At-Fault Driver's Exposure When the Other Party Claims Injury

Attorney Answer

A small amount of damage to the cars does not prove there was no injury — but it does not prove there was one either, and the person claiming has to connect the injury to this collision. The practical answer is that this is now your insurer's job. What you control is giving them everything, promptly, and not handling it yourself.

Start with what the other side has to establish. Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a) provides: "Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself." You have said fault is not in dispute, so the live questions are causation and amount. Cal. Civ. Code § 3333 answers both: tort damages are the amount that will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused, whether or not it could have been anticipated. Proximately caused is the operative phrase. A claimant is entitled to be compensated for what this crash did, not for everything that hurts.

There is a second point in your favor that people in your position often do not know. Even where one driver accepts fault, California allocates responsibility in proportion. If the other driver contributed to the collision at all, their recovery is reduced by their share. California is a pure comparative fault state, which the California Supreme Court applied and reaffirmed in Daly v. General Motors Corp., 20 Cal. 3d 725 (1978). Whether any share belongs to them is a matter for your insurer's investigation — which is another reason not to characterize the crash for anyone yourself.

On insurance: for an accident in 2024, the minimum liability coverage a California driver was required to carry under Cal. Veh. Code § 16056(a) was $15,000 for one person's injuries, $30,000 per accident and $5,000 for property damage; those minimums rose to $30,000, $60,000 and $15,000 for accidents on or after January 1, 2025. If you carry limits at or near the minimum and the claim is serious, the possibility of a demand above your limits is something to raise with your insurer in writing, and to take to your own attorney. How an insurer must handle a settlement demand within your limits, and what happens if it does not, is a real body of California law and worth a lawyer's half hour.

What you can do

1. Report the claim to your own insurer today if you have not, and give them what already exists: photographs, the report number, and the other driver's details.

2. Let your insurer deal with the other driver, their lawyer and their insurer. If any of them contacts you, forward it to your insurer rather than answering it.

3. Preserve what exists rather than creating anything new — the photographs, any exchanged messages, the report. Do not post about the crash anywhere.

4. Do not offer to pay anything out of pocket, and do not sign anything a claimant or their representative sends you.

5. Tell your insurer in writing if you believe the claim could exceed your policy limits, and ask to be told about any settlement demand.

6. If you are served with court papers, or if a demand arrives that is above your limits, speak with a local attorney of your own right away — you may have your own lawyer in addition to the one your insurer appoints.

7. If police are investigating the collision, if you were cited, or if the other side's insurer or an investigator asks you for a statement about how the crash happened, speak with a local criminal-defense attorney before you answer. An injury collision can raise questions that sit outside the insurance claim, and a statement given to be helpful is hard to take back.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. The other driver's injury claim runs on Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1: "Within two years: An action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another." A claim for the damage to their vehicle has the longer three years of Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1). Silence in the meantime does not mean the matter has gone away, so keep your insurer's file open and have a local attorney check the dates against your facts.