Legal Question in Personal Injury in Pennsylvania

My 17yr old son had his first accident. He rear-ended another guy. My son drives a truck & had his cousin & his girlfriend in the front seat with him. (yes 3 seatbelts). They were at a stop light behind the guy & my son's cousin decided to lean onto my son who was driving trying to spit out his window. Which when he did, his knee was on my son's lap which in turn, forced my son to hit the gas. Which the cousin admits. The other guy, claims my son did it on purpose. And was real close to his bumper which is impossible cause the guy was driving a little ponitac vibe with sheets of plywood hanging from the back.

The guy wanted to press charges which resulted in my son getting a careless driving citation. Which we will be pleading not guilty too. The other guy lives states away from us and was here visiting. And was driving a rental car.

Do I need to hire a lawyer to represent my son for the court date? I want to protect him and his drivers license.


Asked on 4/05/10, 1:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Senker Senker Law Office

The worst that can happen is that you son will be found guilty. He'll get points and will pay a fine. Your car insurance rates may increase. If you hire an atty, you'll pay a fee and MAYBE the atty can do better than you. The only "downside" to hiring an atty is the cost--if you don't care about the money, hire the atty. You might try accompanying your son (wearing a tie and jacket to court) to the hearing and respectfully asking the police officer to reduce the charge to "failure to obey traffic control devices", which carries a fine but no points. Cops often will do that if the driver is nice, respectful, and sorry.

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Answered on 4/10/10, 2:59 pm


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