minor rearend in shopping center

I live in Houston, Texas. I was in a shopping center parking lot, waiting to enter onto the street, I rearended the car in front of me. It was raining, and there was no visible damage at the time, now she is claiming that there are scratches on her bumper. I have heard that by texas law if an accident occurs in a parking lot you are not liable for damages because it is not city property. Is this true?

No it is absolutely not true.
You can be held liable for damages occurring on both public and private property.

Nope.

You cannot be given a traffic ticket for an accident that occurs on private property, but you can certainly be held liable for the civil damages of the accident.

Home Guru and Halket, I am impressed. I would not have been able to give a straight answer to this post. Read the title of this post again. The questions in the post did not come close to what I was thinking. Does that make me a dirty old man?

Were the cops called? Witnesses? Damage to your car? If not it's her word against yours. If you want to do the right thing, though, have her provide you with two or three estimates for the damage. It shouldn't be that much.

qadaq said:

Were the cops called? Witnesses? Damage to your car? If not it's her word against yours. If you want to do the right thing, though, have her provide you with two or three estimates for the damage. It shouldn't be that much.

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Let me provide your OBVIOUS answers:
1) No the police werent' called. They don't respond on PRIVATE property.
2) Who cares about witnesses. The issues isn't WHETHER the accident happened but the claimed damages.
3) Obviously, the question in the post has to do with the extent of damages. Why would you ask a question that has already been answered?

It was a month ago, get over it boys.

1. You're right. The cops wouldn't have responded, but they might still have been called, they might have taken a report over the phone, and they probably would have asked each party if there were damages.

2. Witnesses might be able to corroberate the extent of the damage.

3. I don't see anywhere in the post any mention as to whether anybody called the police, or whether there were any witnesses.

Good point wtd.

qadaq said:

1. You're right. The cops wouldn't have responded, but they might still have been called, they might have taken a report over the phone, and they probably would have asked each party if there were damages.

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Yeah, I can see it now.... one party calls the police on his/her cellphone. The dispatcher (or 911 operator) takes the call and says, "Uh... sorry, I can't send a unit out... the accident was on private property". And our writer says, "Wait a minute... we'll pass the phone back and forth so that each of us can describe our damages to you.... just in case we have a problem in the future". And the dispatcher says, "Oh, sure, hold on a minute while I get a pencil and put the rest of my calls on hold... okay, go ahead". And then listens and takes notes to record each persons biased statement without the benefit of ANY investigation or what we used to call 'onview'.
Right!!

Probably more likely would be to subpoena the video tapes of the 'black-ops' helicopters that we ALL know are flying overhead taping every square inch of America.... I am sure that they saw it. Or maybe some 'abductee' on a flying saucer might have seen it and come forward with a sworn statement of damages. All just as likely.