Parking Lot Question

[mokoloko]

State of Maryland.

I was in the parking lot parked and out of my car, standing up, with the door open-not wide open but open. A lady comes and hits my door-and almost me. She calls my insurance company, I call hers. No witnesses, no police. While waiting to hear back, my insurance agency calls and says I am 100% at fault. I questioned this and then ask for a supervisor. The supervisor looks at their record and said "that's odd, it looks like the other insurance co. said they were at fault. Let me get back to you". Two days later her insurance company calls and says "we had said it was our fault but have reversed the decision". I'm convinced they did this only because my insurance company messed up and said it was mine. Without proof to back me up, the best I could hope for was 50/50. How is this 100% blame possible? And what recourse do I have since it appears this is my insurance company's fault?

 

[fjwinters]

In a lot of states there is a law that states if you open a door on the side of traffic the person who opened the door is at fault. A lot of people do not know of this.

However a parking lot is private property and the rules if the road generally do not apply. Tell the adjuster this and see if you can negotiate a better settlement. It's the best your going to get. If this was on a street you would be primarily at fault.

I do not remember what the negligence law is in Maryland though so you may not get anything. I have not handled a Maryland claim in a few years.

 

[ToddC]

In most states its the law that a person who opens a vehicle door has a duty to close it as soon as possible. So I'd say you do have _some_ liability in this case. But the other person should also see that the door is open and not run into it. So they have some liability as well.

It appears that Maryland has contributory negligence laws. This means is a person is 1% at fault in their loss that they cannot collect from the other person. While you may not feel it's fair, I could see making the argument that you are 1% at fault.

How your carrier looks at this matter and/or what they do is not binding on you. You can feel free to pursue your loss through the other carrier. I _highly_ doubt your carrier raised doubt with the other carrier so that the other carrier went from accepting 100% liability to placing 1% against you. I suspect something else happened. I also suspect your _insurance company_ is not accepting 100% liability either. Your _agent_ does not determine liability nor do they adjust the the claim.

 

[fjwinters]

I thought Maryland was a contributory state. In this case no matter if it was 50/50 or 60/40 you both would not collect a dime. The only argument you have is that the accident happened on private property and the rules of the road do not apply. It may work as an argument or it may not. Depends how well versed your adjuster is and how good a a negotiator they are.

 

[mokoloko]

Thanks to you all for the responses. This did happen in a parking lot not the street. I just find it odd that the other person's insurance says it was not my fault, my insurance says it was all my fault, and then the other insurance changes its mind and says it's all my fault after the fact. As most of you have noted, at the most it comes down to a he said she said thing which results in both of us being at fault in the eyes of the insurance company, but that's not how they are going about this. I feel very frustrated with my insurance company at the moment. I feel like they botched this and I'll get the higher rates in the end.

 

[fjwinters]

Your in a rough spot. You need to convince your insurance company your not at fault for this. Try what I suggested and see what happens. Your adjuster has the final say.