Minor Accident

R

Regal

New Member
Jurisdiction
New Jersey
My question takes place in Bronx, NY. I drive a tractor trailer. At my destination there was no place to park. The only logical place was to double park.

Upon completion of my delivery I walked back to my tractor, I opened the door, started to climb in and a SUV came by and hit my door. He knocked his right side mirror off and put an ever so slight crease in my left door.

No police report was taken as no injuries and we both couldn't wait hours for NYPD to respond. We exchanged information. I'm not worried about stories being changed as my tractor is equipped with windshield front facing, windshield inside cab facing and rearward facing cameras on both door mirrors.

My question is for New York law, who would be found liable?
 
You opened your door into oncoming traffic. Based only on what you've said, it sounds as if you're at fault.
 
1. What was the address where you made the delivery (I ask so that we can look it up on Google maps, but I understand that you might not want to provide that information)?

2. How many lanes of traffic were there? Or, more generally, describe how the street was laid out (e.g., "when I double parked, I blocked the only lane of traffic in the __bound direction" or "although my double parking blocked the far right lane, there were still two other lanes in the __bound direction, and there was very little traffic").

3. When you walked into the street to get back in your vehicle, did you check for oncoming traffic? Did you notice the car that hit your vehicle? Did you check again before opening the door of your vehicle? Can you estimate how far this other vehicle was from you and how fast it was traveling?
 
Regal said:
My question is for New York law, who would be found liable?
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I tend to agree with Zigner.

You have a duty to open your street side door when it is safe to do so. That it got hit by a passing vehicle creates the presumption that it was not safe to do so. If it had been safe the door wouldn't have been hit.

That's negligence law. Makes you liable for the damage to the other vehicle.

Interesting to note that it is legal in the Bronx (NYC) for a commercial vehicle to double park for pickup and delivery during certain hours of the day.

Double parking has always been a serious problem throughout NYC, even back when I was a kid during the stone age.
 
I grew up on Loring Place off Fordham Rd. for the first 9 years of my life. It was about 4 blocks from NYU Hall of Fame. I lived in a magnificent Victorian house owned by my grandparents. My father had his business on E186th street for many years across the street from a chicken and duck slaughterhouse. This was in the 1950's. I have great memories of those times.

My mother, brother and I would walk to Arthur Ave. once a week in the spring and summer on Friday nights to meet my father for dinner at some of the finest Italian restaurants ever. I still go to Arthur Ave several times a year to eat and shop at the butchers, bakery, coffee and cheese shops.

My family move to NJ in 1959 but my father keep his business in the Bronx until he passed away in 1998.

Do you still have your Bronx accent?
 
adjusterjack said:
Early years near Tremont Ave and Southern Blvd. Later Bruckner Blvd and White Plains Rd until I moved to Phoenix.

You?
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I would have never guessed you to be a "native New Yorker".

My first wife grew up in Far Rockaway. May she forever rest in eternal peace. She loved all things NYC.

She was a Shinnecock Indian, and had relatives living on the reservation way out on Long Island. That was even more fascinating for this dumb 18 year old ranch hand. :oops: It was a fascinating place for a Texas cattle ranch kid.:eek:
 

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