i'm getting sued

hopefully, someone can help( joe redskin?)about 2 years ago, my daughters Lexus was stolen. she was 17 at the time. she was staying at a friends house, and there were some boys present. one of the boys got into her purse, after she had fell asleep, and took her car keys. he then preceded to lead cops on a chase, until he finally wrecked into 3 parked cars. he was 15, with no parents, living with his grandparents. we were told we that since he didnt have anything, or any parents, we were shit out of luck( as far as trying to recoup something for the Lexus, that was totaled) now, almost 2 full years later, one of the people that had their car damaged in the chase, is suing me, and my insurance company for $3000.00. should i be worried, and do i need a lawyer? thanks for any help

My only experience in law is a business law class, but I can offer my two cents. Just take it for what it is, a very mildly informed opinion.

I would definately get a lawyer in this case because it sounds like the prosecution consulted legal consul before deciding to sue you.

The only way I could fathom that you could possibly lose this case is if the information you were given initially that you were SOL was dead wrong, and that you should have collected from the kids insurance/relatives.

Outside of that, it seems like you simply have to prove in court that you were in fact the victim here, and that there was zero (reasonable) negligence on your part or your daughter's for the incident. I really don't think the case against you holds much water at all. At the very least, seek legal consul to be safe.

SGG or JoeRedskin should be able to answer far more thoroughly than I can.

Have you been served with a complaint? What are the causes of action? Are you being sued in small claims court? Does your insurance carrier plan to hire an attorney to represent you pursuant to your policy? Have you been in contact with your carrier?

Your insurance company will probably take care of it, as long as you have the coverage to do so.

My parents were sued about 10 years ago. They run their own business and a lady wrote them a bad check. It was for a large sum of money. After several month the lady never paid, so my parents turned it over to the police and she was arrested on felony charges. The lady sued for $500k claiming mental distress for having been arrested and spending a night in jail. Her lawyer was one of these piece of crap TV lawyers. My parents' insurance company ended up providing their own lawyer, and after two years, they settled for $10k to avoid a trial. My parents never spent a dime on any of this (other than maintaining their insurance). It was very distressing, however.

Good luck, dmek.

it started today, with the mail. i received a certified letter, with a header of civil action hearing notice. it states that a civil complaint has been filed against me. and then there is a time and date for a hearing. it states that the kid that was driving, and me, acting as agent, servant, employee, workman with the permission of the defendants legal guardian, collided into plaintiffs vehicle. causing $3000.00 damage

cpayne thanks. but im worried about my insurance company dropping me. and i also don't anyone to make out, at my expense, for something i had nothing to do with. the car was stolen, and a report was filed. how the heck does that make me liable?

it started today, with the mail. i received a certified letter, with a header of civil action hearing notice. it states that a civil complaint has been filed against me. and then there is a time and date for a hearing. it states that the kid that was driving, and me, acting as agent, servant, employee, workman with the permission of the defendants legal guardian, collided into plaintiffs vehicle. causing $3000.00 damage

Sounds pretty frivolous to me. You should contact your insurance carrier immediately. A lawyer will likely cost you more than the judgment, if any is actually awarded.

cpayne thanks. but im worried about my insurance company dropping me. and i also don't anyone to make out, at my expense, for something i had nothing to do with. the car was stolen, and a report was filed. how the heck does that make me liable?

It doesn't necessarily make you liable. People can sue anyone for anything.

Are they f'ing insane? The car was stolen and you're not the kid's parent so you can't possibly be their agent. This is nothing to worry about as long as there was a police report filed when the car was stolen. Contact your insurance company and they'll take care of it.

Last year I got sued by GEICO for 8K on behalf of one of their customers because they thought I owed a car I didn't owe. The registered owner of the car and I had the same name except his last name was my first name and his first name was my last name. It just so happens that I am a GEICO customer too so they were in essence suing themselves...lol...I contacted DMV/DOL and requested proof of ownership of the car I alegdily owned and forwarded that information to GEICO. It was annoying but not a penny came out of my pockets.

What a bullshit case.

Any attorney fresh out of law school should be able to beat that. The only way I can figure you'd be remotely liable is if there's some part of the story we're not hearing.

I'm certainly not suggesting anything, but if you or your daughter provided alcohol that the dumbass kid drank, or your daughter handed him the keys and said "here, take it for a ride" or something like that.

As a side note, I had a 10 year old Mazda Protege when I was 17...