One of the questions that often comes up when dealing with personal injury cases, is how liability is determined in the aftermath of a car accident. If you are curious about how liability is calculated, here are several things to consider:
Who is involved? How liability is determined might vary depending on who was involved in the accident, who owned the cars that were involved, and whether negligence occurred.
- If you suffered injuries during a car accident in which the driver’s negligence contributed to the accident in question, it may be possible to establish liability on the fault of that driver. You may be eligible to receive compensation for the injuries that you sustained physically, materially, and emotionally. Please note that you must be able to prove the driver acted negligently in order to prove liability in this scenario.
- If you were driving and another driver acted negligently and caused an accident, they may be held liable for the damages. Additionally, if the negligent driver was not the owner of the car that they were driving, the owner of the vehicle in question may be liable for the damages because they were responsible for allowing the negligent driver to operate their vehicle.
- If the driver of the other vehicle was driving as part of their job and drove in a negligent manner, their employer might be liable for the damages that ensued. This may be especially true if the other driver was using a company vehicle.
How many drivers might be liable? In some cases, more than one person might be found to be liable for the damages resulting from an accident. When this happens, a court will usually determine what percentage of the damages each driver is liable for.
What laws apply to your state? Fault is determined differently from state to state. It is important to know the ways that fault is determined according to the state in which your accident occurred.
What were the circumstances surrounding the accident in question? In addition to testimony and evidence from the affected parties in an accident, it can be helpful to obtain eyewitness testimony from anyone who saw the accident happen. This can be helpful to a case because the information is coming from a neutral party. This can also include police reports, which describe the road conditions, weather, and effects of the accident in a way that is admissible in a court of law. Be sure to obtain a copy of the police report after it is filed.
If you do not have eyewitness testimony, you can also work with an accident reconstruction expert who may be able to piece together the details of how the accident occurred. It is not recommended that you do an investigation into the accident details on your own, as these experts are uniquely qualified to determine the factors that affected the accident and the surrounding circumstances.
When you want to protect yourself from liability in an accident, it is important to team up with a legal professional that you trust. A good lawyer can help you to navigate the ins and outs of the legal process, while ensuring that fault is appropriately distributed.