How Compensation For A Personal Injury Depends On Determination of Liability?

If the victim of an accident has chosen to seek compensation, then he or she will need to seek the answers to 2 questions. Who was at fault; and how much did that same victim contribute to creation of the injury?

Factors that could set the stage for a car accident

• Poor weather conditions, such as fog, an icy road or a pouring rain

• Misconduct on the part of the responsible driver: It could be that the driver was tailgating, or maybe two drivers in different vehicles forced a 3rd driver to rear end one of the 2 vehicles with an irresponsible driver.

• Careless moves, such as running through a red light or making a left hand turn from a lane that had been designated for drivers that were going straight.

• Poor maintenance of vehicle, particularly if that includes the presence of non-functioning seat belts or air bags.

• Driver distracted by a passenger or by an emergency

• Driver creates own distraction, perhaps by making a cell phone call, or maybe by eating while trying to control the steering wheel.

• Driver commits a criminal action, such as driving soon after using marijuana.

The lawyer’s role in a determination of liability

The victim’s lawyer can look for evidence that the other driver introduced one of the factors in the above list. For instance, Personal Injury Lawyer in Waterloo can study the cell phone records for the other driver. Was that man or woman speaking on the phone during the moments that led up to the accident?

An attorney might also check to see what items could be found in the vehicle that had caused the accident. Was there any half-eaten food on the front seat? That would suggest that the apparently liable driver was eating while driving. A look inside that same vehicle would also reveal any problems with the seat belts or the air bags.

Which of the factors listed above might also play a part in causing the victim to contribute to creation of the victim’s injuries?

The defendant’s lawyer could check on the condition of the victim’s car. Did it have functioning seat belts? Did it have functioning air bags? Did it have functioning turn signals? Were the car’s brakes in good condition? A defect in the victim’s car could be pointed to as something that made the injury worse.

Maybe the victim was careless in some respect. Maybe the driver that got injured had jumped into the car without first putting on his or her glasses. Perhaps that same driver had failed to don a pair of sunglasses, at a time of day when the sun was low enough to shine into the car’s window. All those possibilities must be examined.