
If a vehicle hits your car, that’s certain to upset you. Maybe you drove along, minding your own business, and suddenly, another car blindsided you. You have to hope that the accident didn’t hurt you too badly.
As you’re trying to pick up the pieces afterward, you need to figure out who you can blame. If the other driver hit you through no fault of their own, you can’t expect that you’ll win a legal action against them. Presumably, though, their insurance will cover the damages.
If you feel that the other driver showed negligence in something they did, and that caused the crash,
then you can sue them. You have two years to file a negligence claim in most instances.
You can also sue a passenger in the other driver’s car if they caused the accident more than the driver did. We will discuss what qualifies as passenger negligence in car crash incidents right now.
What Does Negligence Mean in this Instance?
First, let’s talk about what negligence means in this setting. Negligence usually means that the other driver, or the passenger, in this case, had a duty to behave a certain way, and they didn’t do that. With passengers in other cars, they should not distract the driver or do anything else that might cause an accident.
A jury will quickly see that if the other car’s passenger did something out of the ordinary, they exhibited poor judgment and engaged in negligent behavior. Of course, you must prove the passenger did something that qualifies if you hope to get any money from them, though.
Now, let’s discuss some specific behavioral examples by a passenger that probably constitute negligence in a courtroom setting.
Speaking to the Other Driver
Let’s say that another car close to you while you’re driving has a passenger and a driver in it. They’re having a conversation, and it’s civil and restrained. If so, you could reasonably say that there’s no negligence or inappropriate behavior happening.
What about if the car’s passenger keeps yelling at the driver, though? Maybe they’re sitting in the passenger’s seat and haranguing the driver. Perhaps they’re yelling at them about their behavior if they’re married, or they’re a couple, and they’re thinking about breaking up.
If the passenger distracts the driver and the driver hits you, you can probably prove negligence by the passenger. Yes, the driver hit your vehicle, but they would not have done so if the passenger hadn’t yelled at them and upset them.
Grabbing the Steering Wheel
It’s unusual, but you might have a situation where the other car’s passenger grabs the steering wheel and causes a crash. Maybe you have an agitated passenger who doesn’t like something the driver said or did.
If that happens, then you can’t very well say the other driver caused the wreck. You can sue the passenger and probably win, though, provided you can find evidence that the sequence of events occurs like you said it did.
Intentionally Distracting the Driver
Maybe you have a passenger who’s behaving inappropriately beside the driver. They might make animal noises, wave their hands at them, or do something else that distracts them.
That’s not behavior you will see very often, but it can happen. If it does, and the other driver hits your vehicle, that’s another situation where you can sue the other car’s passenger.
Blocking the Other Driver’s Vision
Maybe the other car’s passenger thinks they’ll put their hands over the driver’s eyes for fun. They might cover their eyes if they lean forward from the back seat. The driver swerves because they’re momentarily blinded and hits your vehicle.
That’s a clear case where you can sue the other car’s passenger. Presumably, the other driver would not swerve and hit you if the passenger didn’t cover their eyes.
Once you start to see and understand this kind of behavior pattern, you can probably think of other scenarios where you can sue the other car’s passenger rather than the driver. Any time you have a passenger in a vehicle who acts inappropriately, they endanger themselves, the driver in that car, and anyone else around them.
You might call the other driver as a witness. You may also call other drivers who saw what happened or passing pedestrians. If you can also produce video evidence that shows the other car’s passenger behaving foolishly or recklessly, you can probably win your case and collect some money.
Get a dashcam
otherwise its ‘he said she said’