Can the responsible party insist on how they will pay, or can the injured party demand payment directly to them?
Question Details:
Provided 2 estimates - 1 for rental and 1 for body shop. Responsible party says will only make checks out to those estimates.
Hello. My name is Natasha Goodarzian and I am a member of the Virginia State Bar. Your question is a bit vague. My New York colleague seems to properly have summarized the basic issue--a party is responsible for payment of damages if they are found to be at fault. In Virginia, this is often shown through a police report where fault has been issued, a party's admittance of fault, or the issue can be litigated through accident reconstruction experts, which can be costly with unguaranteed results.
I typically handle personal injury claims but if the party at fault damages your property, they have a duty to essentially fix it or give you the value for the car if it cannot be repaired back to the way it was before damage. The law does not seek to put you in a better position than you were before an accident--it seeks to make you whole again (in the position you were in before the accident). Therefore, this party's demand to fix your property is not improper. The likelihood of you being able to succeed in a suit for this party's failure to pay you directly rather than pay for the car is unlikely. A court of law may even be upset with you for bringing what a judge might consider a frivolous suit.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me: natasha@natashalawfirm.com
Good luck and drive safely!
If you haven't sued, won, and got a court order, then payment is voluntary--whether the person would lose a law suit, be found liable, and be forced to pay were he or she sued, at this point, there has been no legal determination of liability. Therefore, payment is voluntary and the party can stipulate how (s)he will pay; if you disagree, you can sue, though that of course can cost a significant amount of time and money, and the outcome of a lawsuit is never settled.
If you have already sued, won, obtained a judgment, etc. the judgment should indicate that the payment has to made to you, as the winning plaintiff.
