Partial Fault Car Accident

Answer:

After a car crash, it seems like everyone wants to know whether you got a ticket or not. What they’re really asking is “Was it your fault, or was it somebody else’s fault?”

So, how do you go about figuring out whose fault it was?

First off, the police officer at the scene is going to weigh in on what they think. They’ll talk to the people involved in the crash and they’ll talk to the witnesses. They’re going to look at evidence like skid marks or video that’s around. They’ll try and see what both drivers did or if either of them broke the law as they to try and determine who’s going to get a ticket. Even so, who gets a ticket and who the police officer thinks is at fault isn’t always the last word on who’s at fault.

The next thing that’s going to happen is the insurance companies will investigate the accident themselves and try and work out who they think is at fault. Insurance companies rely a lot on what the police report says, but sometimes they can’t figure it out. They use what’s called “inner company arbitration” to try and sort out who the companies think was at fault, but because insurance companies are in the business of keeping their money, don’t be too concerned about what they try to tell you about who was at fault in the crash.

I’ve seen a lot of cases where both insurance companies were completely convinced that the other guy was at fault, so I’m not that worried about what the insurance company thinks, off-hand.

As your lawyer, we’re not bound by who gets the ticket or what the insurance company thinks. We’re going to dig in for you. We’re going to take pictures. We’re going to interview witnesses. We’re going to look at the damage photos and the repair estimates for the car.

As your lawyers, we’re investigating for you. We look for anybody that might have some fault in your crash. For example, even if no laws were broken, did the other person break a safety rule?

I’ll give you an example. Did they not look both ways before they pulled out of a parking lot? You see, there’s no traffic law that says you must look both ways, but there is a rule that says you can’t do anything unless it’s safe. If you don’t look both ways, then it’s not safe.

As soon as an insurance company finds some way to blame you, it doesn’t go any further. They just check the events against traditional traffic laws, and they deny your claim. There are a lot of factors that contribute to who had some fault for a crash and how that fault gets divided up. If you have any questions, especially about fault, call me for free. Let me help you figure it out.