There are no magic formulas
or special language you have to master to show why someone was at fault in any
particular kind of accident. All you have to bear in mind are the general rules
of liability discussed in the first section of this post. You need only make a
reasonable, commonsense argument about why a person or business was careless in
acting or failing to act, and how that negligence caused the accident that
injured you. And in accidents caused by defective products, you need not show
any negligence on the part of the product’s maker or seller. Instead, you need
to show only that you used the product in a normal way and that the defective
or dangerous part of the product caused your injuries. The rest of this chapter
discusses how these general rules are applied in specific types of accidents.
Remember, though, that an insurance adjuster might claim
that you, too, were negligent, or that you were using a product improperly. So,
when you think about the facts of your accident consider how the insurance
company will view your actions and begin to plan your responses.
Car Accidents
Anyone who drives or rides in a car long enough is likely
to be involved in at least a minor fender-bender. And on our crowded streets, pedestrians,
too, are often involved in accidents with buses, cars, and bikes. The rules
regarding liability for vehicle accidents apply both to injury claims and to claims
for damage to your vehicle. Anyone who rides a bicycle or motorcycle knows that
the roads are even more dangerous for two-wheelers than for cars. Also, special
rules of the road apply only to two-wheelers. If you had an accident riding a
two-wheel vehicle, your claim is given special attention below, in “Special
Issues for Bicycles and Motorcycles.” But before turning to that section,
familiarize yourself with the information in this section about vehicle
accidents in general.
Special Rules for No-Fault policyholders
About
a dozen states have some form of no-fault (also called Personal Injury
Protection) auto insurance.No-fault insurance is intended to prevent people with minor
auto accident injuries from filing claims for any damages other than their
property damage and medical bills, like pain and suffering. However, every
no-fault plan permits claims for damages beyond medical bills in some circumstances.
To see if you’re no-fault policy affects how you can make an auto accident injury
claim. If you are covered by a no-fault policy that allows you to file a claim
for damages against the person who was at fault for your accident, proceed
against that person as explained here, exactly the same as if you did not have
no-fault coverage.
Where to find help in showing fault
Your argument to an insurance
company that the other driver was at least partially at fault can be
strengthened if you can find some official support that the other driver
violated one or more rules of the road.
Vehicle code. One place to look for support for your argument that the
other driver was at fault is in the laws that govern driving in your state,
usually called the state vehicle code. A simplified version of these laws,
sometimes called “The Rules of the Road,” is often available at your local
department of motor vehicles office. The complete vehicle code is also available
at many local department of motor vehicles offices, most public libraries, and
all law libraries, and often online. There is a law library at or near every
courthouse and at all law schools. In the index at the end of the last volume
of the vehicle code are references to many rules of the road, one or more of
which might apply to your accident. A librarian may be willing to help you with
your search, so don’t be afraid to ask. If you believe a rule might apply to
your accident, copy not only its exact wording but also the vehicle code
section number so that you can refer to it when you negotiate a settlement of your
claim.
Rule violations that always
mean liability.
Many rules of
the road are subject to debate with insurance companies: Did the other driver really
violate the rule? Did the rule really apply in your case? Did the rule
violation actually cause the accident? But there are a few situations in which
the other driver is almost always found to be at fault, and insurance companies
don’t even bother to argue about it.
Rear-end collision. If someone hits you from behind, it is virtually always
his or her fault, regardless of the reason you stopped. A basic rule of the
road requires that you be able to stop safely if a vehicle stops ahead of you.
If you
Cannot stop, you are not driving as safely as the person
in front of you. The other surefire part of a rear-end accident
Claim is that the car’s damage proves how the accident
happened. If the other car’s front end and your car’s rear end are both
damaged, there’s no doubt that you were struck from the rear. In some
situations, both you and the car behind you will be stopped when a third car runs
into the car behind you and pushes it into the rear of your car. In that case,
it is the driver of the third car who is at fault and against whose liability
insurance you would file a claim. However, even if you have been rear-ended, in
a few circumstances your own carelessness may reduce your compensation under
the rule of comparative negligence. A common example is when one or both brake
or tail lights were out, especially if the accident happened at night. Another example
is when a car had mechanical problems but the driver failed to move it fully to
the side of the road.
Left turn accident. A vehicle making a left turn is almost always liable to a
vehicle coming straight in the other direction. Exceptions to this
near-automatic liability can occur if:
• The vehicle going straight was going much too fast, but
that is usually difficult to prove; it would mean only that the other vehicle had
some comparative liability, not that the turning vehicle could escape
responsibility altogether
• The vehicle going straight went through a red light,
but that is also very difficult to prove unless there were witnesses outside two
vehicles who saw the accident clearly, and
• The left-turn vehicle began its turn when it was safe
but something unexpected happened that made it have to slow down or stop its
turn. Nonetheless, the law says the vehicle making the left turn must wait until
it can safely complete the turn before moving in front of oncoming traffic. Also,
as with a rear-end collision, the location of the damage on the vehicles
sometimes makes it difficult for the other driver to argue that the accident
happened in some way other than during a left turn. So, if you have had an accident
in which you ran into someone who was making a left turn in front of you,
almost all other considerations of fault go out the window, and the other
driver is nearly always fully liable.
