Got in a small accident... who's at blame?

[thirtythree]

I assume I am technically, but just wanted to check.

Here is a diagram. I was backing out of the parking lot (and looking back the whole time). Because I was at an angle by the time she was coming through, I didn't see her. I stopped as soon as I did... we hit (as pictured), and she drove past, scraping my paint onto her car from about the middle of the tire back. There was no damage to her car or even to her paint as far as I could tell (I could peel my paint off). My back fender is missing a good-sized patch of paint, but there doesn't seem to be any damage beyond that.

EDIT: I'm not hoping to get her to pay for the damage to my car or anything; I probably won't even fix it. However, we're going to get her car checked out Tuesday and see if it needs to be repainted (it really doesn't need to be... there are a couple scratches if anything, and her car wasn't in mint condition by any means). So, what exactly am I obligated to pay? ...or what should I pay if I don't want her to make a big deal of this? I have a feeling she's a pretty ornery old lady judging by all her talk of "knocking my block off."

 

[wfbberzerker]

pretty sure you're at fault.

 

[ElFenix]

you're at fault, though if her dumbass made it worse by driving on after stopping then she should have to pay for that damage

 

[Rage187]

its all you.

 

[virtueixi]

You win!

 

[brxndxn]

I would say you're at fault normally.. But there's a 'halfway' rule usually. The rule basically says that if you were already pulled out and in the process of moving forward, then whoever hit you is at fault.

 

[illusion88]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
you're at fault, though if her dumbass made it worse by driving on after stopping then she should have to pay for that damage

true. My sister had done something like this... twice. She was backing up and hit something, instead of stopping or pulling forward, SHE CONTINUES TO BACK UP and puts a good scratch/dent down the entire length of the car.

 

[Vic]

Sorry, you are at fault without question. The driver backing out must always yield the right-of-way.

 

[Triumph]

I don't know what the law says, but I do know that most of the time in a parking lot, it's impossible to see if anyone is coming. So if I'm slowly backing out, and there's no possible way for me to see someone coming, and I hit them, I think it should be their fault. I mean, what else are you supposed to do in a parking lot when you can't see around the cars that are on either side of you?

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
you're at fault, though if her dumbass made it worse by driving on after stopping then she should have to pay for that damage

I doubt she could've stopped... she was going fairly fast.

Originally posted by: brxndxn
I would say you're at fault normally.. But there's a 'halfway' rule usually. The rule basically says that if you were already pulled out and in the process of moving forward, then whoever hit you is at fault.

I was still backing up.

Also, this is my first time getting into any sort of accident. We exchaned numbers and she said she'd call me so we could go see if any repainting needed to be done to her car... should I have reported such a small accident? She's probably still there at the grocery.

 

[zixxer]

something sort of like that happened to me


I had backed out; and was in neutral. some dumb b!tch passed me; then stopped and backed up into me.

she was at fault; although mainly because of the fact that it was a one-way aisle and was backing down the incorrect direction.


I had to get a lawyer and sue her to get my money though

 

[Azraele]

I don't understand why she kept going and scraped the length of the car.

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
you're at fault, though if her dumbass made it worse by driving on after stopping then she should have to pay for that damage

that would be nice but that doesn't happen in reality...the guy backing out gets the shaft.

Ausm

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: Azraele
I don't understand why she kept going and scraped the length of the car.

See above.

 

[WobbleWobble]

She continued driving after the initial hit and made the damage worse. Isn't there something about being liable if you don't show reasonable attempt to mitigate the damages?

 

[Azraele]

Ok, so how fast was she going then? This is a parking lot. I assumed there would be low speeds involved.

 

[Injury]

Unless there was something specific she did that caused the accident, you are at fault. Like, had she stopped and waived you on, then went anyway or had she been driving wrecklessly...

But the fact is, you can't say she was speeding or that she was doing something wrong, because you also said that you couldn't see.

She's an idiot for not exercising caution and at least honking, but she's also not at fault.

 

[daveshel]

You were at fault, but she may have been liable to some extent under the 'last clear chance' doctrine.

 

[Tweak155]

i was just in an accident last night, although i wasnt driving, it still sucked that things happened the way they did.

Luckily, and most importantly, no one was hurt, and the damage can easily be repaired (a front fender and a door)

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: thirtythree

Originally posted by: ElFenix
you're at fault, though if her dumbass made it worse by driving on after stopping then she should have to pay for that damage

I doubt she could've stopped... she was going fairly fast.

oh sorry, i thought i read that she stopped and then started again

 

[mugs]

You're at fault, but she's a moron for trying to squeeze past you when she could see that you were backing out. Obviously she could see you and you couldn't see her and she still chose to keep going.

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: Azraele
Ok, so how fast was she going then? This is a parking lot. I assumed there would be low speeds involved.

She wasn't going recklessly fast or anything. Just faster than I typically go in parking lots...

Originally posted by: mugs
You're at fault, but she's a moron for trying to squeeze past you when she could see that you were backing out. Obviously she could see you and you couldn't see her and she still chose to keep going.

Exactly.

Anyway, I'm not hoping to get her to pay for the damage to my car or anything; I probably won't even fix it. However, we're going to get her car checked out Tuesday and see if it needs to be repainted (it really doesn't need to be... there are a couple scratches if anything, and her car wasn't in mint condition by any means). So, what exactly am I obligated to pay? ...or what should I pay if I don't want her to make a big deal of this? I have a feeling she's a pretty ornery old lady judging by all her talk of "knocking my block off."

 

[dman]

I think if you were already backed out AND stopped that she may be the one at fault. I was backed out of a spot and another car from the opposite side backed out and hit me. They ended up paying the damages.

So, to me (and I'm not the law) if you were backed out and stopped and she slipped by then it's her fault. Especially if you backed out slow and she had time to stop. Plus she was probably going too fast for a parking lot which is also a factor in the fault department.

But, you could have backed out too fast and she had to swerve to miss you and then when you stopped it was so close that it skimmed her paint... but to me that seems far fetched.... chances are if it happened that way there'd be some dents and what not.

 

[thirtythree]

See edit...

 

[thirtythree]

Apparently she left a message with my roommate while I was out tonight, and she left a voice message after that saying something like "This call is for Devin. I hope he's not trying to avoid me. I thought I was pretty nice to him after what he did, but I'll call the cops if I have to."

PSYCHO!