Who is at Fault in a Multi-Car Accident (California Law)
We’ve all encountered those situations where you see multiple battered cars pulled off the road after an accident. An accident with one vehicle can be complicated and stressful enough, but what about when you must deal with multiple vehicles? Determining who is at fault in a multi-car accident can be difficult, but the California car accident lawyers at Curtis Legal Group are prepared to help you identify all responsible parties to ensure maximum compensation recovery.
California At-Fault Insurance Model
Determining fault in a multi-car accident is often a critical component in recovering payment from the responsible insurance provider. This is due to California’s at-fault insurance model, which requires evidence of responsibility before a claim gets paid.
In multi-car accidents, it may not be clear who the responsible party is. This lack of clarity can present unique challenges when you try to recoup your losses. While police reports on responsibility often align with insurance providers’ final decisions and inform them, they are not the sole determining factor, especially when multiple parties are cited. Therefore, the police determination is influential but not definitive in multi-car accident claims.
Speaking too freely with the insurance company can be risky. It may benefit you to avoid conversation with the insurance provider until you have spoken with an attorney, regardless of what the police determine.
Liability and Negligence in a Multi-Car Accident
The person or people shown to be negligent in court or negotiation is who legally assumes liability for the accident. Your attorney will utilize four principles to establish the negligence of other parties or argue for a reduction of your liability apportionment.
Duty-of-Care
Your attorney will first work to establish a duty of care, or your fundamental obligation to take reasonable action to keep others safe. California drivers have a duty to abide by traffic laws to support safe travel.
Breach of Duty
Next, you must show that the responsible party breached that duty in some way. In a car accident, this breach of duty often refers to a violation of traffic laws, whether that is running a red light or driving under the influence
Causation
You must show that the other drivers’ breach of duty caused the accident. This may mean that their failure to stop at the red light directly caused them to T-bone the person in the intersection, pushing their vehicle into you.
Damages
Finally, you must show that the incident caused you injuries or that you sustained damages. This can typically be shown by estimates for vehicle repair costs or medical bills, among other things.
California Utilizes Pure Comparative Fault
A concept that may add significant complication to a car accident case and liability apportionment is that of comparative negligence. According to California Statute 1431.2, the state utilizes a pure comparative negligence model when determining liability and apportionment of damages.
Abiding by comparative negligence laws requires your attorney to fully investigate the case and identify all possible contributing factors. When multiple cars are involved, this may mean three or four people are partially responsible.
Consider a multi-car accident scenario where another driver’s phone distraction contributed to the incident. This could establish fault. The person who ran the light may be clearly in the wrong, but had the other vehicle been paying attention, they may have had the ability to avoid the collision, leaving them 15% responsible. If you were recovering $10,000 in damages, the first driver may pay $8,500 while the other individual is responsible for $1,500.
One of the benefits of pure comparative negligence laws is that you are not barred from recovery unless you are 100% at fault for the accident. So even if you were speeding, and they determined you were 10% responsible, you would still receive $9,000 of the $10,000 in damages.
A California Accident Attorney Will Investigate Your Case to Determine Liability
One of the many benefits of working with a law firm like the Curtis Law Group, is that your attorney will often conduct an investigation of your case. Some of the evidence that often assists in determining liability includes:
- Police report documents
- Videos or photos of the scene, property damage, or injuries
- Working with accident reconstruction experts
- Identifying and speaking with eyewitnesses
Additionally, they can help to determine what exactly caused the accident. Did the first vehicle shove the other vehicle into you, or did the second vehicle swerve into you trying to avoid the first? There are countless pieces of context that may affect how liability is determined and apportioned.
Burden of Proof in a California Multi-Car Accident
We’re all familiar with the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ requirement for convincing the court in a criminal case. However, the burden of proof for a civil or personal injury case is a preponderance of the evidence, which means you must convince the jury that your version is more likely than not to have occurred.
Our team of skilled attorneys knows how to collect and organize the evidence to present a convincing argument, whether it is for pre-trial negotiations or in front of the judge. A strong case is often the key to avoiding a drawn-out court battle and higher settlement offers.
You Can Take Steps to Reduce or Avoid Your Own Assumption of Liability
From the moment the accident happens, you have some degree of ability to protect yourself from unnecessary liability. The first steps to this include reporting the accident, documenting the scene, and contacting an attorney immediately.
The insurance companies are often only interested in minimizing their payout, meaning they will often take anything you say and find a way to use it to diminish the value of the case or deny liability altogether. If you must speak with them before an attorney, you should keep your statements truthful and concise and avoid volunteering any information.
When you seek medical treatment for your injuries, it is important to comply with your treatment plan. For example, if your physician says you need physical therapy twice a week, but you only go once a week, or fail to schedule at all, this may be taken as evidence that you are not as injured as you claim to be.
In addition to avoiding free or liberal communication with the insurance company, our lawyer may advise you to reduce or cease posting on social media. You may know that you spent all of your time at the family get together in the chair and resting your body, but the insurance company may spin the photo to tell a very different story.
Call Curtis Legal Group to Help You Establish Liability and Recover the Compensation You Deserve
Navigating a car accident claim while you try to recover from injuries can seem like a full-time job, and for us, it is. Your focus after an accident should be on healing and recovering, not the minutia of your insurance claim. With recognition from the National Top 100 Trial Lawyers, and rated by Super Lawyers, our firm is committed to handling the details so you can focus on you.
Curtis Legal Group brings decades of experience to support your case. We offer free case consultations to discuss your case with no obligation. Call us today for the representation you deserve.