If you have been involved in a serious car accident involving a teen driver in Los Angeles, your hopes of receiving all of the compensation that you need may be slim. The amount you may be entitled to through an insurance payment may not be enough to cover all of your accident expenses (which can include medical bills, compensation for time away from work, and repair costs). You may try to collect those from the responsible party, yet what can you realistically expect to get from a teen? Many in your same situation come to us here at Pheffer Law asking what recourse is available to them, and like them, you may be happy to hear that you may indeed be able to hold a teen’s parents liable for an accident.
The legal principle of negligent entrustment allows parents to be held responsible when their teens cause accidents in their vehicles. Yet a critical element to assigning liability under negligent entrustment is proving that the vehicle owner knew (or should have known) of the negligent or reckless tendencies of the person that they loaned their vehicle to. How, then, might you prove that a parent (who may typically always offer their teen the benefit of the doubt) should have known that the teen might be likely to drive recklessly?
Statistics may support your argument. According to information shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen drivers are more likely to engage in the following reckless behaviors than other demographics:
- Drinking and driving
- Speeding
- Driving at odd hours
On top of this, a teen driver’s general lack of experience might be viewed as already making them a danger to you and others.
You can discover more information about assigning liability for a car accident throughout our site.
