Just curious, and please post up if you have some definitive cases where its happened.
The driver
The owner
I voted for the owner. I am no lawyer though.
both
the motorcyclist that CAUSED the accident
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In Colorado the liability insurance follows the driver, not the car.
So when you are driving a friends car, it is actually covered by your insurace.(just like it would have been if you hit it with your car).
Driver is always at fault, not the car.
The person driving is always responsible not the policy holder of the car, unless it is a case of negligent entrustment ( loaning the vehicle to someone that is drunk, under-age, No lic. ect.)
Last edited by rapparee; Tue Sep 30th, 2008 at 02:45 PM.
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You can sue both. depends on the policy that the owner carries. If the policy of the owner covers any driver then both the Owner and the Driver's policy would be open for a lawsuit. The owner could also sue the driver.
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They can and will sue anyone and everyone possible to get the money they feel they are owed. Whether it holds up in court or not is a whole other issue, but in many cases they're going after deep pockets and assets. If you can be found negligent in any way, you can personally be sued. The trend is to go after insurance co's first since they have the most liquid assets ripe for plundering, but if you did something bad (or it can be construed as such), you are at risk as well.
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+1 on the driver being the insured, not the vehicle or the vehicle's owner. Keep in mind that ANYONE can be sued for damn near ANY reason. Case in point: OJ Simpson was acquitted of murder, however he was found guilty of it in a civil trial & paid an ASSLOAD of money to the families of the vicitms.
Driver is at fault & considered to be the only who can be held liable insurance-wise and legally. The only exception to this is if the owner can be proven neglegent in letting someone who is unfit to drive take the keys (i.e. minor, someone with no license, someone who is visibly impaired, etc.). You most likely will not find anything saying this specificaly, however, because most insurance policies, and laws as well, only include verbiage stating the extent of the coverage, not detailing who is not covered.
If you're driving someone else's car & you wreck it, it comes out of your insurance and, providing you're a licensed driver showing no signs of impairment, you're liable. Beyond insurance, you can be sued. I'm not sure that insurance will actually help any part of what you have to pay should the suit be successful, and even if it does & the amount you owes exceeds what insurance would cover, you'll still be liable to pay the remainder. Can the owner be sued? Probably. Is it nearly as likely to be successfull? Probably not.
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Sue everyone and see who settles for what.
Although the Insurance Company is (typically) only liable for the amount the driver is covered for on the policy.
After that any further judgment assessed by the courts is the responsibility of the driver personally.
This is exactly why I upped my liability limits.
I was at 50K property per incident and my agent pointed out that if I hit a new Mercedes I'd be liable for the amount above that.
It was also only another $20 or so a year to up it to 100K.
Plus I have a 1 million dollar personal indemnity policy in case of lawsuits and such. That one cost like $55 bucks a year.
So I'm basically set to run into a Lambourghini and just walk away.
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I had a case where an uninsured driver and car hit me. I was a week before I got my DL so my friend was driving and we were worried cause he wasnt in his name but was in my moms. Cop told us didnt matter we were fine cause the car was insured. The person that hit us it wasnt his car and it didnt have insurace. My insureace company went after the owner of the car cause in the end it was his fluat for letting the other person drive and not having insurace. But as a driver you can get insurace that covers you in anything that you drive. But in the end they can go after who they pick.
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