Can — and Should — You Sue Your Family Members if They Cause a Car Accident That Harms You?

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When someone is in a car accident with a family member, it can make sense to sue in order to get compensation for injuries. Here’s why. 

A car accident can cause life-changing injuries. Often, these injuries are expensive to treat. Many car accident victims sue the person who was responsible for harming them so they can get compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages such as emotional distress.

But what if the person who caused the accident was a family member of the victim? In this case, does it make sense to try to get money deposited into a checking account by filing a lawsuit?

Surprisingly, the answer is often yes.

Is it possible to sue a family member after an auto accident.

In many cases, the law does allow a car accident victim to sue a family member after an auto accident. It’s almost always possible to sue more distant family members, such as suing an aunt or a cousin. And it’s generally also permitted to sue very close family members, such as a child suing a parent or a person suing their spouse (although marital privilege laws do restrict this in some states).

To sue a family member for crash damages, that person must have been responsible for causing the accident to occur. This can happen to someone who was a passenger in a family member’s vehicle. For example, a child driving with a parent could sue their parent for injuries resulting from a crash. It can also happen to someone who was struck by a family member, such as if a visiting aunt runs over a child in the driveway.

The victim must also have sustained injuries that are worth making a claim for.

Why it can make sense to sue a family member after a collision causes harm

It might seem unkind and terrible to sue a family member but, in reality, it is often the best course of action when someone is hurt in a collision caused by a relative.

See, it won’t be the individual person who has to come up with the money to cover damages. Drivers are required to buy auto insurance in most states precisely to ensure that money is available to cover auto accident damages. Since motorists have been paying premiums to an auto insurer for liability coverage for years, it doesn’t make sense not to take advantage of this protection to cover expensive losses.

If someone has been badly hurt and will experience a lifetime of medical issues, suing a loved one may be the only way they can ensure they receive fair compensation and can get the help they need.

Now, it is true that a loved one’s insurance rates would go up after an at-fault accident — but that would happen even if a claim isn’t made as a result of the crash occurring. Victims need to be sure they are protecting their access to compensation even if their loved one may have to pay a little more for insurance — especially as the added premiums are likely to be a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of dealing with serious accident injuries.

Drivers need to be sure they have the right liability coverage in place because they could be sued not just by a family member, but by anyone injured in a crash they caused. And those who have been damaged should make sure they get the right legal advice if their injuries are serious, so they can move forward with a claim against their responsible relative if necessary to get the compensation they need to cover their losses.

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