Liability in auto accidents
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Liability in auto accidents
I drive two neighbor children to school, along with my own three grandchildren.
How do I protect myself from being sued, should I have an accident and one of the
neighbor children is hurt or worse.
Asked on January 4, 2017 under Personal Injury, Utah
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
With adequate insurance: that is the only way to protect yourself from any car-related liability. Even if the parents were willing to sign liability waivers--documents giving up their right to sue for injury to their children--which is highly unlikely, the protecton afforded by such is very limited: you can only contract away (by waiver) the normal hazards of an activity. (E.g. a gym or health club can have you waive the right to sue them if you sprain or tear something by working out, since a normal hazard of even properly done exercise is an overuse or similar injury.) But a car accident is NOT a normal hazard of driving, since if you drive safely and obey the traffic laws, *you* will not cause any accidents--thus, since you cannot have other people contract away their right to sue you if you are negligent or careless, such a waiver would be of extremely limited utility. (Note: if another car hits you when you are not at fault, you would not be liable anyway unless you did something else negligent or careless, such as not making sure the children were buckled in). So having enough insurance is really the only way to protect yourself.
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