Many people are unaware of the complexity car accident law. If an accident results in a civil suit being taken against any of the drivers involved, the law is even more complex. People should always engage the services of a skilled personal injury attorney if they have a car accident. The principal task an attorney has is to establish exactly who is to blame for the accident.
Vehicular accidents are highly complex but any litigation that takes place will revolve around a very simple concept - determining who is at fault. Proving or disproving fault will be the goal of any attorney representing a client in such cases.
Working out whose fault the accident was can be difficult. When attributing blame for an accident, the attorney has to establish that the driver responsible was negligent. The reason why it is so important to work out who is responsible is because the liability for any damages arising from the accident rests with whomever was at fault. Sometimes, establishing the blame is easy. For example, if an accident occurred when a drunk driver, who was traveling at high speed, failed to stop at a red light, then it would be easy to establish that the drunk driver was responsible.
What if the accident is less straightforward than the example? Let's suppose that the drunk driver was speeding and had a green light, but collided with a sober driver who had gone through a red light. Establishing blame in this scenario is more complicated, since both drivers have been negligent. You might think that each driver would have to bear half the costs, but this is not necessarily the case. There are situations where one driver is deemed more negligent than the other, and is held 70% responsible. Dealing with problems like these is where accident attorneys earn their fees.
There are three categories of such comparative fault in car accidents and different states have adopted them. These categories are:
Pure comparative fault. 51% comparative fault. 50% proportional comparative fault.
Any attorney representing an accident client needs to be fully aware of, and understand, the comparative fault that applies in the state.
If the state uses pure comparative fault, the amount of damages that will be paid to an injured party will be reduced by whatever percentage of the blame falls on that party. In other words, if a claimant was 40% responsible for an accident, then any injury or damages payout will be reduced by 40%.
51% comparative fault refers to those who are more than 51% at fault for an accident end up losing their legal claim to injuries suffered in a car accident. This might be a rather harsh statute in some people's eyes but this is the rule in many states.
The 50% proportional comparative fault category is used in some states. In those states, any injured party who is deemed to be less than 50% responsible for the collision is entitled to seek damages for personal loss or injury.
It can be seen that a person's ability to claim for injury or damages is very much dependent on properly apportioning the blame for an accident. That is why it is of the utmost importance to hire an excellent accident attorney to represent you if you are involved in a car accident.
Vehicular accidents are highly complex but any litigation that takes place will revolve around a very simple concept - determining who is at fault. Proving or disproving fault will be the goal of any attorney representing a client in such cases.
Working out whose fault the accident was can be difficult. When attributing blame for an accident, the attorney has to establish that the driver responsible was negligent. The reason why it is so important to work out who is responsible is because the liability for any damages arising from the accident rests with whomever was at fault. Sometimes, establishing the blame is easy. For example, if an accident occurred when a drunk driver, who was traveling at high speed, failed to stop at a red light, then it would be easy to establish that the drunk driver was responsible.
What if the accident is less straightforward than the example? Let's suppose that the drunk driver was speeding and had a green light, but collided with a sober driver who had gone through a red light. Establishing blame in this scenario is more complicated, since both drivers have been negligent. You might think that each driver would have to bear half the costs, but this is not necessarily the case. There are situations where one driver is deemed more negligent than the other, and is held 70% responsible. Dealing with problems like these is where accident attorneys earn their fees.
There are three categories of such comparative fault in car accidents and different states have adopted them. These categories are:
Pure comparative fault. 51% comparative fault. 50% proportional comparative fault.
Any attorney representing an accident client needs to be fully aware of, and understand, the comparative fault that applies in the state.
If the state uses pure comparative fault, the amount of damages that will be paid to an injured party will be reduced by whatever percentage of the blame falls on that party. In other words, if a claimant was 40% responsible for an accident, then any injury or damages payout will be reduced by 40%.
51% comparative fault refers to those who are more than 51% at fault for an accident end up losing their legal claim to injuries suffered in a car accident. This might be a rather harsh statute in some people's eyes but this is the rule in many states.
The 50% proportional comparative fault category is used in some states. In those states, any injured party who is deemed to be less than 50% responsible for the collision is entitled to seek damages for personal loss or injury.
It can be seen that a person's ability to claim for injury or damages is very much dependent on properly apportioning the blame for an accident. That is why it is of the utmost importance to hire an excellent accident attorney to represent you if you are involved in a car accident.
About the Author:
See www.shoalslawyers.com for more information. They specialize in injury cases including car and truck wrecks. The lawyers at Shoalslawyers.com handle estate and trust litigation, accidents, and injury cases. The writer is not associated with Hall-Tanner-Hargett.
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