Auto Insurance Claims: Motor Vehicle - Motor Cycle Accident, motor cycle accident, liability

Question
Carefully waiting for clear traffic, and pulling very slowly from parking my car on a busy road, a motorcyclist swerved left to miss me, and crashed/dumped their bike without me hitting them. When they dumped their bike at a faster speed than mine car was moving the bike slid towards me on the roadway, and hit my cars lower half just behind my back wheel, drivers side. He was unaware that the bike hit my car, but considering paint transfer as his paint tranfered onto my car with no denting. Do you think this will be a 50 /50 claim? How do I prove my inocense?

Answer
Kate;

Thank you for your inquiry.

First of all please understand that I cannot and do not provide legal counsel or advice. Should you desire same, I would encourage you to seek legal counsel in your particular jurisdiction who is familiar with such vehicle operator liability issues.

With that said, I'm not confident you have provided sufficient information to fully understand the facts of the loss.

Being unfamiliar with the traffic laws in your area it appears as though you either pulled out or began to pull out of a parking spot which appeared to violate the M/C driver's right of way.

If you did imped the M/C's lane of travel and as a result he or she laid the bike down to avoid hitting you, you may very well be liable. If you merely began to pull out and stopped, whereas the M/C's thought you were pulling out and they merely over reacted...then perhaps some comparative negligence would exist whereby the M/C's having a portion of the liability.

Many other issues may come into play including if the M/C's was or was not speeding, the M/C's headlamps were not on (if the law requires same), if you used your turn-signals and many many  others.

Your insurance company, if applicable, should do a thorough investigation prior to accepting liability.

I hope this helps in some manner. Thank you again for your inquiry.

Barrett