Who is at fault in this left-turn accident?

[cactuscom]

Jurisdiction

California

My car was hit this past Friday on my way to work. I was driving southbound on a road approaching an intersection of another street that had a stop sign (the road I was on did not have a stop sign on either side). Another car was driving opposite of me (northbound) and was wanting to make a left turn. This is a very wide/open road, no parked cars were near us, it was a sunny/clear day.

I didn't anticipate that the car was going to take the left turn until I had passed through the intersection as I was very close and I had the right of way. Once I realized they weren't stopping/slowing down, I honked, applied my brakes, and swerved as they continued to make the turn and next thing you know, they collide with my car (left side damage to both my doors, rear wheel, and bumper, airbags) and my car spun, hopped the curb and then came to a rest. Their car has barely any damage with no airbag deployment.

I wasn't aware at the time but I suffered a concussion as my head hit the side airbag really hard. I unfortunately didn't call 911 but had ringing in my ears and was moving very slowly. The person who hit me kept apologizing over and over and I have a witness who saw it all (they were stopped at the stop sign on the intersecting street waiting to make a left turn). The police showed up and took reports, I wasn't made aware on who they found at fault, if they even did that. I have lingering symptoms (headaches, numbness, etc), I'm going to see a neurologist this week hopefully.

Today I found out that the person who hit me has hired a lawyer and that they are claiming injuries and not claiming fault, they have also not spoken to either insurance companies.

Now I'm very concerned and I've spent a lot of time worrying with horrible symptoms of nerve issues. She just took the turn as if she didn't see me at all and I'm assuming I had the right of way since I had no stop sign. I'm not sure of what my speed was to be honest, can speed place me at fault?

Thank you for all your help

 

[adjusterjack]

This looks familiar. Didn't you post this on another legal website. If so, which one? Let's go back there. No sense in having parallel discussions on more than one site.

 

[cactuscom]

Hi adjusterjack, thanks for the reply. I'm on FreeAdvice, just wanting to get as many opinions as I can as I'm very worried that this will be time consuming and take many months before an end is in sight.

 

[adjusterjack]

Here it is:

Who has the right of way in a left turn accident?

There is already quite a bit of discussion and you revealed that you hired an attorney to pursue the personal injury claim.

That could very well take many months to resolve and there is nothing you can learn here or anywhere else that will change what your attorney is doing for you and nothing that will speed things up while the other driver's insurance is disputing liability.

As for the damage to your car, if you have collision coverage let your own insurance company handle the repairs.

 

[cactuscom]

Thank you adjuster. I'm just trying to understand how the other party is placing the fault on me.

 

[mightymoose]

The other vehicle made a left turn into your lane when it wasn't clear. Regardless of your speed the other driver is at fault.
Normally the insurance companies will sort this out. You don't need to worry about what the other driver says. Only be concerned with what your insurance company says and your attorney if you have one.

 

[army judge]

Thank you adjuster. I'm just trying to understand how the other party is placing the fault on me.

You pay hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands of dollars, to insure your vehicle(s).

Now and then (hopefully NEVER) you have to make a claim.

You pay your insurer to worry.

You don't need to do anything but report the matter, and let the insurance company's professionals attend to this for you.

Fault isn't determined by who received a traffic citation, who had the most witnesses, what the video seems to reveal, what the other driver alleges, what you say, or what the disposition was IF a traffic citation was issued to one or both drivers.

Fault can ONLY be determined AFTER a judge rules on the matter, if it ends up in a court.

Otherwise, FAULT is IRRELEVANT, mate.

 

[cactuscom]

Thanks all for the replies, much appreciated and I'm sorry for all the questions on different forums. This is all new to me and I work seven days a week and go to school among many other things and my life has already significantly been slowed down. I suppose at this point it's just a matter of waiting and realizing this could take a long time unfortunately.