Question
wait here stop sign
QUESTION: I was in a rental car on vacation, when I entered an underground parking garage in Los Angeles, CA where they were offering valet ONLY service. There were only two lanes in the garage; one lane to enter – the other to exit. As I approached the valet; there was one car in front of me being attended to by the valet service. There were approximately 5 – 6 cars behind me. The parking attendant signaled for me to pull forward. I stopped at the clearly visible sign that read: STOP HERE FOR ATTENDANT. I paid the valet attendant and then exited the vehicle at which point the driver behind me decided he no longer wanted to exercise patience. He attempted to pass my vehicle on the right side at the same moment my backseat passenger proceeded to exit the vehicle. This caused his vehicle to crash into the right side passenger door of my vehicle while it was still open and he almost injured my passenger. The person causing the accident apologized profusely in front of witnesses that he was very sorry and should have been more patient.
One of my passengers dialed 911 only to be told by the operator that if no one was injured, they would not come out.
The insurance company for the person who caused the damage to my vehicle refuses to accept liabilty since there is no police report.
I took lots of pictures, and you can tell from the position of the stop sign there clearly is only one lane for incoming vehicles and one lane for exiting vehicles. You can also determine from the photographs that I was in the proper lane, following proper valet service protocol.
I do not own a vehicle therefore I do not have privately owned insurance. The rental car company I rented my vehicle is now coming after me. How do I make the insurance company of the person who caused the accident accept liability?
ANSWER: Hi T,
Unfortunately there is no way to force them to accept liability without going to court. Assuming that you did not purchase the rental car insurance, the only thing you can do is to file a law suit against the at-fault driver. Depending on the amount of damage, you may be able to do this in small claims court. If after presenting your evidence the judge finds in your favor, it would be the at-fault drivers insurance that would have to pay you. Some insurance companies will deny liability because they know most people are afraid of going to court. You should not let them bully you. Take their insured to court.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Hixenbaugh; you have helped me GREATLY! My follow up question is: In what city, state do I file the small claims lawsuit? The accident occurred in Los Angeles, California; however I live in Atlanta, Georgia and the at-fault driver lives in Houston, Texas. Also, how would I go about obtaining the address for the at-fault driver?
Thank you so very, very much!
AnswerHi T,
I'm not an attorney but I'll do my best. Since both of you live in states other than where the accident occured, I believe the proper location to file would be the county in which the accident occured. However you should contact a California attorney to verify that is correct. Questions of proper venue can be tricky, so it's best to verify with sn attorney from that state.
If there was no police report then I'm not sure. It may be possible to have an attorney get that information out of the other drivers insurance company. I'm not sure how much information you obtained about the other person, but the more info the better. If you have a drivers license number or car tag number there are some on line private detective agencies that may be able to help.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
