Who's at fault??

Question

I was pulling out of the bank onto a small street (1 lane each way) it's a packed street because there are 4 shopping centers, including a bank, post office and fire dept. all next to eachother, so there was a car in the middle island that was there for a long time causing a blind spot and no cars had been going through either way so i went to get to the parking lot across the street so i slowly went through so i could see past the car in the center causing a blind spot, then i saw a van coming so i stopped (in the imaginary island) she was going about 40 in a 25 mph zone and she hit me, didn't even press the brakes or anything until after the hit. A man told her she was speeding but denied everything. anyways whos at fault and how does the insurance know, plus we both have mercury insurance, no one wanted to be a witness so we have no proof. She called the insurance to report it but there was minimal damage, under 1000 dollars, my bumper just got scraped and lost the plates & no dents

Answer 1

Looks like there is some negligence on both drivers.

You had the duty to yield the right of way.

The other driver had the duty to drive within the speed  limit and maintain proper control of their vehicle.

Answer 2

You are at fault because you had the duty to yield the right of way when pulling into the roadway.  If she was speeding, which you are unable to prove, she may be comparatively negligent.  However the majority of fault lies on you if not all.  If she was speed or if she had a chance to avoid you and didn't try she may be partially at fault.  You just can't prove either but she can prove you failed to yield so looks like you're out of luck.  

Also, as the other person mention depending on your state depends on if she can recover from you depending on how much she is decided to be at fault.  It also works the other way some states have pure negligence law where if you are 80% at fault and she is 20% at fault you can recover 20% of your damages from her and she gets 80% of hers from you.  Some states you have to be at least 50% not at fault or 51% not at fault to get anything and some if you are 1% at fault you get nothing.  

Insurance companies determine this by looking at what you say what she says, police reports, witnesses etc.  Each company determines their own opinion and if they don't match they try to negotiate and agreement and if they can't it may go to arbitration or to suit which is then binding.

Answer 3

Well you pulled out in front of her so you're at fault. You should have called the police and they would have written the person who was at fault a ticket that way you dont' have to fight about this later in court.

Answer 4

If she ran into you she is at fault. You are supposed to be in control of your vehicle at all times.

Answer 5

Well, You would be at fault, You failed to yield the right of way. Even though you say you stopped in the imaginary island, she was on the main roadway.

However, there are negligence laws and they differ from state to state. So depending on where you live she coudl be barred from recoverying anything from your company.

You on the other hand, cannot collect anything from her policy bc like I said, you are at fault.