Giving the right of way

[doug]

New Jersey
My wife's intentions were to make a left hand turn at an "T" style intersection. The folloing took place; the highway she was traveling had no stop sign, the women that was at the stop sign to her left was signaling to go left, my wife could not turn to the left because to the left is a red light no more than 30 yards from the intersection and there were a line of about 5 cars coming in the opposite direction of my wife signaling to make their right hand turn, since my wife could not turn to her left she gave right of way to the driver to her left who was stopped at the sign, as the driver on her left attempted to turn another driver coming in the opposite direction of my wife hit the woman making the turn from the stop sign. My wife is now being sued by the women who was coming in the opposite direction of my wife. What type of options does she have?

 

[teflon_jones]

Your post is unclear. Was your wife hit or the driver she was giving the right of way to?

It really doesn't matter as long as your wife didn't hit anybody. She should simply turn over copies of any paperwork she receives to her insurance company.

 

[Zigner]

Your post is unclear. Was your wife hit or the driver she was giving the right of way to?

It really doesn't matter as long as your wife didn't hit anybody. She should simply turn over copies of any paperwork she receives to her insurance company.

OP's wife waved to the person from the left so that person could make her left hand turn. Traffic coming from in front of OP's wife hit the person that had been waved on. So, driver of the oncoming traffic is suing OP's wife for signaling the other driver to go.

With that said, I understand why you were sued (they're casting a large net), but I doubt it will go anywhere. The wife gave up *her* right of way, but that doesn't relieve the at-fault driver from making sure it's safe to turn.

 

[Meatcutter]

They might have a claim against your wife, but they are grasping for straws. Basically by waiving another vehicle on it can be perceived that your wife was saying "all clear" to the vehicle she was waiving on.

Normally, this doesn't fly in a trial, however the attorney that is suing your wife is probably suing everyone involved in order to create a large pool of money they can recover from. Their hope is that your insurance company will pay something to make the claim go away.