Teen Driver Accident: Who Is Liable, Parents and Insurance

A sixteen-year-old who causes a crash is held to the standard of a reasonable driver, not a reasonable sixteen-year-old; the law does not discount the duty for inexperience once a person is licensed to drive. The claim is against the teen as the negligent driver and is paid by the liability insurance on the car, which is the parents' policy. Most policies cover any household member driving a covered car, listed or not, and a teen living at home is a household member. Parents who failed to add a licensed teen to the policy may face a dispute with their insurer, but the injured person's claim against the policy generally stands.

The claim is valued like any other: the injury, the treatment, the lost income, and the fault evidence. A teen's inexperience, a phone, passengers, speed and night driving are the usual factors, and they are evidence of negligence rather than excuses. Graduated license restrictions, which in most states limit a new driver's passengers, driving hours and phone use, are evidence when violated.

The policy limit is the practical ceiling of the insurance claim, and families with teen drivers often carry minimum limits. For a serious injury, the claim then turns to whether the parents are personally liable and whether an umbrella policy exists.

Parents are not automatically liable for their children's negligence; the general rule is that a parent is liable only for their own conduct. Several doctrines and statutes change that for teen driving, and which apply depends on the state.

Signed-license liability: in California and some other states, a parent or guardian who signs a minor's application for a driver's license becomes jointly liable with the minor for damages the minor causes while driving, up to a statutory amount per person and per occurrence. The liability ends when the minor turns eighteen or the parent withdraws the signature. Family purpose doctrine: in a substantial minority of states, the owner of a car maintained for family use is liable for the negligent driving of any family member using it with permission, which places the parents directly on the claim. Owner liability statutes in a few states, including New York and Florida, make the owner of a vehicle liable for any permissive driver's negligence, teen or adult.

Negligent entrustment: in every state, a parent who provides a car to a teen they know to be an unsafe driver, because of prior crashes, tickets, drinking, a suspended license or a known medical condition, is liable for their own negligence in doing so. The parents' knowledge is the element, and it is proven from the teen's driving record, school and police records, and sometimes the parents' own statements. Parental liability statutes for a minor's willful or malicious conduct apply to intentional acts and rarely to ordinary negligence.

Suppose a seventeen-year-old driving with three friends, in violation of his state's passenger restriction for new drivers, ran a stop sign at night and struck your car, causing a fractured arm requiring surgery and a concussion. Your medical bills were $71,000 and you missed ten weeks of work. The car was his mother's, insured on the family policy with $50,000 per person in liability coverage.

The insurer accepted fault and paid the $50,000 limit. An attorney then examined the parents' liability. The state followed the family purpose doctrine, placing the mother on the claim as the owner of a car maintained for family use. Her driving record request for the son showed two prior speeding tickets and a prior at-fault crash within the year, and a text message produced in discovery showed she knew he had been driving with friends against the restriction. The parents carried a $1 million umbrella policy.

The claim against the mother under the family purpose doctrine and for negligent entrustment was presented to the umbrella carrier and settled for the balance of the injury's value. Had the state not followed the family purpose doctrine and had the parents had no knowledge of unsafe driving, the claim would have been limited to the $50,000 plus your own underinsured motorist coverage. All figures are hypothetical.

The usual steps apply, with a few specific to teen drivers.

• Get the teen's name, the car owner's name from the registration, and the insurance information; the policy is usually the parents'.
• Tell the police if the teen had passengers, was on a phone, or was driving at an hour the state's new-driver rules prohibit; the report should record it.
• Photograph the scene, the vehicles and the passengers' positions; passengers are witnesses and may be the teen's friends.
• Preserve any evidence of phone use; phone records can be subpoenaed in litigation.
• Report to your own insurer and identify your underinsured motorist coverage; families with teen drivers often carry minimum limits.
• Do not accept the teen's or the parents' apology as an admission or a resolution; the claim is with the insurer.
• For a serious injury, have an attorney evaluate the parents' liability under the state's doctrines and whether an umbrella policy exists.

The parental liability doctrines are the state issue. California's signed-license statute makes the signing parent jointly liable up to a statutory cap; a few other states have similar provisions. The family purpose doctrine is followed in a substantial minority of states, including Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Colorado and Washington, and rejected in others. Owner liability statutes in New York, Florida, Michigan and a few others make the vehicle's owner liable for any permissive driver. Negligent entrustment is recognized everywhere but depends on proof of the parents' knowledge.

Graduated driver licensing rules differ by state in the passenger limits, the night hours and the phone restrictions, and a violation is evidence of negligence in the claim. Some states also treat a violation as a factor in the teen's comparative fault when the teen is the injured party. Comparative negligence applies to the injured driver's own conduct under each state's rule, with the contributory negligence states barring recovery for any fault.

Claims against a minor are brought against the minor, who is represented by a guardian ad litem in litigation, and the parents as applicable; the minor's own assets are rarely relevant. Deadlines are the state's injury statute, one year in Tennessee and Kentucky, two in Texas, California, Florida and Georgia, three in New York and North Carolina. Where the injured person is also a minor, their deadline is typically extended until adulthood, but the claim is better pursued promptly.

Teen passengers injured in a crash caused by a teen driver have claims against the driver's family policy, and against another driver if one was at fault. The friendship between the families does not change the claim, which is with the insurer. A teen passenger who knew the driver had been drinking may be assigned a share of fault for riding with them, under the state's comparative negligence rule.

A teen driver injured by another driver's negligence has an ordinary claim, brought by a parent as guardian, with settlements usually requiring court approval and the proceeds held for the minor until adulthood. The teen's own violations, of a passenger limit or a phone rule, are evidence of comparative fault.

Parents of a teen killed in a crash caused by another driver have a wrongful death claim under the state's statute, which in most states names parents as beneficiaries of a minor child's death claim, with damages that vary by state for the loss of a child.

A claim after a crash caused by a teen driver is paid first by the family's auto policy, and for a serious injury extends to the parents' personal liability under doctrines that vary by state and to any umbrella coverage. The questions to answer early are what the family policy's limit is, which parental liability doctrines the state follows, whether the parents knew of unsafe driving, and what umbrella and underinsured coverage exist. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state, and an attorney must evaluate the facts before anyone can say what the claim is worth. If you were hurt in a crash caused by a teenage driver, you can request a free claim review.

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