After an accident has caused someone to be injured, an attorney may seek to determine who was at fault. Here are the questions that the same attorney will be asking, in hopes of uncovering the clues that should guide his or her determination.
Was someone careless?
Typically, the answer to this question is “yes.” Carelessness causes most accidents. Two or more people may have been less than careful. Who was least careful? That is the person that will be considered at fault.
Was the injured person careless?
Did the victim of the accident go in an unsafe area? Did he or she do something risky? If that can be proven, then no one will be held responsible for the injury. If the injured person contributed in some way to creation of a dangerous situation, in other words, one that increased the chances for occurrence of an accident, then his or her compensation will be less than it would have been otherwise.
If the injured party was working for an employer, then that same person (the boss/company) becomes legally responsible for the accident, unless the employer can prove that an act of nature, such as an earthquake, had unexpectedly put the employee at risk.
If the accidental occurrence got played out on a dangerous piece of property, then the owner of that same property becomes liable for the resulting injuries. If someone other than the owner has created a dangerous situation on a given property, the owner must pay for the damages and then seek reimbursement from the person that had introduced earlier the unwanted element of danger. If a defective product put people at risk and thus helped to increase chances for an accidental injury, then both the manufacturer and the seller can be held liable. That is why it is important to talk with your Personal Injury Lawyer in Chatham.
Were multiple people at fault?
That question often gets asked after a traffic accident, especially one in which several cars were damaged and a number of drivers and passengers got injured. In this case, the person that seems to bear most of the responsibility compensates any injured men, women or children. Then that same person can seek reimbursement from the other parties involved in the accidental collision.
Can anyone be charged with comparative carelessness?
A person can be hit with that charge if he or she contributed in a small way to occurrence of an accident, while a second person introduced more powerful causative factors. The person that triggered introduction of the most influential factors bears the most responsibility. Consequently, a claim might be decreased if an attorney can prove that one of two responsible people made a move that heightened slightly the chances for an accident.