Once a determination of fault has been completed, then all involved parties should understand who could be held liable for any damages. Certain questions must be answered, before the identity of the party-at-fault can be established as per Personal Injury Lawyer in Edmonton.
Did the collision take place in a no-fault state?
In such states, there is no need to prove fault. Instead, the insurance company of the person that has suffered damages from the impact of the collision must cover any medical expenses. In addition, that same insurance company must offer coverage for the injured party’s lost salary, if that same party was unable to return to work, following his or her involvement in the accident.
Was more than one person responsible for the accident’s occurrence?
If the claimant/plaintiff had contributed to the factors that caused the accident, then the applicable charges would depend on the nature of the negligence principle applied in the relevant state.
–Some states apply the principle of contributory negligence. That denies any compensation to someone that has contributed in any way to occurrence of the damaging event.
–Most states adhere to the principle of comparative negligence, whether in the traditional or modified form. In the traditional form any compensation would be inversely proportional to the extent of the plaintiff’s contribution. In the modified form, the traditional approach would hold, as long as the plaintiff had not contributed to more than 51% of the causative factors.
How could a police report play a role in determination of the party at-fault?
If either party had been issued a ticket, then that would serve as evidence that the same party had been negligent, and had, thus caused the accident. Sometimes the arriving officer points a finger at one of the parties, when making his or her report. Still, there is a way to have any reported information changed, if its accuracy has not been verified.
The introduction of such changes could prove difficult. Yet the addition of more facts could probably be accomplished without the likelihood of strong objections. For that reason, a claimant would want to work with a personal injury lawyer in Sherwood Park, in order to request such additions.
How might a driver’s age have an effect on the determination of fault?
Sometimes, such as in a parking lot incident, the involved parties might dispense with contacting any police officer. If one of the involved parties were much older than the second, younger driver, then the insurance could be inclined to place the blame on the less-experienced driver. The truth of the above statement was shown by 2 similar parking lot accidents, involving a father and daughter. When the daughter was the driver, she was declared at-fault; that was not true for the father.