What to do if a friend’s car was totaled when someone hit it while it was parked on the street?
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What to do if a friend’s car was totaled when someone hit it while it was parked on the street?
She is getting $8,000 from that person’s insurance company but owes close to $13,000 on the loan. Can she sue that driver for the difference?
Asked on December 14, 2013 under Accident Law, Connecticut
Answers:
Gregory Abbott / Consumer Law Northwest
Answered 10 years ago | Contributor
She can always sue but she will unquestionably lose. Before the accident, she had a car worth $8,000 and was in the hole an additional $5000 for it. Now the other driver's insurance company has paid her the $8000 the car was worth and she is still in the hole $5000 on it, through no fault of the other driver. Thus the other driver doesn't owe her anything more than the $8000. In reality, of course, the other driver has changed her circumstances from owing the $5000, to be paid off over time, to now owing the $5000 to be paid off immediately but that is not something the law will recognize as damages that she can collect for.
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