April 23, 2026 · 4:54
Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at [email protected] Rav Aryeh FinkelQuestion: A driver makes a turn and accidentally sideswipes a parked car. He leaves a note on the windshield with his phone number and starts to drive away. Suddenly, he sees another car plow into the same parked car and total it. The owner of the car has his vehicle declared a total loss by the insurance company and is given enough money to buy a new car. Now that he is covered for his entire loss, does the first driver owe him anything?Answer: The Rashash writes about a similar scenario. A person went into someone’s house and broke some furniture, only for the entire house to go up in flames a short time later. Since the house and its contents would have burned anyway, is the man liable for breaking the furniture?The Rashash proves from a Tosafos in Bava Kama that a damager has to pay for what he did, regardless of what happens later. Tosafos is speaking about a case where someone threw a rock at a dish and someone else breaks it before the rock makes contact. In this case, the dish would have been broken by the rock in any case, yet Tosafos says that the one who broke it is liable for the damage he did.In our case as well, it’s true that the owner received money for a new car, so the damage the first driver caused made no difference to him and caused him no loss. It could, perhaps, be argued that this driver is not liable because one person cannot receive two payments for the same damage