Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Early in the morning, my twelve-year old was driving his bike to school on the other side of the street when a car suddenly pulled out on to the sidewalk it happened so fast he was unable to stop to avoid the car. The car was driving front first out of the driveway and onto the sidewalk before getting onto the street. In an adjacent residence next to the one in question, a fence that was covered in shrubbery extends all the way to the edge of the sidewalk. So the driver had to obviously drive her front end onto the sidewalk just to see if anything was coming. My son says that �she came out of the driveway really fast�. True or not I believe they were both in a hurry to get somewhere, she to work and my son to school. Unless a person is walking down the sidewalk stopping in time is very difficult. When she did my son tried to avoid her by barking and could not stop and hit the front end of her car. As far as I know car insurance will not cover this and we offered to cover half the cost she refused and our home owners insurance ran out. My son made the mistake of running off to school saying he was ok and after the driver called and informed us of what had happened. Later police said they would not come out and write an accident report because there was no bodily harm. Later when I asked her for her insurance info and license plate info she refused to give it to us. So we advised her that she would have to take us to small claims court.

I do believe it was not all my child's fault. I also know that it is much that goes ito answering such a question, Question is What chance do I have of loosing if we go to small claims? Apparently, It is a company car she takes home. I told her that for what ever it was worth "she would be better off filing a claim to the insurance under and uninsured motorist". She said no because then it would put her at fault and that her company told her that they would deduct the money from her salary.


Asked on 9/19/12, 10:17 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

Small Claim Court judges are known to come up with non-understandable decisions. You have a good case as legally she should have honked the horn and slowly moved the car. She violated your son' right of way by moving into the driveway/sidewalk area. Her reporting the accident does not necessarily mean that the insurance company will find her at fault, although they should have.

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Answered on 9/21/12, 1:45 pm


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