Legal Question in Insurance Law in Washington
Will we be held liable?
Our son is 21 yrs. old, living at home, employed.
If he insures himself (car insurance) separately
from us, will we be held liable if he causes an
accident? We have State Farm. He has high risk
insurance from another company. He does not pay us
anything for room and board.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Will we be held liable?
Your exposure in this case is under the family car doctrine. The liability is imputed, not because of the family relationship, but under agency. Your son is part of a joint venture (family) and as owner of that joint venture, you may be liable for his damages.
An example is if your son is running family errands or furthering the family venture and gets into an accident, your insurance policy will be excess over his insurance. But only if your son was furthering the family business. This is a very grey area.
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