Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia
My neighbor is a salesman for a Tomberlin dealer (it's a street legal "golf cart"). He let his daughter, my daughter, and my son drive this vehicle without my knowledge. My son ran the vehicle into a tree causing $2500 damage and a request from the dealership for an additional $1500 in "losses" since they can't sell it as new. My son is 17, the girls are 14, and the accident happened on my property. No one was physically injured. The bill presented to me included other damage that I'm not sure was caused by the accident (this was a dealer demo vehicle). I'm willing to pay the damages definitely caused by my son, which comes to $1300 on the invoice, but the salesman presented the entire bill as my responsibility. Do I have any legal obligation to pay?
1 Answer from Attorneys
No, probably none at all under these facts (in my opinion) if this salesmen allowed these minors to drive this vehicle and the crash caused by your son was an accident and not the result of deliberate (willful tort) and/or reckless action(s) on his part.