Owner Liability for a Friend's Drunk-Driving Crash

Q: Can a car's owner be sued in Texas for a crash caused by someone they lent the car to?

Yes, under the common-law claim of negligent entrustment. In Schneider v. Esperanza Transmission Co., 744 S.W.2d 595 (Tex. 1987), the Texas Supreme Court described what has to be proved: the owner entrusted the vehicle to a driver who was unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless; the owner knew or should have known that; and the driver's own negligence caused the crash. The owner's knowledge at the moment the keys changed hands is usually the contested point. Lending a car to someone with no apparent problem is not, by itself, negligent entrustment.

Q: Does it matter that a car's title was never transferred into the owner's name?

Not as much as people expect. Who is on the title and the registration is evidence, but it does not decide who owns a car or who can be held responsible for lending it out. Courts look at the real arrangement — who paid for the vehicle, who kept it, who controlled who drove it. Someone who bought and kept a car for years without transferring the paperwork can still be treated as its owner, and someone listed on a title they gave away years ago may not be. A Texas lawyer should apply this to the actual facts.

Q: After a Texas crash, who has the legal duty to stop and give information?

The operator of the vehicle. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.021(a) requires a driver in a collision that results or is reasonably likely to result in injury or death to stop at the scene or as close to it as possible, return immediately if not stopped there, determine whether anyone needs aid, and remain until the requirements of § 550.023 are met. Section 550.022(a) sets a similar duty where the only damage is to a vehicle driven or attended by a person. Section 550.023 requires giving name, address, vehicle registration number, and liability insurer, showing a license if asked, and giving reasonable assistance to anyone injured. Texas does not impose a separate crash-report duty on a driver.

Question

I have a vehicle that I bought a couple of years ago. I never got it registered in my name or insured, but I did have possession of the car for 2 years, I paid for it, and I have the title — I just never went to the DMV and put the title in my name. Recently a friend of mine asked to use my vehicle, and on the way bringing it back to the house, while he was intoxicated, he ran into a telephone pole nearby. He came here to the house; he left the scene of the accident, came here to my house, and told me about it. I told him he needed to go back to the scene of the accident and handle it, because I was not in the car. I do have two traffic ticket warrants, so I didn't want to be arrested for them, but I felt like he needed to go handle it because he wrecked my car. Well, he left, and I thought he went back over there, and just now I see him out in the yard looking for his phone that he said he lost that night — so apparently he did not go back to the scene of the accident. My car has been removed. I'm wanting to know: since the car is not in my name and I was not in the wreck, what can I be charged with? Will I be in trouble for not reporting it? What do I need to do?

A. Jason Velez · Accepted Answer

Yes. In Texas the owner of a car can be sued over a crash caused by the person he lent it to, and the fact that the title was never moved into your name does not make the car someone else's. For this purpose ownership follows the real facts — who bought it, who paid for it, who kept and controlled it — and the title and registration paperwork is evidence rather than the last word. You had the title, you paid for the car, and you had it for two years. The civil theory is negligent entrustment, and it comes from the courts rather than a statute. In Schneider v. Esperanza Transmission Co., 744 S.W.2d 595 (Tex. 1987), the Texas Supreme Court set out what an injured person has to prove: that the owner entrusted the vehicle to a driver who was unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless; that the owner knew or should have known that; and that the driver's own negligence caused the crash. Everything turns on what you knew when you handed over the keys. If your friend was already drinking in front of you, or you knew he drove drunk, that is the case against you. If he was sober when he left and got intoxicated later, that is a real defense — but it is a fight over facts, not a technicality. Two other pieces of Texas law matter. First, the after-crash duties fall on the driver, not the owner. Tex. Transp. Code § 550.021(a) requires the operator of a vehicle in a collision that results or is reasonably likely to result in injury or death to stop at the scene or as close to it as possible, to return immediately if the vehicle was not stopped there, to check whether anyone involved needs aid, and to remain until he has done what § 550.023 requires. Section 550.023 is the exchange duty — name, address, registration number, and the driver's liability insurer, plus reasonable assistance to anyone hurt. Section 550.022(a) sets a parallel stop-and-remain duty where the only damage is to a vehicle driven or attended by a person. Texas does not put a separate crash-reporting duty on a car owner who was not in the car. Second, the coverage gap has its own price. Tex. Transp. Code § 601.051 says a person may not operate a motor vehicle in this state unless financial responsibility is established for that vehicle, and § 601.191(b) makes a first violation a misdemeanor with a fine of $175 to $350. That runs at the driver. Whether anything reaches you — and whether your outstanding warrants change how you should handle any contact — is a criminal-defense question, and one to ask before you talk to anybody. What you can do 1. Do not write out your account of the night for the police, an insurer, or your friend, and do not give a statement to anyone yet. What you say about who had the car and what you knew is the whole case, on both sides of it. 2. Talk to a Texas criminal-defense lawyer first — about the warrants, and about how any contact with police should happen. Let that lawyer handle the contact rather than making it yourself. 3. Keep what already exists; do not create anything new. The title, the bill of sale, your payment records, texts with your friend, and any photos already on your phone. 4. Ask that lawyer to find out where your car was taken and what the storage charges are. Storage fees run daily and the bill grows while the question sits. 5. Ask a lawyer about your exposure if the pole's owner or an injured person makes a claim, and give any letter or lawsuit papers to a lawyer the day they arrive. *Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — above all, what you knew about your friend's condition when you handed over the keys — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.* ⏱ Time limits apply. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) generally gives two years from the day a claim accrues for both personal injury and property damage, and the criminal side runs on a different schedule this page does not set. When your clock started depends on your facts. Have a Texas attorney review the dates now rather than later.

Owner Liability for a Friend's Drunk-Driving Crash

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