I think there is a lot missing here in the story.....
How fast were you going that you couldn't see pedestrian? Did you dump bike? Why is your passenger suing? Was passenger injured? Is your bike still rideable?
If your passenger was injured and you were not in control of your bike someone needs to pay for injuries. When riding a bike we all know YOU NEED TO BE OVERLY DEFFENSIVE for everyone around you watching for problems on the road well in advance.
Good luck, hope all works out.

 

This is nothing out of the ususal....You are supposed to be under the care and control of your vehicle at all times. It's common knowlege pedestrians cross roads and walk in front of moving traffic. Kids chase *****, often people are just plain absent minded and become unfocused on their surroundings or impending danger... It happens all the time.

Regretably, laws oftenstate that a driver of a vehicle is supposed to be prepared for these kinds of things. That's why you must be prepared and drive according to traffic, weather, or for that matter ...what ever conditions arise. .... If your following a vehicle and they slam on thier brakes, and you rear end them .. It'sYOUR FAULTfor following to close. If someone shoots off a gun or a truck backfires and it startles you and you pile into a parked car ... also ...YOUR FAULT. If a deer runs out in front of you and you swerve to miss it, and plow into another car .....Yep, same thing ... YOUR FAULT. Even if someone is in the process of committing a crime (like jay walking) and you run into them(or as in thiscase, you swere tomiss them and ultimately hit the dirt)... guess what .... YOUR FAULT!

This is sooo unfair. But, they have to lay blame on someone. Bad road conditions, bad weather, other unforseen elements ... all affect and effectthe path our four wheels or even our twowheels may take. Ultimately, the blame lies with the driver of the vehicle. Iknow, I know ... Sad but true!

 

Please explain "I force bike dont."

If you are saying that you intentionally dropped and wrecked the bike to avoid hitting the 16 year old,then it is easy to understand why your passengerwent to a lawyer.

But really, it is hard to understandwhat you are saying.

JMHO

 

Oh man, that was funny! Thanks for the laugh!

B dog has a point though, baddaddy's post is pretty difficult to follow.....

 

Yeah....just ask John Edwards.

 

The person was a pedestrian .. she doesn't have pedestrian insurance. If she was 16 you may be able to sue the parents if you can prove it was her recklessness that caused the incident. Without independent witnesses, that may be hard to prove too.

This "un-insured pedestrian" issue became very clear to me in January 2003 when a group of us riding south on Pacific Coast Highway (speed limit 65 mph - me in the front right position)encountered a drunk, homeless person who was trying to commit suicide ( statement from many witnesses both in my group and in vehicles nearby) stepped out into my path, raised his arms in the air and stood there wanting for me to hit him.

We had no place to go ( Sunday afternoon heavy traffic) hit the brakes but and in fact hit him at about 60mph. He had no insurance so in the end, we had to pay for all our own medical bills (most of which was covered by my health insurance). My '02 Road Glide was totaled after bouncing end over end .. 125 feet down the highway. My wife and I did the same rag dollflop for 80 feet and had major injuries. To make it all worse, one of our friends wasn't able to avoid us and ran over my wife's leg and arm causing many fractures and months of rehab. I ended up with 2 broken wrists and thumbs but other than major bruises and road rash .. that was about it for me. We were both lucky that we were wearing helmets and had no head injuries.

The only thing wecould get from our insurance company was to replace the bike.Because the other bike ran over her, we were able to collect damages from his insurance company ( which wasn't a problem with him).

The moral of this story is don't count on collecting from the person who caused the accident ( the pedestrian) even though they were techinally at fault .. it's not an easy process. Oh by the way, just as a thought, had my wife not been my wife, she could have collected policy limits from my insurance company .. kinda like your passenger will probably do to you.

Life isn't fair .. but alas, it's life!

 

Bad deal? Maybe, probably??? Too much missing info for ANY of us to base a reasonable conclusion here, right now!!! Take emotion out of theargument, and base it on fact alone. If it were me, I be pissed, sure. If it were my daughter that got hurt, I'd be pissed, sure. Facts and facts alone should be used for judgement, and we don't haveall of them or enough of them. Still, it sucks all the way around for everyone. Family and family alone ride with me.

Not wanting to detract from the purpose of this thread, but....while I agree baddaddy's post is a bit difficult to follow, I somehow managed to comprehend and get the point quite easily. Hey B dog, if you're going to bang on someone for their spelling, how they speak, or type, it's a good idea tocheck yourselfbefore you cast stones!!!"Spelling and grammar check" ring any bells? Nothing personal man, just calling it like I see it.

 

One thing to mention is the amount of insurance to carry. If you go with the least amount and hospitalization, etc. exceeds the amount they will normally sue you. That is why I increased everything on all my vehicles.

 

I was like $50 a year to raise my liability from 50k to 500k ,only thing cheaper ive ever insured was having my sporster insured as a painting. heheheh

 

Nothing personal either: I do not doubt what you have said.... so please post a picture ASAP so I can avoid being within any area you and your type ride....