Im in it deep!

[ghoust]

What is the name of your state? CA

September of last year (2002), I was in a car accident. I was a reckless driver speeding at about 70 in a 35 zone. I was going straight using the middle lane of a 3 lane road. Someone made an unprotected left turn in front of me, and i could not stop causing my car to T bone him, totalling his car and causing injury to his daughter.

My insurance was state minimum which is 10k for property, 15k per person for bodily injury up to 30k claim.

Now my question is this. Im 24 years old, but the insurance's primary name was under my father and me as a secondary. Now, I know that there the damage is more then what the insurance will cover. Can the people involved in the crash sue my Father for the money since he was the primary insurance holder? Or am I responsible??

 

[stephenk]

unless the other side proves your father negligently entrusted the car to you, your dad will only be responsible as the owner of the car. His liability is limited to $15,000 per injured person in the accident up to a total of $30,000 for the entire accident. His insurance will pay any settlement amount on his behalf.

As the driver, you will be protected by the same insurance carrier up to the limits of your policy. Depending on the injuries and if the other party has underinsured coverage, you may be lucky and your carrier may settle the claim against you for the policy limits. However, if you have any assets or a well paying job, the other side may decide to not accept the policy limits and demand that you contribute money toward any settlement.

You and your dad should discuss this in more detail with your insurance company and/or the attorney the carrier hired to defend you and your dad.

 

[ghoust]

thank you for the tip here man. Appreciate it.

 

[gotocourt]

In addition to stevenk's comments, California is also a comparitive negligence state. The fact that you were speeding does not necessarily relieve the other driver from his obligation to yeild the right of way. Thus, even if you are primarily responsible, the other driver's recovery would be reduced by th percentage of negligence attributable to him. (His daughter's situation is not quite as simple.)

By the way, even though you stated that you are secondary on your father's insurance, you did not say whether you were driving a vehicle that was owned by him. If you owned the vehicle that you were driving, your father would not be liable under the owner's liability theory.

 

[hexeliebe]

Before anyone else helps this 'PERSON' you might want to read his other post:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152080