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Driveway accident - my driveway, other person driving too fast?

I live in a student house. We have a longish driveway that is narrow between the houses and expands out into the backyard, which our neighbors use to park their cars in their backyards. My one housemate had a car and I have a car, my other 3 housemates have no cars. There is room for about 4 cars in the back 2 and 2 in a right angle if you know what I mean (2 parallel to the fence (neighbors backyard) and 2 perpendicular to the fence (our backyard)). There are the two neighbor cars and there were my housemates and mine perpendicular to the fence. My housemate with a car was home in his home city for the weekend and the one neighbor was parked parallel to the fence (fence is parallel to the road). Therefore I knew that no cars should be moving. I was sitting in my car reading the directions to the location I was going to be driving with my brakes on. I then looked behind me and saw nothing behind me in the driveway, so I looked over my left shoulder to see the tree and the parked yellow car and fence (I was turning around so that I could drive out to the road forwards). I turned/backed up looking over my left shoulder at the tree and parked car to back into the space between the tree and parked car, and my housemate's friend drove his car from the street right behind my car right into my blindspot (basically from the right) right into position almost blocking the location I was pulling into and they collided (back right corner of my car and the front right/passenger side of his car. Apparently he had been driving fast down the driveway and tried to honk to let me know he was going to pass into the parking spot beside me, but he didn't know the horn was a button not the middle of the wheel (it was his brother in laws car he was borrowing). I got out and started crying, but my car was completely fine, his car was a little dented. I got all mad because no one else is supposed to park back there, and he said that he had asked my housemate (one who has no car and therefore really shouldn't give anyone permission to use my parking space and she should have told the ones with cars that she had given out this permission). I didn't know whether to be mad at him or my housemate. He said he knew my number. I got home from the study session I was attending and I wrote everything down and a diagram but I never heard from him. I have seen him around at parties but he hasn't said one word to me. I never admitted fault and he practically did by saying that he saw me backing up and thought I was going to go straight so he tried to pull beside me fast. He really should have slowed down so that I had seen him once he saw that I had my brakes on and then reverse lights. Anyways just tonight I was talking to my one housemate about my friend who owes me money for a textbook he took from my room while I was in hospital for my appendix, and she asked if I had ever paid "mr.x" and I said "pay him for what" and she said "hitting his car". I was shocked that this was an issue and that he had expected me to pay for anything. I exclaimed that he never contacted me and he had admitted fault, then she just shrugged and I left because I feel like they all take his side - but no one was there and no one had told me that he would be using our driveway. I am moving out of this house because when I was in the hospital they asked this guy to come live with us next year and I still feel tension from this guy. Anyways does anyone know the legality of the situation? Was he technically trespassing? I was backing up and turning but he drove forwards into my blindspot fast and I was paying attention to the other cars and obstacles in my own driveway. I am in Ontario Canada. This incident was 7 months ago as well. Is there anything he can do? Sorry its really hard to describe our driveway and the situation I wish I could attach a picture.

Public Comments

1. Wow, lots of writing there. Fact is, you backed into his car. It's your fault. It doesn't matter whether he should have been there, it doesn't matter that he was going too fast. None of the other stuff all matters - you backed into him, and the backing driver always has the greater duty - to be aware of oncoming traffic and to yield to it. Pay the man. If you claim this on your insurance, they will tell you the same thing. He was not trespassing, he was visiting.
2. No he was not trespassing. Even if he was that's irrelevant. When you're leaving a parking spot the vehicles using the roadway you are entering have the right of way. It doesn't matter if they were speeding or playing "Stairway to Heaven" on air guitar. They have the right of way. Plus from your epic narrative there is nothing that he said that indicates he admitted fault. Plus without a witness he can easily negate any of your accusations by saying, "No I didn't say that." However at this point all you can do is wait and see what happens. You may want to investigate the Ontario Statute of Limitations for this situation. I believe it's two years however you may want to confirm this. Once two years pass he can no longer sue you for the damages.
3. While both of your actions contributed to this accident you ARE the one that would be considered at fault for this. While that may not be fair, it is what it is, as a vehicle reversing into a lane of traffic (public or private) you need to ensure that it is safe to proceed before doing so. Were you to file an insurance claim you would be deemed at fault according to the fault determination rules used in Ontario (linked below). If the version of events is fundamentally different between you and the other driver then it would likely be dealt with as a 50/50 accident and both of you would receive increased premiums for your trouble. Unless the damage was in excess of $1000 he was not required to report the matter to the police, and in Ontario he has 1 year from the date of the accident to report the matter to his insurance company and file a claim. He was NOT trespassing as he had the permission of a person legally occupying the property to be there, by your own admission. It sounds as if the other vehicle suffered only minor cosmetic damage, you would be best off paying for these repairs rather than having the other driver proceed through insurance, which it seems he is still entitled to do for the next 5 months or so if he chooses.