*Loan,banking and credit>>>debt loan

Can a cosigner be sued for more than the debt of the loan?

I asked my dad to cosign a car lease and he said no because if I got into an accident they could sue him for everything he owns. I think he's over-reacting, I'd like a lawyers input though.

Even if he just cosigns and you have seperate insurance and such......... in the end if you have a serious accident he could be sued biggtime. It is viewed as if he "enabled" you to have a vehicle and therefore is part and party to events leading up to the accident. So it is not the answer you are looking for but your father is correct.

Your father could do other things to boost your credit and therefore make it possible for you to get it on your own. But that as well implies trust and responsibility. But that gets into why you would lease which is usually a bad deal unless you have money already. With that it implies that you are over reaching on the type of vehicle that you can afford.

So probably the best thing is to have him just give you money for a downpayment and you get the car at a bad rate on your own. Once you have a history of payments you can then renegotiate the terms as your credit will bump up.

Only thing a co-signer will owe is the contract he signed. Might include interest and penalty. IF you are on his insurance instead of your own, different story.
Your dad would not be liable to the lien holder for any more than the cost of the outstanding balance (usually there's also a clause allowing the lien holder to recoup their costs--including attorneys fees--for recovering the amount of the loan).

This doesn't sound like the liability your dad is interested in, however. He sounds concerned with the liability he would face to the person you may get into an accident with. The owner of a car (which your dad would be if he were a co-signor on the loan) could be liable to someone you got into an accident with.
As a co-signer, your father could be responsible for the following, if things do not work out as planned:
1) Car lease amount
2) Any late fees or penalties
3) Interest
4) Any court costs/legal fees
5) Any liabilty not covered by insurance in the case of a car accident.

I have seen several incidents where parents ended up with thousands of dollars of debt due to co-signing an auto loan. I have never done that for my children and I don't advise that others do as well.
Sorry, no legal Beagle advice here, just a blurb. I live in Quebec, Canada - a province with no-fault liabiltiy insurance (ie. no sueing permitted). A car loan (owners/bank) and moving violations or accidents (operators/insurance) are 2 completely separate things. Mind you...if you're in the States, you're Dad's probably right - Yanks'll sue for breathing incorrectly.