B
bcozman
Guest
My wife was traveling east on a two lane road. She came to an intersection that had a left turn lane. As she came to the intersection the light turned yellow. The car in the left turn and right lanes were stopped. The left hand turn lane car was stopped waiting to turn. We are not sure why the car in the right hand lane was stopped, but likely because of a pedestrian or since it is also the right turn lane the vehicles would be going slower and had time to stop.
A car traveling west was already in the intersection waiting to turn left and as the light turned yellow she made her turn and the cars hit headon.
The police report states the other lady was on a cell phone and negligent due to inattention. A witness agreed, but was then interviewed later and agreed with all the above, but said that now he felt it was more my wifes fault. Neither ran a red light or were speeding. The other ladies insurance is refusing to pay based on the grounds that since the other two cars were stopped, my wife had time to stop.
Who had the right of way? I read the law and it apears that the person making the left hand turn should have waited until the intersection was cleared and that my wife was legal in going thru the intersection if it was not safe to stop and the light was not red.
We live in California, we have an attorney and he is telling us that we have to go to small claims court to get a judge to rule who was at fault before they can go back to the insurance to pay for our car repairs and medical bills. I want to make sure we are going to win before we do that.
Any attorneys or helpful people out there that will answer this?
Thank you
A car traveling west was already in the intersection waiting to turn left and as the light turned yellow she made her turn and the cars hit headon.
The police report states the other lady was on a cell phone and negligent due to inattention. A witness agreed, but was then interviewed later and agreed with all the above, but said that now he felt it was more my wifes fault. Neither ran a red light or were speeding. The other ladies insurance is refusing to pay based on the grounds that since the other two cars were stopped, my wife had time to stop.
Who had the right of way? I read the law and it apears that the person making the left hand turn should have waited until the intersection was cleared and that my wife was legal in going thru the intersection if it was not safe to stop and the light was not red.
We live in California, we have an attorney and he is telling us that we have to go to small claims court to get a judge to rule who was at fault before they can go back to the insurance to pay for our car repairs and medical bills. I want to make sure we are going to win before we do that.
Any attorneys or helpful people out there that will answer this?
Thank you