Thanks for your response Halket. You mentioned that the party suing me will need to prove the damages to their vehicle in court. Can you explain to me what they could possibly do to prove it since I was the only one there. The situation was this: I was parallel parked at the end of a street and apparently the other vehicle had parked actually on the curve between my car and another car on the perpendicular street to my car, thus causing a situation where in order to move my vehicle involved doing a bumper to bumper move in ordered to get out of the parking spot. While trying to get out of the spot, my car knocked over their fog lamp on the bumper. I was not even in gear and only had maybe 6 inches of space to move in. I realize now I should have called the parking traffic department. So after I knocked the light off a passer by had stopped by to tell me that the vehicle I bumped into belonged to a neighbor store owner. I immediately went to tell the person what had happened and the person said to me to not worry about the damages. I left my name and phone number just in case. About two weeks after the incident the person called up and had said that even though they were illegally parked that I was liable for the damages. I said I was willing to pay for the fog lamp that I had knocked off (about $50) but then the individual said via phone conversation that the got estimates that were around $1600. When I received the estimates via mail I could not believe what was claimed. They wanted a new bumper, a new grill, new fog lights both the right and the left and a new paint job for the front of the vehicle which is at least 5 years old and not in excellent shape. So at that point I refused to pay by not verbally, only through non-conversation. Since then the person has taken it to small claims court but at the first hearing/court date?? had not had me served so I did not appear since I never received info about the court date. The person had left voice messages for me but I never returned them. Now the person has resorted to deceit, with my landlord, in order to obtain my work number and has somehow, though not proved, had an individual harass me at work. I believe they are in the process of finally having me served. So I assume we will go to court over the situation. What can I do to avoid not paying for damages I really did not cause and show that I tried to rectify the situation to no avail. Am I better off claiming that I did not cause any of the damage since the person was not a witness to it. Also I do not own a car. I was using a frineds car when the incident happened. Sorry this is so long but I want to be prepared as best I can and really would appreciate any advise. Thanks.
