of wage and etc..
Re: auto insurance claim
If the other side has any insurance, it should cover all the damages, to your car and the people in it. Their position is not logical. You will likely find you need an attorney to handle the ase in order to get proper full recovery. Feel free to contact me if serious about doing so. Please understand that if you try to initially handle it yourself and pressure them into making an offer of settlement, once they do so it will be more difficult for an attorney to get them to 'change' it than to deal with it properly from the beginning.
Re: auto insurance claim
The 20 year driver is legally responsible for your damages regardless of whether the insurance of the parents kicks in. It will take more analysis to determine if he is not an insured driver. If he lived away from home and merely borrowed the car from his parents, he could be a permissive user, and the parent's insurance would be responsible. If he lived at home, or if he was specifically listed as a non-permitted driver, then you will not get insurance from the parents' company.
The parents are not responsible unless they knew the son was a bad driver and then there could be negligent entrustment.
Best bet is to see if you have uninsured motorist coverage.
The parents are not responsible
Re: auto insurance claim
Was your son's fiance injured? The parents are liable up to 15 K. Email me at: [email protected]
Re: auto insurance claim
The 20 year old and the parents are both liable: the boy, because he was actually negligent and the parents, cause they're the registered owners. But the registered owner liability for PD is only $5,000.00 by statute. You could sue the boy and parents in small claims court but that only goes up to $7,500.00. You could also try your son's fiance's ins. co under her collision coverage since she was driving a "non-owned" car which may be covered under her policy.
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