Mom can sue son, 15, for crashing car while driving with learner's permit

[TexasTowelie]

The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that a Marion County mom can indeed sue her 15-year-old son after he crashed the family car and she suffered a broken arm.

Shawnee Adams was teaching her son -- who had his learner's permit -- how to drive on French Prairie Road, a rural highway a few miles northwest of Woodburn. The teen veered off the highway, tumbled down a 12-foot-embankment and struck a utility pole -- totaling the 2000 Jeep Cherokee.

His 41-year-old mother suffered the break to her upper right arm and a concussion, which was accompanied by ringing in her ears, headaches and trouble thinking and sleeping.

While it might seem heartless to sue one’s own teenage son, lawsuits filed against relatives aren’t uncommon. That’s because family members most often travel in cars together -- and if one relative crashes, the other might find the only way to recover what they consider just compensation is by filing suit, personal injury lawyers say.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2017/06/mom_can_sue_her_son_15_for_cra.html

[napi21]

1. That's BS! Mom was suppose to be teasching the son to drive and FAILED! Besides, the same

insurance that covers Mom also covers the son, so she is technically suing HER insurance company.

[TexasTowelie]

2. I don't know the laws for Oregon,

but in Texas there is personal injury protection (PIP) that the insured should be choosing as an option to pay for expenses incurred in a situation similar to this. If that coverage is offered in Oregon and the vehicle owners refused to pay for that coverage, then I understand why the insurance company would deny paying the claim. Considering that the vehicle was a 2000 Cherokee, I suspect that they only had liability coverage on the vehicle.

BTW, there are reasons why someone may decide to sue their own insurance company such as acting in bad faith or if multiple drivers are on the policy they might sue in order to protect the other named insureds on the policy from losing their insurance coverage. Fortunately those incidents are somewhat rare.