Legal Mess

Standard disclaimer: you are not my lawyers, I am not your client, blah, blah.

Due to a miscommunication between me and my inlaws, the insurance on my wifes car was allowed to lapse on feb 14th (Happy valentines day :D)

Car is registered to her parents

Yesterday my stepdaughter allowed her friend with a suspended licence to drive the car. Who yes, of course, what else could happen but, she hit someone trying to make a left turn across 2 lanes of traffic onto a side street.

To make matters even more interesting, stepdaughters friend ran from the scene despite multiple witnesses and stepdaughter(who was passenger in car) tried to tell the police she was driving :rolleyes:

Final result 2 cars damaged, nobody hurt, no insurance.

I am kinda under the assumption that when it all comes down to it, my wife and I will be out a hefty chunk of cash but nothing else. Since our criminal liability would be difficult to connect since we were not operating the vehicle in question.

The Question:

Is there any historical precedent for us somehow dodging financial responsibility for this since the person in question was uninsurable, knew they were uninsurable, and chose to drive anyway via 3rd hand permission from someone who would not have recieved permission to operate the vehicle by my wife or I under any circumstasnces or will it probably unfold as I predict.

Other driver files insurance claim
insurance co sues owner of vehicle since insurance is lapsed (inlaws)
we pay inlaws
we file suit against loser friend hoping to recover a small fragment of what we had to pay out as unlikely as it might seem.

took place in CA

I’m figuring we are pretty much screwed, but any wisdom or helpful web resources the teeming millions might be able to point us at would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. You need to get a lawyer.

How old is your step daughter? Is she a minor, still a depnedent? How old was the driver?

I do not know if that would have bearing on the case but I am guessing it is harder for a parent to dodge liability for something their dependent child does as opposed to an adult child. (Just a guess…I really do not know)

It seems to me if you are to dodge anything it would be to shift blame to the unlicensed driver. You would also likely be shifting blame/liability to your step daughter as she (presumably knowingly) allowed an unlicensed driver to drive. That may or may not be something you want to do to her.

My guess is this is going to cost you one way or another.

I’m not a lawyer, you should get a lawyer. Couldn’t you technically report the car stolen since you didn’t give permission for it to be taken? In that case, liability would probably go to your step-daughter, and you would end up paying for it :).

IANAL.

  1. Call the insurance company. Just because the policy was effective through 2/14 and was not renewed does not automatically mean that the insurance lapsed. Many states require a grace period where coverage is bridged if you pay late for the renewal. I have discussed this in my own situation once before with my insurance company when I forgot to pay the bill. However, the coverage will probably not extend to the driver unless you admit that you gave her permission to drive the car.

  2. I was the victim of a similar situation in July, except the owner’s insurance did not lapse and the driver was licensed. She was driving her cousin’s car, but it was registered to the cousin’s husband. I got a letter from the cousin’s husband’s insurance company saying they would not cover the damages because the driver did not have permission. This is fairly standard–coverage follows the car as long as the driver has permission of the owner (what the owner’s stepdaughter said may be irrelevant).

  3. You will probably need a lawyer (in case you are sued, regardless of the merits of the case); your stepdaughter will probably need a lawyer (lying to police during an investigation can’t be good); the stepdaughter’s friend definitely will (driving on suspended license, fleeing the scene of an accident).

BTW have you seen a copy of the police report? Who is on record as the driver, your stepdaughter or the friend?

Stepdaughter is 19, friend in question IIRC 24

A question: shouldn’t you be suing the friend who drove your car? You may need to file a police report against her.

Daniel

Her friend is the driver on the report. Several witnesses reported to the police that the friend was the driver and that she left the scene on foot, upon hearing this police put stepdaughter in the back of the police car and told her she was going to jail for filing a false report if she wanted to stick to this story. A phone call to the friends cell phone brought her back to the scene to be questioned by police.

You need to speak to a lawyer.

Now.

Until i have a bill in hand for damages I am assuming that I dont have much to sue with. In any case, its kinda a blood, turnip kinda thing. So its gonna come out of our backside either way unless the friend hits the lottery or something.

Hey! Weren’t you on People’s Court last week?
Or was that the week before?
Or the week before that?

This is one one the most common scenarios on the People’s Court nowadays - people owning cars in other people’s names because:

They can’t afford the insurance under their own names.
Their credit is so bad they can’t get financing so they bad under someone’s else’s name.

And they get into accidents
And their get tickets
And they stop paying:

Car Payments
Insurance

In the end, the person whose name is on the papers gets screwed royally.

It ain’t your car: How can you sue?

Missed that the first time. They need a lawyer too. What makes it “your wife’s car”?

The OP only said that the car is registered to his wife’s parents. He also said it was his wife’s car. Not knowing any further details, I can’t say for sure whether OP/ OP’s wife have suffered any damages from the accident, or just the in-laws have. But I’ll reiterate the earlier advice in this thread: get a lawyer.

Waiting for one to call back now, ty

Glad to hear that you’re getting a lawyer, you will probably need one.

Is it an issue of the parents’ own the car, but the vehicle is in the care, custody & control of your wife? Iffy situation insurance-wise, probably more so legality-wise.

you are correct in your assessment, car was purchased for her by parents before my wife and i married, when my wife finished school and started working she took over the payments, so we make the payments even though its technically in their name.

Well semi happy update, details sketchy but my inlaws apprently got a call from an insurance company that the girl who was driving had. Apparently she may still be covered under her own insurance in some way…we shall see, lawyer never called back, but it was a little on the late side of a friday so I will see what happens monday. If her insurance is going to handle it, ducky, if anyone starts spouting attitude, thats what the lawyers are for.