Can i be sued for rear-ending a car that was stopped on the freeway with no emergency lights?

Question

i hit a car that was stopped on the freeway (the actual lane, not the emergency lane) at night, with no emergency / hazard lights. Am i at fault? Can he sue? also, now it appears he has no insurance... i need some advice. (califronia)

Answer 1

yes,the law states that you must be in full control of your vehicle at all times,this also includes being able to stop it when seeing something like this,they can sue you,winning a lawsuit though would be a different story,good luck.

Answer 2

Yes you can  be sued. You hit him. It makes no difference whether he has insurance or not. You are at fault.

Answer 3

Whether or not he has insurance do not prevent him from filing suit.  It appears that you could be at fault, since you hit a stationary object.  You should talk to your insurance company or lawyer.

Answer 4

probable comparative negligence.  Insurance has a lot of gray areas, it's not always that the person doing the rearending is at fault.  It's hard to prove (unless there's witnesses) that his lights weren't working prior to the damage you caused.

Answer 5

Yes.  But then anyone can sue anyone at any time for anything.  You are clearly at fault.  Use your own insurance.

Let them handle everything !

If the other guy has no insurance You can use your own collision coverage to have your car fixed.  You will have to pay your insurance company your collision deductible (if any), they will fix your car and go after the other party  If they collect, they will return part or all of your deductible.

Answer 6

Yes.  Unfortunately, we live in a society where we can be sued for anything, even if the case has no merit.

In general, though, in a rear end accident, the person in the back is considered at fault because he/she was unable to stop in time.  Either he/she was not paying attention, or was following too close, etc.  

I'm not a lawyer, however you may be able to show some fault on the part of the other driver.  If so, the judge **may** divide the blame.  Say the judgment is 40% the other driver and 60% you.  Then you would only have to pay 60% of the total judgement.

Your insurance company should represent you in this case.  That's what you pay them for.

Answer 7

You'll probably be the one to take the blame. You hit a stopped vehicle and the insurance company will probably base it's finding on that.

Answer 8

What if the car you hit had no electrical power and couldn't power the lights. I'd say you are primarily at fault. You had lights, didn't you?

Answer 9

He can sue you, but hopefully he doesn't.  If he does sue you hopefully you have Property Damage Liability on your policy and if so, then your insurance company can fight your battle ;)