Legal question... help?

Factual Questions
1

Ok, I’m trying to help my brother out, as he is in a bit of a pickle and we’re not sure what his options are.

I’m hoping that the legal beagles here, or just some folks with more experience than us can give some non-binding advice.

In the beginning of September my brother was driving home to Petaluma and rear ended a guy. My brother has no insurance. We know, this is wrong and our mother has since fixed that… but he didn’t have insurance at the time.

There was no injury, and the guy was “cool” since the only damage done was a crack in his rear fender on his SUV. My brother was honest, and told the guy that he didn’t have insurance, but he would be willing to pay for the repairs. He gave the guy his contact information, they shook hands and went their merry ways.

At the end of September, he called and said his first estimate was for about $1000. He said he would get more estimates, but he was pretty sure that would be the amount in the end. My brother said no problem, he had a working job in October and he should be able to pay him at least the majority of it at the end of October.

My brother came here to Sac, worked for a month, got paid, went home, and sat on his money for a couple of weeks. After not hearing from the guy (my brother hadn’t gotten his contact information…) he finally paid some bills and otherwise spent his money.

The guy called yesterday, his first call since the end of September, and is demanding money.

No police report was made, no insurance got involved.

While I agree that normally my brother should just shut up and pay, since he was at fault, I’m tempted to tell him that the guy is SOL due to lack of followup.

Advise? Cautionary tales?

Thanks in advance, oh mighty teeming millions!

2

This isn’t a legal question, it’s a question of ethics.

Just have your brother pay him, the end (but I’d want the quote from the bodyshop).

If your brother doesn’t pay he can still get sued. Your brother is at fault and isn’t claiming it wasn’t him so it wouldn’t take much to get sued (and take a MAJOR hit in the wallet).

3

Keep this in mind …

Source: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/sr/sr1.htm

4

Yes. Tell him to take responsibility for his actions and come up with another arrangement to get the person’s car fixed.

5

sigh

I’m doing that. What I’m trying to do is find out what would happen, and what his options are if the guy gets beligerent or threatening. Our mom is gonna end up paying for it, regardless, because once again my brother is not working.

So, in the instance that my brother can’t pay right away, or the guy gets threatening, what are his options?

6

My non-lawyerly advice is to have your brother go to a lawyer and spend $100 or so for an hour of his or her time to write up a release stating clearly and unambiguously that the amount agreed to by the two parties satisfies any and all claims for damages of any kind relating to the incident. If your brother can’t pay it off all at once, he and the other guy should work out a payment schedule which should be included in the release. The release is IMHO vital to protect your brother from this guy suddenly “discovering” he has whiplash and will need tens of thousands of dollars of medical treatment, or that the cracked bumper “turns out” to be major frame damage requiring thousands of dollars in repairs or a replacement vehicle. The law, including the statute of limitations, is on the other guy’s side here so your brother needs to do what he can to get the law that is on his side working for him.

7

Debt doesn’t just evaporate, and a month or two without contact is hardly a tremendous amount of time. Your brother still needs to pay the guy. Otto’s advice is good, as well.

8

If this had been five years ago, you might have a point. But two months? I can’t see where that justifies getting huffy about it. Maybe the guy thought he was being extra nice by giving your brother ample time to earn the money. Brother should count his blessings in that the guy didn’t report it to the police and get him into an even worse jam – which is what I would do if I were the guy and met with resistance. With that in mind, if I were your brother I’d do everything I could to be nice and cooperative and to pay as soon as possible.

9

Pay him. And thank Prime he hasn’t reported your Bro to the Police.

10

And that both of you broke the law by failing to report the accident.

Take Otto’s advice.

11

I wouldn’t put too much weight in the other driver being scared off of the penalty for not reporting in the specified time frame. While both parties are technically liable for a suspension of license, it’s less likely that action will be taken against the other driver – and the sooner they report the less likely it is (so don’t stall the guy – he knows he’s loosing options with every passing day) Realisitically, if you file on the 11th day, or the 15 or 20th, instead of the 10th, they’d probably get of scott free.

Even after two months, there is no mandated term for the other driver’s suspension, and since they’re fixing the problem by filing, their suspension might be the equivalent of 'time served" (ithe suspension will go on their driving record, but end as soon as they fill out the reinstatement form and pay the fee) – assuming, of course, that the cop decides to report them at all (this is a police matter, not a RMV matter) In every case I’ve heard of, the cop just gave a stern marning if you delivered the form in person late, and nothing at all, if you mail it in late

However, your brother was driving without insurance, so the penaty to him for not filing ia a mandatory four year license suspension. He’ll actually have to go without a license for a full year of that term. After that, the RMV may reinstate it for such terms as he shows proof of fully paid insurance. Given the facts you have reported, it sounds like this could be a recipe for disaster for him. If he gets caught driving on a suspended license or without insurance again, it could lead to revocation [I don’t know the threshold for revocation, but it sounds like 4 years is a long time for him to keep his ducks in a row)

Please understand that I’m not judging him. There are just some situations that certain individuals should avoid. I know kids for whom “Okay, you’re forgiven, but if you sneak another cookie, you’re grounded” would be merciful, and enough to get the point across. With other kids, you know that as long as the cookies are out, they won’t be able to resist eventually, so it’s more merciful to send them up to their room as immediate punishment, rather than give them the chance to keep escalating the “grand prize” of a month’s grounding

Your brother doesn’t sound like the type to be impressed by a suspended license or expired insurance. That’s how he got here, after all. This could be a particularly dangerous slippery slope for him, so please try to keep him off it. He may be a fine driver, but a revocation can foillow him from state to state and cramp his chances to get his life in order for many many years. He doesn’t need that. You don’t need it, and certainly Mom doesn’t need it!

12

That was rather convenient, huh? :dubious:

13

I am an Ohio lawyer and I recommend that you talk to a California lawyer immediately. Generally speaking, the purpose of the accident report is so that the department of motor vehicles can issue license suspensions to anyone who doesn’t have insurance and/or who doesn’t make restitution for injuries and damages. You run the risk that the victim will file the report, which will show that you have no insurance and have failed to pay the damages, and have the DMV suspend your license as a result. Once that happens you’re in deep weeds, so to speak, because license suspenions are an expensive pain to clear up.

14

Since I was in a different county and city and not involved in the accident in any way, I’m not TOO worried about me.

Thanks for all the advice folks… I’ll be seeing my brother this weekend (it’s our birthday) so I’ll tell him what I’ve dug up so far.

He’s a good guy, mostly, but had just gotten his license. I’ve already climbed all over him and our mom for not getting insured as soon as he got the car, so that’s all I can do on that end. He’s pretty stressed, which is good for him.