Being injured in an accident can be extremely stressful as you may be in pain while also wondering how you will protect your family financially. When your injuries are caused by someone else’s carelessness or negligence, it can be even more frustrating. These tips can help you understand how to prove negligence in a car accident.
What is Negligence?
Before you can prove negligence in a car accident, it is important to understand what negligence is according to the law. When someone fails to exercise care that a reasonable person would or should have exercised under the same circumstances, they could be guilty of negligence. Basically, negligence violates the standard of care you should expect from someone in a certain situation. For example, a person who is texting behind the wheel of a car fails to see the traffic signal is red and hits another car. The driver not only breached their duty of care by texting while driving, or driving while distracted, but also by running a red light. Therefore, the person has violated the duty of care in two ways.
Four Elements to Prove Negligence in a Car Accident
There are four elements you must meet to prove negligence in a car accident. These include:
- Duty of Care
- Breach of Duty of Care
- Causation
- Damages
The first is proving that someone breached their duty of care. Although this may seem obvious, it can actually be difficult. Once you establish that the duty of care was breached, you must show how that breach of care led to the accident. Once that is determined, you must prove that the breach of duty actually caused your injury and finally, that you suffered damages due to that injury. Very often, someone who is involved in an accident makes the statement that they “could have suffered a serious injury.” The fact is, if you did not suffer an injury based on the breach of duty, you may not have a claim.
Insurance Companies
Keep in mind that the other person’s insurance company will attempt to show that they were not negligent but that your injuries were simply caused by an unavoidable accident. They may also claim that your injuries were not caused by the accident and that they could have been caused by something you did on your own. If you failed to go to the hospital or a doctor immediately after the accident, it may be harder to prove negligence in a car accident. The same is true of the defendant can show you did not follow orders given to you by your doctor. Therefore, if you are involved in a car accident, it is critical that you visit the hospital or a doctor very quickly as some injuries may not appear immediately. In addition, it is also critical that you follow your doctor’s orders exactly.
Proving Negligence After a Car Accident
There are several ways you may be able to prove negligence after you are injured in a car accident. First, you will want to get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of anyone who witnessed the accident. If there are cameras in the area, you will want to try to get any footage of when the accident occurred. Be sure to take photos of the scene from many angles, as well as the damage to your car and any injuries you sustained. Get a copy of the police report as well to see if law enforcement assigned fault in the accident.
Hire a Car Accident Lawyer
When you are injured in an accident, the first thing to do is seek medical attention. And the second, hire a car accident lawyer. Hiring a lawyer does not mean you plan to sue the other driver. Instead, a lawyer’s office usually has investigators who will handle all the steps necessary to prove negligence. They can interview witnesses, obtain surveillance footage, gather photos of the accident, and work with the police to get the documents you need for your case.
If you have been injured and feel you need to prove fault in a car accident, contact our office immediately to see how we can help. At your no-obligation consultation, a lawyer will talk to you to determine whether you have a negligence claim and our investigators will begin looking into the accident, gathering important evidence, and confirming that the other driver may have been negligent. You can arrange for a consultation by calling or filling out the easy online form today.
