Expert: Doctor Settlement - 7/19/2006

Question
State: missouri,  wife was in a car accedent where people waved her through congested traffic, she was making a left turn and was hit by someone in the a right turn lane of oncoming traffic,  this persons car was not licensed nor did they have temp tags, they claim to have insurance but has yet to be verified.  
Question:  since they were driving an unregistered vehical, are we still liable?
wife over heard officer say he was going to ticket them.

Answer

Dear Ken,

Whether or not the car that hit your wife's car had a license tag or an unlicensed driver is not going to excuse your wife for failing to yield the right of way.  It is irrelevant and inadmissible at trial.

There is a likely defense to some part of your wife's liability, and that is the person who waved her through.  There are a number of examples where liability can be partially placed upon the one who gives the "all clear" sign.

The problem with your wife's case, as I understand it, is that the waver was facing your wife in the center lane, and thus your wife could not in any way reasonably rely upon his "all clear" as to the outside lane inasmuch as she could see that the waver had no vision of the outside lane.

His insurance will say that all he was doing was letting her know that HE was not going to move; that HE was going to yield the right of way to her.  They will say that his waving her through had no assurance to it as to the lane that he could not see.

Thus, they will try to put the blame squarely upon your wife, claiming that she had the duty to proceed with caution and to assure herself that the way was clear before proceeding.

Best wishes,

Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
http://www.SettlementCentral.Com