Who is responsible?...Please Help!

What is the name of your state? GA

About a year ago, my brother was asked to drive to a location by person A. Person A's 2 young children were in the vehicle, A was also in the vehicle. On the way to the location, my brother got in an accident with person C, the accident was determined to be my brother's fault. Person A and the 2 young children were placed in Intensive Care for about a week, my brother and person C were sent to the emergency room and released the same day. Person C is now suing my brother for $15,000 in regards to the accident. At the time of the accident, my brother did not have insurance, Person A did.

My question: Since Person A asked my brother to drive, is Person C suing the wrong person? Is my brother covered under A's insurance? Basically...does C have a leg to stand on?

PLEASE HELP!

Q1) "Since Person A asked my brother to drive, is Person C suing the wrong person? Is my brother covered under A's insurance? Basically...does C have a leg to stand on?"
A1) Person C (the other injured driver) is correct in suing person B (the driver at fault, your brother).

The injured party has the right to sue anyone that he thinks was the cause of his damages (injuries). In this case it is your brother. One key thing that might help is 'who was the owner of the car involved?'. If your brother was both the driver AND the owner, then he is fully liable, whether insured or not. If your brother (party B) was driving a car OWNED by party A, then it is posssible that party A's insurance could come into play.... depending on the specific insurance laws of your state (some states insure the driver, some the car).

Bottom line.... your brother (party B) took an incredible risk to his personal finances (and possible criminal charges) by making the decision to drive without insurance. He now has to suffer the consequences of that conscious decision (and its risk). And he better be prepared for party A (the passenger and his children) to also sue him!!!

Thank you for your help!

My brother was driving Person A's car, which Person A owned.

Is my brother not covered under Person A's insurance? Or would that depend on the laws in my state? If so, does anyone have a resource that would help me research those laws?

Beth,
I'm also in GA and I'm pretty sure that insurance goes with the car.
(I'm definitely not an attorney, so none of this is legal advice, and I could be wrong here).

But I was in a sort-of similar situation back in 1998. My then-fiance (now husband) was driving my car around the corner to the supermarket. I was home sick with pneumonia, so he was running my errands for me.
He was sideswiped in my car while in the Publix parking lot. It put a dent in my driver's side rear door, but no other damage. And nobody in either car was injured.

Even though he had insurance of his own (Allstate), since he was driving my car, my insurance (USAA) was dinged for the accident. It remained on my record for several years and dropped off my driving history in 2001.

Anyway. Could you call person A's insurance company and ask them whether your brother was covered?

Hope some of this helps!

Okay...Another Question...

Person C lives in Carroll County and my brother lives in Douglas County. In which county will the hearing take place?

Jurisdiction is often NOT chiseled in stone, nor is it easy to determine.

However, based on your post, party C could claim jurisdiction is in the county where the accident happened (most likely) or in the county of the party being sued (less likely). It would be up to the defendant to challenge the filing as to jurisdiction.

Georgia has two types of insurance available:
one--if the person has the insured owner's permission to drive the vehicle, then the owner's insurance will pay.
two--insured driver's insurance--which is an extra protection offered by the driver's insurance, so that no matter whose vehicle the driver is operating, the driver is insured by his or her own policy. Having this coverage does not relieve the owner of the vehicle from the duty to have current auto insurance of his or her own.

let me qualify that--the driver must have a valid license in either case, and the policy must not contain any exclusions for drivers other than the driver or for members of the driver's household.

Thank you everyone for your responses.

I am not sure exactly what Person C is suing for, b/c my brother is in a boot camp at the moment and was not here to receive the papers. But if Person A's insurance ( I know they had insurance) covered all the damages of the accident to Person C's vehicle and Person C, what could he possibly be suing for? Does anyone have any ideas on this? It's driving me crazy!

A1) Person C (the other injured driver) is correct in suing person B (the driver at fault, your brother).

Click to expand...

The injured party has the right to sue anyone that he thinks was the cause of his damages (injuries). In this case it is your brother. One key thing that might help is 'who was the owner of the car involved?'. If your brother was both the driver AND the owner, then he is fully liable, whether insured or not. If your brother (party B) was driving a car OWNED by party A, then it is posssible that party A's insurance could come into play.... depending on the specific insurance laws of your state (some states insure the driver, some the car).

Click to expand...

Another reason could be the affirmative defense of having 'an empty chair'--in other words, you must sue everyone who is liable and not just some who are liable; otherwise, you may sue no one who is liable.

As for his personal motives, you will have to ask Driver C.