Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 3/2/2009

Question
My daughter was involved in accident on her motorcycle. She was driving on a two lane road but there was parallel parking spaces to her right. A woman pulled out of one of those spaces in an attempt to make a U turn and my daughter hit the rear of the left rear door. Police came and woman said she waas making  a left turn in parking lot that is clearly marked DO NOT ENTER. My daughter was cited at fault and ticketed for improper passing. The ticket was dismisssed in court. Ins. co. still holding her at fault. Speed at impact approx. 15-20 mph. Daughter did not have insurance at time of accident. Woman has now claimed damage to rear door, driver door and damage to passanger side front door. I have copy of ins. company appraisal for the other car. Several things there is 100,000 miles missing from odom, also says car was totaled. I pulled carfax report which shows she has had two more accidents in this car. I questioned the ins. co., they said they reran numbers and did not total it out, but they have a collection agency seeking the totaled amount. How can she dispute the fault of the accident and seek reinbursement for her medical bills and and motorcycle repairs

Answer
Hi Sandi,

This is a tough situation. Since your daughter did not have insurance, the only thing she can do is to file a lawsuit against the other driver. The law suit would be 2 fold. First to determine liability (who was at fault) and second for damages. She will need to assemble repair estimates or bills, medical bills, etc. She may want to speak with an attorney to assist with this. Hopefully she has the names of any witnessess that saw what happened. She will need to bring them to court to testify. Otherwise it will be just her word against the other drivers word.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh