Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: responsibility

Yes. Not only that, you can sue for medical expenses, loss of wages/income and pain and suffering.

Re: responsibility

No, but you can sue to recover your deductible.

If the other driver destroyed your car you can recover the value of your car, but you already recovered most of that from your insurer so really all you have lost would be your deductible. The fact that you have a loan is beside the point.

Let's say you owe $12,000 on the car but its value was only $7,000. Now let's say your neighbor has an identical car, also worth $7,000, which he owns outright. If his car is destroyed in an accident he can only recover the value of the car. There is no reason why the courts should give you more money than they would have given your neighbor for the same loss.

While you will be left with a debt of $5,000, the fact is that you owed $5,000 more than the car was worth even before the accident. Allowing you to recover that amount in court would make you better off than you were before, but the court is only supposed to make you whole and is not supposed to give you a windfall.

Note that the insurer may sue the other driver to recover its loss; such lawsuits are called subrogation actions. You might want to talk to your insurer about this possibility before you take any action on your own, since you will be called upon to cooperate in that lawsuit and might be able to recover your deductible that way.