Are spouses liable to pay damages if sued?

Legal General Legal Matters
1

Hello,
my partner and I are both foreigners and were involved in a traffic accident with a Taiwanese.
He broke his scooter and one tooth once he hit our car. Now he wants to sue us for what we consider an unproportionate amount of money. We are willing to pay for part of it, but not everything.
My partner was the one driving and they don’t have a job since their arc is “dependent” on my student arc.
My partner only has 15% of what the Taiwanese is asking and no money back home. It would be easy to prove that he doesn’t have enough money to pay for it in the case of a mediation by simply looking at his bank statements from the past year. The car is under my partner’s name, but it is worth around 20k ntd while its taxes amount to 18k ntd (it is a 2002 car with some issues, we weren’t even planning on selling it).

I, however, have enough money, but paying everything would mean 95% of my savings. Can the Taiwanese man sue me simply because I am married to the person who was driving? Can they legally make me pay the whole value and stop us from leaving Taiwan once I graduate if I don’t pay for everything?
Thank you

2

Firstly, what percentage of responsibility is your husband’s according to the police report?

Once you know this, you can work out the cost to fix or replace his scooter, the dental cost to fix his tooth (plus some extra for his pain, time, etc), then divide that by whatever percentage of responsibility is yours. Realistically that’s what a judge is going to award the other party.

Whether or not you are liable for damages if he can’t pay them is more complex. Taiwan has different types of “martial property regimes”. I’m no expert but I’d say if it’s just money in your own bank account, it’s probably safe. Another question to ask is, was the money in your bank saved before or after marriage? Where did it come from? If he contributed to those savings then that may muddy the waters. Definitely contact a lawyer, nothing said on this forum is close to legal advice.

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3

Depends on the circumstances. Taiwanese insurance only covers the medical expenses of the 3rd party, so you might be off the hook unless you’re found at fault. Unless you opted for more coverage, your insurance won’t touch anything else. Since you said “he hit our car”, it does sound like he’s at fault or at the very least, found a majority at fault; however, without knowing the circumstances of the accident, nobody can really give you a definitive answer.

Typically speaking, the only person who is held strictly liable for liability is the person who had direct control of the vehicle, but the fact that she’s a dependent of yours makes this a bit muddy, and maybe another Forumosan might be able to help you (sorry; just when I thought I had things figured out, I got thrown enough curveballs to not try to definitively answer any legal advice in muddy waters anymore).

4

Have you spoken to your insurance company? What does the accident bureau report say on ownership? Be like a local, transfer any and all excess money out of Taiwan asap!

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5

Taiwan has mandatory insurance that should cover the personal injury of the other party. So you only have to pay for the scooter based on the percentage you are at fault.
The insurance company and the other party can negotiate the compensation amount. Check your insurance policy what is covered. But you should not have to pay a large amount after the insurance already paid them. Find somebody local and competent who can advise you in this matter.

6

I guess it is key as to how the accident happened. If the husband was driving dangerously the insurance company might not pay anything.

7

Would you mind sharing the amount he wants? Assuming no broken bones for the person on the scooter, and that he’s able to go back to work and regularly perform his duties, I think you should not be asked to pay more than new scooter + dental work + extra amount for his troubles.

The extra amount component depends a lot on the details and who’s more at fault. Is there CCTV footage for the accident?

I’ve heard that in Taiwan, if the person on the scooter is not obviously doing something illegal, then usually the one in the car has to bear the majority of the damages. It sounds unfair but it might be how things work here.

8

You’re jumping the gun. Before asking if you are liable as a spouse, you should be asking if the scooter rider can even demand money.

Questions to consider:

  1. You said “the scooter hit you”. I assume that means they are at fault? (Or at least majority at fault.)

  2. If your partner is indeed at fault, then why isn’t your insurance paying? Why are you counting the money in your savings account? This is what car insurance is for. I assume you guys at least have the basic mandatory injury insurance which should cover the scooter rider’s broken tooth. That’s just the minimum mandatory insurance. Your policy probably covers more than that, and should cover the cost of the repairs of the scooter (which cost way less than repairing a car).

  3. Why aren’t you guys suing the scooter rider for the damages done to your car when they hit you? Right-of-way laws apply equally to scooters and cars in Taiwan (despite what some people say). If the other party didn’t follow the proper right-of-way and caused the accident, then they are at fault. It doesn’t matter if they are in a car or on a scooter. The only way they can get away with it is if they were a pedestrian or on a bicycle.

9

Hello, I am using this space to edit my original post and answer all of your questions. Sorry for the late reply, we were waiting for the police report.
1‐How did the accident happen?
We made a left turn (with signal on, waited for everyone going straight to pass, etc.) and stopped at the zebra cross for pedestrians, so the rear of our car was still on the main road. The Taiwanese on the scooter was coming straight on the opposite direction, he saw our car’s rear, tried to dodge it but there was a scooter on his left, which surprised him, and because of that he accidently ran straight onto our car ( between the gas tank and the boot/tailgate. Yeah, if he has 30cm to his left he wouldn’thave hit us at all, talk about luck) . This is what he said when I asked him what happened and he thought I was a passer by, but once the cops showed up and he saw I was with my partner he told the cops we didn’t yield.

2-What does the police report say?
The only video available is too far away and the police report says under my partner’s name that they didn’t yield. Under the Taiwanese man’s name it says he failed to pay attention to safety measures (probably because he was speeding). The police officer said the report doesn’t show the percentage of responsibility, that he couldn’t say how liable we were because he didn’t have access to anything in our case, and advised us to just work it out with the Taiwanese party.

3-Why is the insurance not covering?
We have an international driver’s license that we applied for back home, where the DMV told us that it would be valid here, but we just discovered that Taiwan is not in the Vienna convention, so even though it is translated in Chinese it is not valid. Cops have already stopped us using this license and never said anything, so we thought everything was fine until going to the insurance company and finding out about it this month. We asked the insurance clerk whether we are 100% liable and he said it should be 50-50, or max 60 for us, and 40 for him, but that it was not legal advice and advised us to meet him and work it out privately.

4- For those asking where does my money come from, I am on a student scholarship and it is documented on my pass book that this is my monthly income, my partner was a student here, but now only has an arc because I am here, but they don’t have studies or work.

5-The Taiwanese man demands 70000ntd. My partner has only 11000. I as of now have much less than 70000, too because we are going back home.

The Taiwanese man threatens to take both of us to mediation or even sue us criminally so they can take our passports away and we will not be able to leave Taiwan while we don’t pay him. We are not sueing him yet because we were all waiting for the police report to come out, which it did last friday, and we are meeting him this week to try to resolve this privately without the need for mediation or criminal court. We just want to get over with it and go back home, so we are willing to pay for a part of what he asks, but not everything (especially because we don’t have it). I am just afraid that Taiwanese law can hold me liable for being married to the driver, or that he sues us and our passports are taken away. He doesn’t seem to want to compromise.

Thank you for your answers.

10

Some people might say, if u r leaving very soon, just go. However I would not encourage anyone to do anything illegal,

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11

My partner is going by the end of March, I am going in July, but the man said that if we don’t agree to pay him this week he will just sue us criminally and we will not have our passports to leave. I don’t know if Taiwanese judicial system is so fast that he can contact a lawyer this week and my partner wouldn’t be able to leave Taiwan in March, but I am scared the Taiwanese man is telling the truth and we end up stuck here. Or that my partner leaves and I am held liable and cannot leave.

We offered him our car on top of everything, since it was passed down to us by another foreigner who couldn’t sell it before leaving Taiwan and it is our most expensive thing here, but it s only worth 20k and the cost to fix what he broke in the accident is around that too, so of course he didn’t want it.

12

Not having a license does not increase liability in an accident in Taiwan. Police should fine the driver and that’s it.
Insurance coverage might be affected if the contract says that the driver is required to have a valid license.

If you were stopped at the time of the accident to wait for pedestrians, that should shift more liability to the scooter driver not paying attention to the road ahead.
When seeing the car, he should have stopped, instead he wanted to drive around, but realized too late that other scooter was in the way which led to the collision. That is what I understand from your side of the story.

During mediation meeting ask him to present receipts for his expenses. You should also do an appraisal for damage on your car beforehand.

eg. liability 50/50
his cost 70k
your cost 20k

that would make a 25k payment from your side to get even

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13

To me he thinks you’re rich and a soft touch so looks like he is asking for more and trying to frighten you. From personal experience don’t talk to him about it or offer anything, take it to mediation (it’s free).
If he messages you just say you will discuss it in mediation, don’t agree to anything outside of it as it’s not legally binding and he could keep coming back for more.
I would also say you have had legal advice to take it to mediation and see what happens, even if he sues you it will have to go through mediation first and that can take unto 3 months and they won’t hold your passport as its not a criminal case.

This is what you should be aiming for but he may try to bump up his cost so be prepared for it.

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14

What does the report say on liablility?

Was it stamped by the DMV in Taiwan? Has your partner re-entered Taiwan in the 30 days prior to the accident?

If your insurance company is steadfastly refusing to pay then ask for a refund on the insurance premiums paid, tell them they sold you something that you cannot use!

Did he provide a breakdown on the 70K? If he was going through your insurance he would have to get a quotation for repairs, have his vehicle repaired and then have your insurance company pay the repair shop directly. Sounds like he is asking (near) the full value of the bike.

Don’t be afraid of mediation, it’s free and relatively painless and, in my opinion, far better than dealing with the guy privately. Engage with the process but don’t be a pushover and offer to pay. The conclusion on the accident board report is key, it determines the percentage blame. Next up is the quotation for damages, this can be argued.

That’s a very far away and unlikely end point, go to mediation first, at the very least it gives you breathing space, the absolutely, and highly unlikely, worst that can happen is they say you owe him the 70K he’s asking for, which is where you are now. Don’t mention your plans to leave, show your finances and then put in place a payment plan of X amount/month.

That won’t go down well with the mediation board.

Sell the car, to a scrap yard if necessary. Claim back the remaining taxes, insurance etc.

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15

Worth regularly checking on Wowtchout’s website, someone may have uploaded dashcam footage, 探索 · WoWtchout - 地圖型行車影像分享平台

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16

God dam rabbit hole of a site, (I know I’m now going to be on this for the next hour).

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