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FAQs About Contributory Negligence and Car Accidents
Admin • Feb 20, 2018
Alabama is one of the few states that has contributory negligence laws in place when it comes to car accident personal injury claims. Contributory negligence restricts who can collect money from a personal injury claim for injuries sustained in a car accident.
If you have been injured in a car accident, here are a few of the questions you may have about contributory negligence and car accidents in Alabama.
What is Contributory Negligence?
Contributory negligence basically means that if you had any fault in the car accident, you are barred from recovering any money from a personal injury case.
For example, you may be speeding down the road when a driver blows through a stop sign and causes a collision. Unfortunately, since you were speeding and your injuries might have been worse due to the speed at which you were traveling, you are unable to recover money from a personal injury claim, even though the other party failing to stop at a stop sign was the predominant cause of the accident.
Anytime you have fault that may have led to the accident occurring or your injuries being worsened, you are unable to recover money from the other party for your injuries in a personal injury case.
Can You Dispute Fault in a Car Accident?
Because of the contributory negligence laws in Alabama, it is important that you are found to have no fault in a car accident. If a police report, insurance report or other accident investigation finds that you have any fault in the accident, you may wonder if there is anything you can do to dispute these findings.
An accident report is not the final indicator of fault. Many things can be done to dispute fault following a car accident. Hiring a personal injury lawyer is one of the best things you can do when you need to dispute fault in order to win a personal injury case.
How Can an Attorney Help Prove You Weren't at Fault?
If an accident report states that you have any fault in a car accident, hiring a personal injury lawyer can be beneficial. A personal injury lawyer can help dispute the findings and show you were not at fault for the accident. Here are a few of the ways that they can help to prove the other driver carried all of the fault:
- Speak to Witnesses
One of the ways that a personal injury lawyer can help prove the other driver carried all of the fault for the accident is to interview witnesses and call them to testify at trial. A witness may be able to dispute that you did anything that caused the accident. They can detail what they saw, which may be enough to show you were not at fault.
- Subpoena Video
Video cameras are everywhere. And often times, the captured footage of a collision occurring. A personal injury lawyer can subpoena video footage from businesses, homes and even city traffic cameras to help show exactly how the accident happened and who was and was not at fault.
- Hire Accident Recreationists
The last way a personal injury lawyer can help to dispute that you had any fault in a personal injury claim is by hiring an accident recreationist. An accident recreationist recreates or reconstructs accidents. These experts can provide testimony as to who they feel was at fault and why, based on the facts surrounding the case.
Due to contributory negligence laws in the state of Alabama, it is important to hire a personal injury lawyer to help you if you have been injured in an automobile accident. Here at POOLE William C. Poole, LLC, we will go to work to show the driver that injured you carries all of the fault for the accident. Contact us
today to schedule a consultation to discuss your case with us.
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