BG Legal Advice: HELP ME OUT!

[Synbios]

Hopefully someone is well enough versed in insurance and driving law to help me out.

So me and a friend decide to go out to eat tonight. We head to a strip mall that is rather busy at one side since it has a imax theater. The place we were going to eat is close to the theater. We pull into the parking lot and the restaurant is on the right hand side. There are about 7 or 8 spots open but they are only 30m to 1hr parking since they are for the stores and not the theater. Since I drive a Tahoe, pulling into a spot in between two cars requires me to swing to the left slightly then pull into the spot. As I am pulling back to the right, a motorcyclist pulls on the inside(right hand side) of my truck in what looks like he is trying to pass me. I immediately slam on my brakes and he lays his bike down. Me and my friend look at each other, then the motorcyclist and we are trying to decide if I need to stop. We decide since he was trying to illegally pass me on the inside it wasn't my fault and we pulled into a spot 5 or so stalls up from us. We head in, eat and as we prepare to leave a cop is at my window asking for my license and registration.

In the end the cop made us exchange information. What my question is from a legal or insurance side, does this guy have a case? Obviously my friend and I don't believe so since, again our opinion, he was in the wrong. The twist is, apparently he has 2 people who witnessed and said it was my fault. Their reasoning is that it appeared I was making a left to turn down an aisle and then saw an open spot and tried to grab it.

Looking forward to everyone's answers.

This took place in San Diego if that matters.

[Tekki]

You should have stayed and discussed the situation with the motor cyclist right then and there. I think your fucked

If 2 parties get involved in a vehicle accident of any sort, they both need to stay. If either leaves before its resolved, you basically lose your right to win the argument... especially if he has witnesses.

No need to get too stressed yet. Chance nothing will come of this.

[Synbios]

You should have stayed and discussed the situation with the motor cyclist right then and there. I think your fucked

If 2 parties get involved in a vehicle accident of any sort, they both need to stay. If either leaves before its resolved, you basically lose your right to win the argument... especially if he has witnesses.

No need to get too stressed yet. Chance nothing will come of this.

When the cop came up that though ran through my head, but thinking back I don't know how much good it would have done. He would have tried to claim it was my fault, i would have said it was his fault, he would have tried to get my info I would have told him to fuck off and probably go to eat. The cop did say this isn't a issue for the law, its for insurance to deal with so I'm not worried about that.

I guess I didn't see at the time how I am an involved party since I tend to think of that in terms of doing something wrong(which I didn't think I did).

The cop said that there's a chance that insurance will tell him to fuck off, but I don't know if he was trying to make me feel better or what. I think there's a chance of that considering my whole family(parents, aunts, uncles) have all their cars, homes, boats and tows insured through the same company.

[Zigma]

A cop is just a cop, not a lawyer or anyone with power to make a decission in a situation like this.

Did you even hit him? He lays his bike down? Are there any marks etc? these are things an insurance company will ask for. Call your insurance company ASAP. If the officer made you guys exchange information, that means he did not file a police report, that's 1 point for you.

Many insurance companies go by what is told on the police report. Have fun and don't stress it much. A claim under 1000 bucks is usually not enough to make your premium jack up.

[jmc]

Did his bike ever make contact with your tahoe?

Most states have a law, that the speed limit for malls/shoping area parking lots are MPH.

You should have REALLY stayed and checked to see if the biker was ok. It will only hurt you in the end, if in fact he called 911 claiming both vehicles made contact and you were no where to be found when the police officer arrived.

Yet, at the same time.... if vehicles didn't make contact, it would depend on your state law. Here in MA, the biker would be at fault of his own accident for not paying attention/driving too close. Since you didn't mention either person getting citation from the officer, i'm guessing your state law might be pretty lax on this type of situation.


In the end, this will come down to insurance like the officer said. You will have a chance to plead your case to your company, and the biker will have the same with his/her company. The company will also make a judgment based off the police report as well, and with you leaving the scene like nothing happened doesn't help you one bit.

Also zigma, depends on department policy for the officer. Usually here in boston if theres a 911 call, there needs to be a report generated even if its a 2 sentence one. So OP should check with the police department that responded to see if they required one be written for this.


Sorry if i'm just rambling on, have any other question or if I didn't even answer them you can PM me.

[Synbios]

There was no contact made with my vehicle. I had the office confirm in front of the biker and my passenger that there was no damage on the left side of his bike(only place we could have made contact) and then we all noted the 4 spots on the bike that were damaged from the fall.

I spoke with my insurance company yesterday and they basically said don't sweat it, the other dude is at fault.

In hindsight I'm not sure what it me stopping would have done. The way I picture in my head is the guy would probably asked to exchange insurance information to which I would have told him to fuck himself and probably resulted in him calling the cops anyways.

I've checked and there is no police report that was filed but I do have the officer who came on sites information if I need a further witness to the damage.

[jmc]

In hindsight I'm not sure what it me stopping would have done. The way I picture in my head is the guy would probably asked to exchange insurance information to which I would have told him to fuck himself and probably resulted in him calling the cops anyways.

Varies by state, some states have laws where if its slightly possible you were involved in a accident you have to check on the other driver etc....thats the only reason why I brought it up. As if the biker did make contact with your truck, and you just went to lunch thats where it would have hurt you.

No contact, so like insurance said you got nothing to worry about.

[alt]

No contact was made? The retard was trying to illegally pass you? Almost sure you will be fine. Especially since the cop didn't cite you. If anything he should of cited the guy on the bike for illegally passing/reckless driving.