Partially Liable in North Carolina???

by ingrjc1 » Mon Apr 06, 2015 07:47 pm

Hello,

I am a North Carolina resident. I need some advice if anyone can offer. My daughter was driving through the school parking lot and another driver backed out and struck her car. The primary point of impact is the Passenger side front and back door. The damage is $3600. The police report says that the driver of the parked car backed into my daughter's car. No driver was cited since there were no injuries. Seems cut and dry. So I file a claim with the other driver's insurance company. I get a quote. They take a statement from both sides.

In North Carolina, I am learning that they have something in place where if both drivers are found partially responsible, they can refuse to pay anything on the claim I filed. So, they are telling me that since my daughter said in her statement that she did not see the other car back out, that she is part to blame and they are declining the claim. She told them that the car was past her field of vision as she was looking ahead and slightly to the right about to make a right turn in the parking lot. So she would have had to been looking 90 degrees to the right to see this other car. They are not disputing that their customer backed into me and is at fault. But they are saying that my daughter is partially at fault too. They tell me the threshold is 10%. So, they are concluding that my daughter is at least 10% responsible for the accident and denying the claim completely.

Does this sound right?
Should I involve my insurance company?
Should I file in small claims court?

Thanks for any help.

Total Comments: 1

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 04:14 am Post Subject:

NC does have contributory negligence, which as stated, says if you contribute to an accident (even 1%) that you cannot collect from the other party.

However, if they are denying the claim based on what you are stating then they would have made an incorrect determination (which is within their right). If your daughter _saw_ the other vehicle and did not take action to avoid then she'd be at fault. If she did not have the opportunity to see it, then she should not be faulted with negligence. I'm guessing either a) you misunderstood the reason for their denial or b) that they just don't want to pay the claim as it's easy to say a driver is 1% at fault.

If you have collision coverage, file the claim under your coverage. But your carrier may choose not to pursue the other person. Or you can file in small claims court against the other person. I'm betting the other carrier would then pay the claim. Or you may easily win in small claims in which case they would need to pay as well but it would cost them much more.

Your company will only address the claim if you have collision coverage and if you file a claim under your collision coverage. Otherwise they can't do anything as they would not be a party to the claim.

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