HELP!

[t_ro]

Please help. It is rather confusing.

I was at a san francisco intersection in which both roads were one way. (The cross traffic was coming from my left) The signals for both roads were red to let the pedestrians cross. The problem is is that the signal across the street to my left was SUPPOSED to be facing the cross traffic, but was actually turned and facing me. So when the light turned green, I assumed it was mine and started to move forward. That's when the taxi driver was trying to drive through and I hit the brakes and collided in the side of his car. I did not realize what happened until it was too late.

The insurace company is saying that it's my fault because I am supposed to know that it was not my light!!! I spoke to a florist who owned a shop on that corner and stated that the city came in to fix the light but never put it back into place. What am I supposed to do? My premium is probably going to go up, but I feel that it wasn't my fault. The city probably has all kinds of rules excluding themselves from any liability. HELP!

-nowhere to turn to

 

[lawrat]

You get yourself an accident attorney to work on a contigency. San Francisco will have a municipal code (city or county depending on where the accident happened) about this. You may still be partially liable (i.e. duty to understand the way the streets work and whether it would be a duty to know that particular light is backward).

Let me give you some places to look:

For the code: http://california.lp.findlaw.com/ca01_codes/municode.html

For the attorney: http://www.attorneypages.com or san francisco state bar association.

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I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.