Insurance Claim - Comparative Negligence

by Cindy
(Lansdale)

My daughter was in a car accident last week. A woman went through a stop sign and my daughter (who did not have stop sign) swereved to the right, trying to avoid a collision, but ended up hitting the rear driver's side (near the rear tire). She is insured by Liberty Mutual and the other driver is insured by Allstate. The accident happened in the other drivers neighborhood.

There was a "witness" claiming that my daugher was speeding and had she not been speeding, the other drive would have made it through the intersection. The police did come to the scene of the accident but did not take any information from either driver or witness; no citations were issued to either driver. My daughter's car is worth at the most $1700 - we would like to get that from Allstate.

Aside from my daughter learning the lesson that stop signs mean nothing and next time don't swerve, hit the other car directly....... what can we do for Allstate to accept full liability for this claim?

The woman had a stop sign and even if my daughter was speeding.... the other woman chose to enter the intersection at that moment.

Answer:

Hello Cindy,

Please see our pages on fault and how fault is determined.

The point of impact is against you unless you can explain it away. Your daughter had a duty to avoid the accident, and she did comply (she has a duty to try to avoid, not to be successful at it).

Evidence of speed is pretty hard to accept, however, a witness can be damaging. If the witness is not listed in the police report, it will be hard to argue that they were indeed a witness.

I hope this helps - please contact a local attorney to help you with this.
Good Luck
http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com/