Parked car swings door open and gets hit by passing car. Who is at fault?
Legally (not morally), who is at fault? If I'm in a parallel parked car, and swing my driver's side door open. A car driving along side couldn't dodge out of the way fast enough and crushes my door. Who is at fault? Hypothetically.
Thanks
The wing-nut that didn't check for traffic before he swung open the door.....
You are. You should have looked first--especially if oncoming traffic had no room to avoid you.
Answer:
The rules of the road say that you have to yield to the car with the right-of-way.
Simply put, you are the first person to know that you will be swinging open your door while traffic is approaching, not the driver that happens to hit your door. So its your obligation to use due care. Due care means looking before you open the door.
If you just open your door and get whacked. Your bad!
If the other driver sues you, they will sue for negligence because you owed a duty not to open the door when you knew traffic was heading towards you. You failed in your duty and as a result their car was damaged and the other driver may have possibly been injured.
I hope you have a good auto insurance policy with a low deductible.
you
The person who opened the door...you have to ensure it's safe enough to open a door.
I would say it is the aprked car's fualt, because the person didnt look before he opened the door.
No hypothetical about it, you are. You cannot open your door into oncoming traffic. Period. You are legally and morally responsible.
You are. And I aim for doors. If I can get it just right it doesn't get crushed, it goes sailing...rips that bad boy right off the hinges.
you dont open untill it is save.
The concept is called negligence. If this actually went to court (assuming no insurance is involved) the court would have to determine who was negligent depending on the facts.
In some states, there is something called comparative negligence - which basically assigns an amount of fault to both parties involved where appropriate. So, depending on the situation, both parties could be at fault to some degree.
obviously, the person who owns and opened their car door into oncoming traffic.
