As I have mentioned previously, a gentleman that I was involved in an automobile accident with decided to sue me for the repairs to his car. I truly believe that the reason he sued was because he was drives a 1982 Oldsmobile and the repairs would be $2,500.00, and the Kelly Blue Book value of the car is $1,400.00-- the car is worth far less than the repairs. Although it is just a guess, he probably filed a claim with his insurance and was told that they would give him the value of the car, minus his deductible, and that wouldn't come close to paying to have it fixed.
In Mary, on my way home from work, I was preparing to make a right turn at an intersection. In the process, as most cars do at 5:00 PM in the location that I was at, I moved to the right side of the road just a few yards prior to where the marked turn lane actually begins. The other driver made a left turn in front of 2 cars, and across the "right shoulder" (larger wider than a regular lane), and he got hit by me. Neither driver was issued a citation, and the police officer stated that we were both equally at fault. Unfortunately, the *_&# 81 year old gentleman that pulled in front of oncoming traffic (me) was hit in the rear passenger side of his car.
Although it is routine for cars to travel on the right shoulder at the location of the accident, and in fact for a significant distance prior to, the bottom line is that it is not legal to do so. I freely admitted to the judge that I was partially at fault, although I would not have been according to the Utah Traffic code had I not been involved in an accident :-). --It is interesting to note that the police officer made it a point, and did so very clearly, that Utah Traffic Code states it is only illegal to pass on the right of another vehicle if it is unsafe to do so. The responding police officer also determined that the other driver was in violation of the Traffic Code because he made an illegal and unsafe left turn. Since we were both "equally at fault" according to the law, citations were NOT issued to either party.
Fortunately, the judge agreed that we were both equally at fault, and judgement was in my favor and the suit dismissed. The Judge also had a bit of a "discussion" with the gentleman suing me. The Judge is very familiar with the road and location of the accident, and didn't agree with some of the supposed facts that he was told by the other party. --hehehe
As you can see from the pictures below, the damage to my Nissan Xterra was minimal and not noticeable unless pointed out. Unfortunately, the other driver wasn't quite as lucky and got a good ding in the side of his car.
As stated, the law suit was dismissed, and my time this afternoon was waisted by sitting in court.:-) One of the things that really angered me about the whole situation was that trial was scheduled on Thursday of close week at work. Close refers to closing the financial books of the company for the fiscal month, and can be extremely busy and stressful on Thursday and Friday. I knew the whole suing thing was a complete waist of time, and that was NOT a good time for me to be gone or an entire afternoon.
Well, I gotta go now. It is midnight and I am sure I will re-read this tomorrow and laugh because of all of the errors. :-)
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