Legal help?

hello adelaide cyclists,

last thursday i got door-ed on my way home for lunch. heading south on pultney st a parked van didn't look before opening his door.

my chin and cheek took the brunt of it, but nothing a bit of surgical glue and three stiches couldn't deal with. medically i'm fine. the bike seemed mostly ok. front wheel a bit untrue and a slightly bent rear derailleur but figured just needed a service.

i put the bike in the shop on friday but as its the fun time of year it couldn't get looked at untill today. got a call from the mechanic and he said that the fork (carbon) might be a bit weak and that i should consider replacing it.

the question is: does the driver need to pay for my bike repairs? when i though it was just a service i figured i wouldn't bother, but if its gonna be more then it might be worth the effort chasing up.

the day is a bit fuzzy but i remember talking to a police officer at the hospital and he said that the driver was at fault and was fined and that he was responsible for any medical bills but not the bike repair. but that sounds fishy, he caused an accident with damage to another vehicle, surely he'd have to pay for it.

anyone with any experience?

worst thing about all this: i missed the bupa challenge tour!

EDIT: thanks everyone for all the advice and comments. the adelaide cyclists community is truly one of the most supportive. i'll keep everyone updated with the outcome

EDIT 2: i wrote a letter to the driver informing him that i was holding him liable for the damage to my bike with attached quotes. a couple of days later he gave me a call and was disputing some of the damage, i told him to go to the bike shop and get things explained there. He did that but still wasn't convinced that my fork needed replacement - after all it could still be ok. i can kind of see where he's coming from but mostly didn't want to bother arguing too much so i took his offer of paying half of the bill.

took avantiplus unley a week to get the fork in, realised it was the wrong fork so another week after that to actually got it done and installed. color scheme doesn't match (white and red fork for a mostly blue bike) so it's looking pretty unique. the driver paid his half and i picked it up yesterday.

once again thanks to everyone for their input and support through this forum. i probably should have stood my ground more and made him pay for the whole thing but i really didn't want to drag this out any more then it already had.

Tags: accidents, claims, dooring, law

Views: 769

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Andy on January 25, 2012 at 18:35
I work in insurance and see this sort of thing reasonably regularly.
he is definitely in the wrong as the onus is on the driver that they must not cause, or allow a passenger to cause an obstruction by opening or leaving open a door.

Establish your loss - i.e. repair reports, replacement quotes etc - be realistic in your valuation of the bike's market value if not repairable and then send this to the other party with a small letter outlining that you wish for him to settle you for the loss you have incurred.

If no joy, then as said by others previously - minor civil action -

Step 1 is to send a final demand (Magistrates Court has a template for this I believe) which simply states your intent to issue proceedings if not settled within a certain time frame.
Next is to issue proceedings in the magistrates court which costs about $110 I believe (which is claimable if and the other party will have 21 days to respond/file a defense. If they do not respond then I believe that it will be judged automatically in your favour and a payment order will be made by the judge.
If the amount claimed is less than $5,000 you will not be able to be represented by solicitor, but a solicitor may be able to help you prepare or refer to you an agent to appear on your behalf such as Barden & Associates.

Hope some of this is a little helpful.
Permalink Reply by Iordan Kostadinov on January 26, 2012 at 10:23

thanks, very helpful.

hopefully it does't go so far as minor civil action

Permalink Reply by Phil Crick on January 25, 2012 at 18:58

I was walking along the path in front of the van when it happened, didn't see it but certainly heard it, turned round to see what the big bang was and saw you and the bike sprawled in the middle of the road and the van drivers door wide open.

You didn't look in a good way but were conscious and wobbly on your feet, lots of people rushed to help you. The ambos turned up very quickly and three cop cars shortly after, you probably know the rest from there. We had lunch in the Thai restaurant and you were still with the ambos when we came out about 30 minutes later.

I'm no legal person, but you should be able to claim against the guys insurance - just ring them up and ask to make a claim once you have his details. 

Sorry to hear about the bupa challenage, you missed a great day.

Phil

Permalink Reply by Iordan Kostadinov on January 26, 2012 at 10:26

the pedestrians around the place were very helpful from what i can remember. a lady wrote down his rego number and gave to me just incase he did a runner, there was at least one guy who talked to me for a while and assured me that it was the driver's fault and that my bike didn't look too bad.

didn't think i spent too much time on the sidewalk but obviously not! memory is a funny thing once you get hit on the head!

Permalink Reply by Steven Orr on January 25, 2012 at 19:14

Its been mentioned buy Angus, but in your shoes I would seek counsel from tgb or one of the many legal entities that usually offer a free conversation to discuss your options.

The bike repairs replacement are certainly a focus for most of us in this instance, but do not discount your personal health impact from this collision.

Injuries may not present themselves immediately following a collision but may start to show in a few days following and for this I suggest some legal advice if not representaiton.

Only my opinion based from the hard school of experience.

PM me if you wish to discuss.

Permalink Reply by Iordan Kostadinov on January 26, 2012 at 10:28

a week later i'm still ok, the jaw is almost back to normal and the stiches will come out tomorrow. i'm not going to claim medical stuff. will proceed with the bike repair claims though. thanks for the advice

Permalink Reply by Mike Andy on January 26, 2012 at 9:43
This is the best idea however a lot of insurance companies don't include bicycles being ridden as part of their insurance cover leaving cyclists to either take out separate bike insurance, or risk going without.
Permalink Reply by Iordan Kostadinov on January 26, 2012 at 10:30

yeah i don't have insurance that will cover the bike. thanks for the help

Permalink Reply by David B.o.R. on January 26, 2012 at 21:25
I was hit in November (3 days before Amys, so I share your "missed big ride" pain). In my case the driver failed to give way at a t junction and my bike was obviously written off so there was never any doubt. Her insurance covered the bike replacement and I had a new bike in about 2 or 3 weeks. It also covered my shoes (which had worn through to the socks), gloves, helmet, and knicks - all of which suffered from sliding down the road at 40kmph. Good luck, I hope you are ok and get everything sorted soon.
Permalink Reply by heather on January 27, 2012 at 11:17

David, sounds fortunate that your shoes were there to protect your feet, and not forced off as sometimes happens when a car hits a pedestrian (or perhaps more correctly pedestrian knocked out of shoes).

Permalink Reply by Womble on January 27, 2012 at 12:10
+1 on getting any carbon components replaced after a crash.  I once crashed a carbon framed bike, though not heavily thankfully.  There was a gouge in one of the seat stays however, but on discussion with several bike shops, and correspondence with Calfee design in the US who manufacture carbon frames (very very helpful!) I had no second thought in replacing the entire carbon frame.  Like others have said, the thought of the frame collapsing at 60kph downhill was not something I wanted.  You will find never-ending opinions on fail modes for carbon fibre, and whether it should be repaired or not.  Not worth the risk imo. 
 
And on the injury front, I had an accident on the way to work 2 years ago, which was very unflattering (went straight over after hitting algae on a bike path...) but got some nasty cuts and a hit to my elbow.  Once I got to work, it was obvious from my bandages that id been in an accident, and I had to subsequently report it as a 'travel to work' accident, or something along those lines due to company policy.  Anyway, this had Workcover implications, in that if I required any further medical assistance such as x-rays, operation etc it could be covered under workcover, and this includes complications arising at a later stage.  This was in Qld, but im sure its probably the same situation in SA.  At this time, several other employees had also had to lodge claims, and the company actually set about trying to improve the situation by providing awareness sessions, high vis vests, provision of bike mechanic to regularly inspect bikes at companys cost etc, credit to them really.   
Permalink Reply by heather on January 27, 2012 at 16:26

Womble, could have been interest of the employer to improve employee safety, or face a rise in insurance premiums.

I read somewhere this month that travel to work no longer covered, but covered if required to travel between employment places.

RSS

Support our Sponsors

© 2013   Created by Gus K.

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service