Accidents can happen in the blink of an eye. Sometimes, the incident will result from the negligence of both parties. This situation can be handled through comparative negligence.
If you are dealing with the aftermath of an accident, you will want to know how comparative negligence works and how it might impact your personal injury claim in Tacoma.
An experienced Tacoma injury attorney can deal with the complications related to comparative negligence and ensure you get fair compensation for your losses.
What Is Comparative Negligence?
Comparative negligence is the concept of sharing fault and allocating repair costs between parties involved in an accident.
It recognizes that multiple parties may contribute to an accident and allocates fault on a percentage basis. This allocation directly impacts the sum of compensation the injured party can obtain.
Pure Comparative Negligence
Pure comparative negligence allows an injured party to recover damages, even when they are mostly at fault.
Let us say you are 70% responsible for an accident; you can still recover 30% of your damages.
While this system can ensure recovery in every case, it usually does so at the expense of a much smaller compensation for those accountable.
Modified Comparative Negligence
A more restrictive approach is modified comparative negligence, which establishes a threshold to determine recovery.
This approach follows the rule of 50 or 51%, meaning you can recover only if you are 50 or 51% or less at fault.
In balancing fairness, the system prohibits recovery by the truly liable while also allowing partially liable victims to recover compensation.
Impact on Personal Injury Claims
Comparative negligence influences how faults are assigned, calculated, and paid out through:
- Determining Fault: After an accident, investigators collect evidence, including police reports and witness statements, to determine the percentage of fault.
- Adjusting Damages: Damages such as medical bills, lost wages, property damage, and pain and suffering are totaled up to determine a percentage related to their fault.
- Insurance Settlements: When insurance companies want to avoid paying out large amounts, they often reduce payouts using comparative negligence.
- Court Proceedings: However, if there is no settlement, the case may go to court, where a judge or jury will assign fault percentages and award damages.
Why would you need a Tacoma Injury Attorney?
Negligence laws are complicated, and insurance companies take full advantage of these complexities to reduce payouts significantly.
To reduce the chances of low or no compensation at all, there is a need to acquire the services of an experienced lawyer who can help you counter these tactics and ensure rightful compensation for your troubles.
An attorney can ponder whether the accident was carefully investigated, if substantial evidence was gathered, and could challenge a determination that the fault was unfair.
Additionally, they can negotiate with insurers on your behalf or represent you in court to get the best outcome following an unfortunate accident.
If you do not seek professional legal advice, you might even have to chip in on the bill of restoring the property to its initial state as the at-fault party goes scot-free.
Conclusion
In personal injury cases, comparative negligence is an essential threshold to determine the amount of compensation you can recover.
Regarding accidents, avoid being too eager to accept guilt upfront if you are not sure what actually happened, especially if you are partially responsible for a crash.
Working with an experienced Tacoma injury attorney will ensure that your case is dealt with the right way, thereby increasing the likelihood of you finally getting the compensation you deserve.
Just because it is a shared fault, do not let it keep you from recovering. Call a legal advisor you can trust today to defend your right to recover the money you deserve.
