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.
There may be other considerations when it comes to road accidents, but you can be certain that any civil case will be centered on establishing where the blame for the accident should lie. Trying to allocate or shift the blame will be the lawyers' primary task.
Establishing blame following an accident is not as straightforward as you might think. This is because the law will hold the person who caused the accident responsible for all damages that result from it. There are many situations where it is easy to attribute blame for an accident. An example of this would be where somebody driving under the influence smashes into somebody while breaking a red light at speed. If that happened, the drunk driver would certainly be responsible.
Unfortunately, not all accidents are quite so straightforward when it comes to establishing blame. We can demonstrate this by imagining a scenario where the drunk driver in the example above had a green light, and then collided with a sober driver who went through a red light. In this situation, it is not so clear-cut as to who is responsible, since both the drunk and the sober driver were negligent to some degree. Some people might assume that the blame would be equally shared, but that is not always the case. There are accidents in which 60% of the blame might be attributed to one driver, and 40% to the other. As you can see, the issue of blame is complicated, and a good lawyer is essential.
The types of fault that can be attributed have been divided into three categories of comparative fault. Throughout the US, most states have adopted one of these categorizations. They are known as:
Pure comparative fault, 51% comparative fault 50%, and proportional comparative fault
It is vital that lawyers representing people involved in car accidents are fully aware of which type of comparative fault is used in the state where a claim is being pursued.
In states that use pure comparative fault, the amount of liability due to an injured party will be reduced by a percentage that represents the injured party's portion of the blame. In this scenario, if the injured party is held to be 30% responsible for the accident, then his or her damages entitlement will be reduced by 30%.
The most harsh category is the 51% comparative fault category. If the state uses this, then any injured party whose responsibility for an accident is more than 51% will not be entitled to claim any damages.
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.
There may be other considerations when it comes to road accidents, but you can be certain that any civil case will be centered on establishing where the blame for the accident should lie. Trying to allocate or shift the blame will be the lawyers' primary task.
Establishing blame following an accident is not as straightforward as you might think. This is because the law will hold the person who caused the accident responsible for all damages that result from it. There are many situations where it is easy to attribute blame for an accident. An example of this would be where somebody driving under the influence smashes into somebody while breaking a red light at speed. If that happened, the drunk driver would certainly be responsible.
Unfortunately, not all accidents are quite so straightforward when it comes to establishing blame. We can demonstrate this by imagining a scenario where the drunk driver in the example above had a green light, and then collided with a sober driver who went through a red light. In this situation, it is not so clear-cut as to who is responsible, since both the drunk and the sober driver were negligent to some degree. Some people might assume that the blame would be equally shared, but that is not always the case. There are accidents in which 60% of the blame might be attributed to one driver, and 40% to the other. As you can see, the issue of blame is complicated, and a good lawyer is essential.
The types of fault that can be attributed have been divided into three categories of comparative fault. Throughout the US, most states have adopted one of these categorizations. They are known as:
Pure comparative fault, 51% comparative fault 50%, and proportional comparative fault
It is vital that lawyers representing people involved in car accidents are fully aware of which type of comparative fault is used in the state where a claim is being pursued.
In states that use pure comparative fault, the amount of liability due to an injured party will be reduced by a percentage that represents the injured party's portion of the blame. In this scenario, if the injured party is held to be 30% responsible for the accident, then his or her damages entitlement will be reduced by 30%.
The most harsh category is the 51% comparative fault category. If the state uses this, then any injured party whose responsibility for an accident is more than 51% will not be entitled to claim any damages.
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:
Visit the Hall-Tanner-Hargett (www.shoalslawyers.com) for personal injury information. Hall-Tanner-Hargett is a civil litigation law firm in North Alabama located in the Quad-Cities area of Tuscumbia, Muscle Shoals, Florence and Sheffield. The writer is not associated with Hall-Tanner-Hargett and did not consult with them personally on the finished document.
