Auto Insurance Claims: Auto accident claim rejected by other party, due caution, paint loss

Question
I recently got into an accident while changing lane &  other party hit my car on front passenger door.I was moving  from left lane to middle lane & the other car was trying to get into middle lane from the right lane. I was the first one to approach the middle lane & never saw the other car approaching when I decided to move to the middle lane. Now the other party's insurence is rejecting my claim stating that I have made an improper lane change colliding with the other car. My analysis is that major portion of my car's front door ( severe dent) was damaged while the other party's impact area was only smaller portion on the left front bumper( just some paint loss). This indicates who was the first one to approach the middle lane based on the impact area of the car. Since  the other party has rejected my claim & doesn't want to pay anything, I would to know what would be my next step in this process since I only have liability insurence. I will really appreciate if you can take the time to analysis this issue & provide me a response

Answer
Hi Iftekhar,

Based on your statement, it is my opinion that each driver was guilty of making a lane change without due caution.

Since each of you were partially at fault and there were no witnesses,
depending on your state laws, there are several ways for this to be settled.

1. You each are responsible for your own damage.
2. A determination is made based on percentage of fault.  This would
  mean that if fault was found to be 50/50, then you could collect
  half of your damage from his insurance and your insurance would
  owe the other party for half of their damage.
  Since you don't carry collision, your company is not going to
  spend the time and money to try to make this determination.
3. In some states, the law reads that if you are 1% or more at fault,
  you have no legal right to collect for your damage. other states
  laws require that you be 49% at fault to collect a portion of your
  damages.

Talk to your insurance company to learn the law in your state.

The law in most states is that you must be 100% into the lane to be considered as having 'control of the lane', anything less and you are each at fault.

I hope that you find this information to be of help.

Your feedback by rating my answer will be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area