Determining fault in personal injury cases, known as ‘liability’ for legal purposes, is an extremely important and sometimes complicated part of the process. Before you can truly show that a party is responsible for an accident and must pay to compensate injuries, factual evidence must be provided to determine who is legally at fault. Liability most often hinges upon whether a party was ‘negligent’. Negligence is a legal rule that all persons must take ‘reasonable care’ to avoid injury to others. This reasonable care standard can vary with regard to time, place, and relationships of people. Put simply, if you can show that you were careful and the other party was careless, then the other party would be guilty of negligence and thus responsible for paying for injury damages. Your claim does not necessarily need to be ‘proved’ in the settlement negotiations phase of a case. Rather, often only a strong legal argument that the other party was negligent is needed to be able to negotiate a fair settlement.
In many car accident personal injury cases, liability is obvious from the facts of the case. Situations where a person is hit from behind at a red light show negligence for the reason of careless driving, often as a result of exceeding the speed limit combined with lack of attention to the road. Other cases can be more complicated, and an insurance company will want to consider other evidence in order to admit liability. Police reports are an integral piece of evidence that an insurance company will want to consider. Police write a report whenever they investigate an accident, so it is important to always call the police when you are involved in a wreck. These reports usually consider an opinion by the police officer as to which party caused the accident. If you have been involved in a car accident, please contact the Pinkerton Law Firm so that we can help ensure you get deserved compensation for your injuries.
