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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    5

    Default Should You Sue the Other Driver Over a Parking Lot Accident

    My question involves a traffic accident from the state of: South Carolina

    I was in a minor accident in the parking lot of a grocery store. I will outline the events that transpired below and I am simply asking if you all think I should take the other driver to small claims court.

    My vehicle was parked in the first spot after the handicap spots. The parking lot is designed for traffic to only flow one way with angled parking spots on both sides.
    I was leaving the store and Driver B was arriving to the store.
    Driver B pulled behind me and proceeded up the parking lot to pull into a parking spot about 3 up from me on the opposite side. She could not get completely in this spot as it was blocked by a parked car with their passenger side door open.
    Driver B decided they could not wait for them to close the door so they decided to not only back out of the spot but back down the aisle.
    I was clear to back out and was about half way out of my space
    Driver B backed into me. She stopped, looked back and motioned "Im sorry" and then pulled up the lot to find a spot to park.
    We both met at my car and proceeded to call the police to report the accident. It was the Friday before memorial day and they were very busy.
    We decided to just call her insurance to report the accident and give our statements.

    During her statement I heard her say, "yes backing at the same time" and that made me curious as to what type of details they were getting from her. When it was my turn to share my personal information they insurance company stated they would call me back to get my statement on what happened. I informed them that I wanted to give my statement now because I want to make sure both myself Driver B agrees to how it happened. Driver B got back on the phone and I heard her say, "Yes, I agree completely with how he has stated the accident happened".

    We decided to call the police back to cancel them from coming out because we were able to settle it through insurance.....little did I know

    A few weeks goes by and I recieved a call from their insurance company stating they will not be paying for any damages and said that the drivers story does not match the report I gave. I asked about the fact that Driver B was on record saying she agreed with my account of the accident. They told me that it was noted that I could have pressured Driver B to say that and they are tossing out her original comments. They only thing I could do was to try and gather video evidence from the grocery store.

    I ended up going to the grocery store and they do not have parking lot cameras. They do however have one camera that is at the exit of the store that captured 85% of this. It shows everything that I described and shows her backing and stopping in the middle of the isle. Because of the angle the camera does not pick up my vehicle at all. The insurance company decided to throw that out as well.

    Now I have got my insurance company involved to try and help fight this. They have contacted the other insurance company and Driver B. Driver B has declined to give my insurance company a statement. Her insurance company told mine that they ruled me 60% at fault and her 40% at fault but Driver B is not asking for any damages.

    It is almost like her insurance company has made this decision and there is nothing myself or my insurance company can do about it. What are my options? Should I take Driver B to small claims court. This situation is so irritating to me and I want her to do what is right. The damages to my vehicle are estimated around $1,200 - $1,500.

    Update:

    I just received the statement from her insurance company. This is the determination of fault as listed....

    We have carefully considered the facts of this accident. Based on our investigation, we do not believe our insured was legally liable for your damages.

    The proximate cause of this loss is that you were backing causing the collision.

    In the absence of legal liability, we would not be justified in making settlement. Therefore, we must deny payment of this claim.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    19,901

    Default Re: Should I Take Other Driver to Small Claims Court

    This is about what I expected. You can try suing in small claims, but the fact that you were both negligently backing kind of makes it a wash.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
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    5

    Default Re: Should I Take Other Driver to Small Claims Court

    Quote Quoting EJay
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    Did her car contact yours or yours contact hers?

    Where did the vehicles touch? Both on yours and on hers.
    The left rear of her bumper struck the right quarter panel of mine.

    My biggest issue is she had already past me and the reason she hit me was because she was backing down the aisle which mean she essentially was traveling in the wrong direction.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    19,901

    Default Re: Should I Take Other Driver to Small Claims Court

    Quote Quoting btwint
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    The left rear of her bumper struck the right quarter panel of mine.

    My biggest issue is she had already past me and the reason she hit me was because she was backing down the aisle which mean she essentially was traveling in the wrong direction.
    And you were backing too. She was in the lane and you were in a space moving towards the aisle. One might argue you had to duty to look before you backed out into traffic.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    5

    Default Re: Should I Take Other Driver to Small Claims Court

    Quote Quoting flyingron
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    And you were backing too. She was in the lane and you were in a space moving towards the aisle. One might argue you had to duty to look before you backed out into traffic.
    Yea I can see your point of view if the parking aisles were not designed to be one way. She was about 3 spots past me and if in fact we were both backing out of our spots we would have never touched each other. She was backing down the aisle not back out of a spot.

    Technically my motion of backing out was moving my vehicle further away from where she was because of the way the parking spaces are angled. Problem is we had a vehicle backing down a one way aisle with no regard.

    Any comment on he fact that she admitted it was her fault and the insurance company is just ignoring that and claiming she could have been pressured?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    19,901

    Default Re: Should I Take Other Driver to Small Claims Court

    Parking lots are not highways. You need to be aware of vehicles coming both ways before entering the aisles.

    Just because she made a statement that it was her fault, doesn't make its so.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    5

    Default Re: Should I Take Other Driver to Small Claims Court

    Quote Quoting EJay
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    Was she parallel with the aisle when the cars collided? Was her distance of wrong way travel significant? How far?
    Her car was parallel in the aisle bc she was backing down the aisle. She started about 3 or 4 spots up from me. If she would have backed out of the spot she was trying to get and pulled forward like she was leavening she would have never been near me. Instead she back out and continued backing and collided with me.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Posts
    1,383

    Default Re: Should I Take Other Driver to Small Claims Court

    I'm slightly confused on the situation. At the time of the collision, was your vehicle stopped and hers moving or were both of your vehicles moving?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Northern California
    Posts
    832

    Default Re: Should I Take Other Driver to Small Claims Court

    I may have missed something. What does YOUR insurance company say about the issue?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    5

    Default Re: Should I Take Other Driver to Small Claims Court

    Quote Quoting EJay
    View Post
    The insurance company is likely interpreting it as you both were backing out of a parking spot and collided, since in the stories you both were "backing up" "out of a parking spot". By default the insurance company would consider this to be a 50/50 split. To me it doesn't sound like this is the case.
    Yes I believe they are interpreting that we were both backing out of a parking spot at the same time. This should have been cleared up completley when they went to view the video footage. The footage showed this was not the case but because it did not show the impact they dismissed all of it.

    Quote Quoting EJay
    View Post
    Another thing that would help you if it was true is if you stopped before you made contact with her. Did you by chance see her at the last minute then stop or were you actually moving backwards during impact?
    When she struck me I was no longer moving. I saw her at the last moment and tried to actually move back into my spot but it happened too fast. Problem is this is NOT shown on video because you could not see my vehicle

    Quote Quoting EJay
    View Post
    If you explain it in this way your insurance company may be able to fight for you to receive less or no liability for the collision.
    Your explanation is spot on and I will keep this in mind. Just to make sure I am clear, although her insurance company found me 60% at fault Driver B is not looking to collect damages. I think this is because she knows it was her fault.


    Now my next question. Would it be smart to write her a letter of intent to take to court. Let her know that it is my understanding that she has declined fault and her insurance company is not going to repair my vehicle. I could say that my intention is to take her to court for these damages. I could state that I have received a video from the grocery store and wanted to try and settle outside of court.

    I could see a few things resulting by this letter....

    She settles and decides to pay out of court (unlikely)
    She says OK and we go to court

    OR

    Would it be possible, after she received this letter to admit fault to her insurance company and give a better explanation of the events and they could make a new determination of fault and pay the claim?

    Thank you to everyone for your help and guidance.

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