What is the name of your state? California
Hi. One day I was driving in a Camry on a two-way road when someone riding an Accord came into my path all of a sudden from a drive-way to a store and hit me (see image first, uploaded at https://ibb.co/jTb6rrF, will be auto-deleted in 1 month). The front left of my car collided with his left rear part as he was almost at the point of hurriedly clearing my lane while going to the opposite site/ opposite direction to mine. The other party refused to share information, said there were 2 lanes to the right of me that had stopped for him implying I should have stopped for him too even if he was in my lane. I did not see him as he was hidden behind the other cars to my right, nor could I fully anticipate due to relative motion that the cars on my right were at a full stop. I had 2 kids in car - 7 and 11 years old, and they are so much freaking out after being in a car with accident. Other party called police (not ambulance, all 3 occupants were all walking and talking fine) and said he would not give his insurance info to me, but will give to police. A police report was created and the police held the other party 100% responsible for the accident.
Since police report takes time, I went through my insurance, paid deductible (to be refunded as my insurance has said its not my fault at all). The other party gave some explanation to his insurance and they have tried to reach out to me for my story. I declined, as I have gone through my insurance providing my statement to my insurance, even my case manager has said its not necessary for me to get in touch with other party insurance. Today, I got letter from other party insurance that they are holding both parties 50% at fault each, which is wrong, the other guy came in front of me (see image). His insurance is declining to take full responsibility. I just have one doubt - what if the other party cooks up a story and says even though he was in my lane cutting across, that I had seen him and did not purposely stop - further stating that if I had stopped accident would have been avoided? There are no dashcam videos or witnesses. My question is - can the other party cook up something that may hold me accountable for not having prevented accident in this case? Clearly this guy just came out of no-where, was hidden behind cars, and now wants me to take responsibility for his wrong doings. How can I totally save myself? Thanks in advance!
Hi. One day I was driving in a Camry on a two-way road when someone riding an Accord came into my path all of a sudden from a drive-way to a store and hit me (see image first, uploaded at https://ibb.co/jTb6rrF, will be auto-deleted in 1 month). The front left of my car collided with his left rear part as he was almost at the point of hurriedly clearing my lane while going to the opposite site/ opposite direction to mine. The other party refused to share information, said there were 2 lanes to the right of me that had stopped for him implying I should have stopped for him too even if he was in my lane. I did not see him as he was hidden behind the other cars to my right, nor could I fully anticipate due to relative motion that the cars on my right were at a full stop. I had 2 kids in car - 7 and 11 years old, and they are so much freaking out after being in a car with accident. Other party called police (not ambulance, all 3 occupants were all walking and talking fine) and said he would not give his insurance info to me, but will give to police. A police report was created and the police held the other party 100% responsible for the accident.
Since police report takes time, I went through my insurance, paid deductible (to be refunded as my insurance has said its not my fault at all). The other party gave some explanation to his insurance and they have tried to reach out to me for my story. I declined, as I have gone through my insurance providing my statement to my insurance, even my case manager has said its not necessary for me to get in touch with other party insurance. Today, I got letter from other party insurance that they are holding both parties 50% at fault each, which is wrong, the other guy came in front of me (see image). His insurance is declining to take full responsibility. I just have one doubt - what if the other party cooks up a story and says even though he was in my lane cutting across, that I had seen him and did not purposely stop - further stating that if I had stopped accident would have been avoided? There are no dashcam videos or witnesses. My question is - can the other party cook up something that may hold me accountable for not having prevented accident in this case? Clearly this guy just came out of no-where, was hidden behind cars, and now wants me to take responsibility for his wrong doings. How can I totally save myself? Thanks in advance!