How To Determine Fault for Any Car Accident
Learning to determine accident fault for car accidents does not have to be very difficult. Law schools certainly spend a substantial amount of time on the issue of negligence, the legal theory in which fault grounded. In essence, and for the purpose of this article, negligence equates to fault.
Unless you live in a no-fault state, insurance companies must determine who is negligent in every car accident before they pay for damages under an auto policy. To do this, they must turn to the elements of negligence which are: Duty + Breach + Causation + Damages. All elements must be present or accident fault cannot exist on any party.
To determine fault, insurance companies and consumers must take the following steps.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- All evidence gathered a the scene (police reports)
- Statements from drivers and witnesses
- Your state code and traffic regulations
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1
Look at the "driver duty" for each driver. Every person behind the wheel of a car assumes driver duties. It does not matter if you have a license or not, it does not matter if you are an adult or a toddler. The law will place affirmative duties in every driver for purposes of accident fault. Usually the duties every driver must follow are "look out, avoidance, and obey the rules of the road."
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2
Determine if any of the drivers breach any of their duties. This means that both drivers must be interviewed to determine if they were following the rules of road, if they were paying attention, and if both of them attempted to avoid the accident.
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3
Determine if the drivers actually attempted to avoid the collision. When looking at accident fault, you must look at avoidance carefully. Avoidance is exactly that. The driver must attempt to avoid the accident. The fact that another car is at fault, or has done something illegal, does not give the other driver license to hit them.
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4
Double-check the rules of the road. When it comes to assessing accident fault, the obvious requirement is that everyone must obey the traffic laws. Drivers must be in full compliance with all the traffic laws that apply to the accident. Traffic laws are codified in all states in the state annotated code or the administrative code (the name varies by state).
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5
Determine which duties were breached by each driver. Look at accident fault as if each driver is acting alone. Look at the breached duties and determine which breaches are more substantial than others. For example, if driver A breached the duty to conserve speed v. driver B breached the duty to stop at the stop sign. The duty to stop at a stop sign probably weighs more heavily because a stop sign gives the right of way to other traffic.
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6
After looking at duties breached, you must establish a causal relationship between the breached duty and the ultimate damage. Let us assume that Driver A is legally parked in a parking lot. Let us further assume that Driver A is drunk in the driver's seat and that the engine is running while someone pulls out of a parking stall and hits Driver A's car. Is Driver A negligent? The answer for purposes of accident fault is NO. The fact that Driver A was drunk did not cause the accident. There was no causal connection between the fact that Driver A was dunk and that a vehicle came and hit his car while he waited.
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7
Establish the amount of damages. Damages must exist either as property damage or as a bodily injury. The important thing to remember is that all damages must be related to the duty breach. In other words, if you have back pain and a headache, the analysis explained above will be applied twice (one time for the back pain and one time for the headache). You must show that the specific car accident caused the injury you are claiming. Many times this is easy, but sometimes, showing that a low speed impact caused a neck injury could be difficult.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Make sure you look at negligence for both drivers.
Be objective when weighing the duties breached.
Make sure you restrict your analysis to only physical evidence and not arguments (she said - he said).
Consult with a local attorney for any decisions regarding fault or negligence before making a final decision
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References
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