Who is at Fault?

Verbotenlaand · #1 01-14-2006, 04:44 PM

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

I was in an auto accident involving myself and two other cars. We were all travelling in the same direction on a three-lane highway. The left lane was a "left turn only" lane. When a car in that lane suddenly decided not to turn left, he swerved over one lane to the right. A car travelling in that lane swerved out of the way, then hit me, driving in the far right lane.

The car that caused the series of events did not make contact with any other car, and had no damage. The only contact made was between that second vehicle, and mine. All three of us pulled over briefly to exchange info, but the police werent called, because it wasn't safe where we were on the street, and no one was injured...and the car damage wasn't serious.

I do not have collision coverage on my insurance (because my car is old), so I tried to recover from the person who hit me. His insurance co. said that although he hit me, he wasn't at fault. I agreed that he wasn't at fault, but thought that it would then be up to his insurance co to recover damages from the first car that caused the accident.

I basically ended up getting denied from both party's insurance companies, even though this damage wasn't my fault.

What type of action should I take at this point? It seems like determining who is at fault should be a matter of precident, because this same scenario must happen all the time. It shouldn't just be a subjective opinion based on a biased insurance company. What is the law, and what can I do to recover? Please help...thanks!

CdwJava · #2 01-14-2006, 05:02 PM

OOPS ... after posting I found that you do not have collision on your vehicle.

In that case, you can take one or both of the other parties to small claims court for damages, or, suck it up. Of course the other companies are going to deny your claim because they have little to lose by denying you. The chances of you suing them are slim to none.

If the case is as clear as you claim, and there is no dispute among the parties that this happened as you say, then you should be able to prevail in court. The question is, would the effort and the costs (going to court, paying for process service, etc.) be worth the effort for a do-it-yourself suit?

- Carl

racer72 · #3 01-14-2006, 05:03 PM

Sue both parties. The judge will decide who pays. You are correct in your thoughts, you should have been reimbursed by the insurance company of the car that hit yours and then they would go after the at fault party.

stephenk · #4 01-14-2006, 05:04 PM

your only option would be to sue the drivers and owners of both vehicles and let them hash it out over who owes who.

stephenk · #5 01-14-2006, 05:06 PM

suing only the car that hit the poster would not result in a recovery for the poster. The other car can point to the car that made the illegal lane change as a defense to the poster's claim. Just because the car hit the poster does not make that vehicle negligent.

Suing both would guarantee all the parties are present and two people will pointing at the first driver.

JETX · #6 01-14-2006, 05:33 PM

[quote=Verbotenlaand]What type of action should I take at this point?[/qutoe]
Based solely on the information in your post, it would appear that the first vehicle (that was negligent in changing lanes into the other vehicle) is at fault for the accident.

However, to minimize the changes of 'cross-finger-pointing', go ahead and file against BOTH drivers.... and let the court determine fault.