QuestionOur grandson who is 18 hit a car that was backing out of the driveway today. He called his grandpa and my husband hurried down to where the accident happened. The man was really yelling at our grandson saying he was going more than 35 miles an hour and our grandson was saying he wasn't. When my husband arrived, the man was really angry and still yelling, he said,"Are you his dad?" And my husband replied, "I am his grandfather."
My husband said to me later, " I thought the man was going to hit me!" Anyway, my husband asked if
they could keep it out of the insurance companies and the man agreed and told his wife to call the police back and tell them not to come. Later that on in the day, my husband paid the man $1100.00 cash so we wouldn't have to turn it into the insurance. Our grandson's insurance is very expensive. Later on, I was at my brother's house and told him what had happened. My brother said that if the man was pulling out of his driveway, the accident was his fault. And our grandson would not have gotten a ticket. I just wanted your opinion. Thank You.
Answer
Dear Connie,
I hope you will not take it out on me if I send you some really bad news: your husband just wasted $1,100.
Your grandson had the right of way inasmuch as he was traveling on the roadway, and the man entering from his driveway is the burdened driver who must make sure the way is clear before he enters the roadway.
The man has an ADDITIONAL DUTY OF CARE if he is backing out into the roadway.
Speed of your grandson is no defense for the man with the burden. If the man could see your grandson, then he has the duty to judge his speed and act accordingly.
Thus, it would make no difference whether your grandson was going 35MPH or 45MPH. Besides, who is to measure his speed? Deception becasue of high speed is a defense for a person entering a roadway ONLY when the vision is clear for one brief moment and the vision of the car is then blocked (i.e., by a bush or a dip in the roadway), and the speeding car then emerges from the blocked vision much sooner than normally could be expected. That makes sense since if one can see the speeding car all the time, one cannot complain to be deceived by its speed.
Furthermore, for anyone reading this later on, NEVER PAY A PERSON CASH SO THEY WILL NOT REPORT A CLAIM, AND ESPECIALLY WITHOUT A WRITTEN AGREEMENT THAT THIS PAYMENT EXTINGUISHES ALL CLAIMS, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN.
If I were your husband, I would call the police and first get their agreement with my version of liability, and then make the contention that the man scared your husband into paying it. Oops, just re-reading this now, it looks like your husband got away from the man and later decided on his own to go and pay the money. Thus, he would have a hard time contending that he was frightened into paying it.
Still, $1,100 is a lot of money, and maybe he still should contact the police since the police can help to get it back by citing the man for his negligence, and thus, because the man would owe your grandson for damage done to his car, your grandson can COLLECT FROM THE MAN'S INSURANCE COMPANY. OR MAYBE THE MAN WILL JUST PAY BACK THE $1,100 TO KEEP YOUR GRANDSON FROM TURNING IT OVER TO THE MAN'S INSURANCE COMPANY. That would be poetic justice!
Good luck on this, and go easy on your husband because he was trying to do the right thing.
I trust that this information has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take a moment now to use the form on this site to leave me some feedback.
Best wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D.
www.settlementcentral.com
