Per Kentucky law, the state can hold you accountable for a car accident you yourself did not cause. The law refers to the theories that allow as vicarious liability and negligent entrustment. You can protect yourself from liability by understanding in what types of situations you may have to pay for damages for another person’s negligent behavior. FindLaw details just a few of them.
One instance in which the law can hold you accountable for another person’s damages is if you loan your car to a bad or inexperienced driver. For instance, if you were to loan your car to your teenaged niece or nephew and he or she causes an accident that results in outstanding damages, the injured party may be able to sue you for damages that exceed his or her insurance coverage. The injured party in this instance would sue under the theory of negligent entrustment. You can protect yourself by being cautious about to whom you loan your vehicle and ensuring the proposed driver is mature enough to handle such responsibility.
An injured party may also hold you accountable if one of your employees causes an accident while on the clock. The employee does not have to be in a company vehicle for the theory of vicarious liability to apply. He or she must simply be driving for work reasons.
Finally, the law may deem you liable if you are a vehicle manufacturer and a vehicle defect causes an accident, or if you participated in the construction or maintenance of a road, highway, street, bridge or overpass that may have proximately caused an accident. In either of these instances, the injured party may sue you under the theory of vicarious liability.
The information in this post should not be used as legal advice. It is for educational purposes only.