passenger in car

[[email protected]]

My 14 year old daughter recently went joy rideing with her friend who is an unlicensed driver, her father lets her drive all of the time without a licens, so she assumed the
girl had permission to take the car, her girlfriend, picked up another girl, and let her drive her mothers car, she was also unlicensed, of course this car totalled the car, and now the parents want all 3 girls to pay an outragious amount to replace the car,
my daughter never drove the car, and all girls agree to this, she was simply a passenger, the girl who wrecked the car was
fined $750.00. and no arrests were made, now
the owner of the car is threatning to prosacute all of the girls if we don't pay him off..my questions is, sence my daughter did not drive is she liable,??? for the cost of the car, and can she be prosacuted, this
accident happened May 5th.. he did not report
the car stolen.. and he even let the girls have one of his other automobiles just the night before..

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, Verdana">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by [email protected]:
My 14 year old daughter recently went joy rideing with her friend who is an unlicensed driver, her father lets her drive all of the time without a licens, so she assumed the
girl had permission to take the car, her girlfriend, picked up another girl, and let her drive her mothers car, she was also unlicensed, of course this car totalled the car, and now the parents want all 3 girls to pay an outragious amount to replace the car,
my daughter never drove the car, and all girls agree to this, she was simply a passenger, the girl who wrecked the car was
fined $750.00. and no arrests were made, now
the owner of the car is threatning to prosacute all of the girls if we don't pay him off..my questions is, sence my daughter did not drive is she liable,??? for the cost of the car, and can she be prosacuted, this
accident happened May 5th.. he did not report
the car stolen.. and he even let the girls have one of his other automobiles just the night before..<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


My response:

Unless there's something different from when you wrote your same question that I answered on May 8, 2000, I'll simply repeat the same answer:

"My response:

There is no rational reason for your daughter to be held responsible for anything. He owned the vehicle, and only he could have given permission. It was legally incumbant on him to check that the girl was licensed. However, having a license or not does not, in and of itself, cause an accident. His beef is with the driver, only, for his damages. His problem will be in explaining to a court, absent an emergency, why he gave his vehicle to an unlicensed driver."

In other words, he can scream, kick, yell, and attempt to blame whomever, or whatever, he wants. Your daughter is blameless. As a matter of fact, if your daughter was hurt, in any manner, you should seek to make a claim against the owner and the driver for their negligence - - him for letting an underage person take his vehicle for a drive, and the driver for having an accident in the first place.

IAAL


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[This message has been edited by I AM ALWAYS LIABLE (edited May 10, 2000).]