People are not always sure if they should talk to an accident injury attorney. In order to receive compensation, someone must be legally liable for the injury. Establishing liability is critical, so discuss your options with an attorney.
In order for the defendant(s) to be liable or at fault, they must have committed an action that was legally wrong. Sometimes that’s obvious, such as when someone is injured in an accident caused by a drunk driver. More often, liability is vigorously disputed.
Liability can be shared. This is frequently the case in a defective product claim but can happen in any injury claim. The manufacturer of a defective product, the seller and others in the supply chain could all be held liable for injuries caused by the product. If a truck hits a car because the brakes failed, the truck driver, the trucking company, the manufacturer of the brakes, the parts supplier and others could all be named in a lawsuit.
Modified Comparative Fault
Accidents typically occur because someone was negligent or careless. At times, both parties may be at fault, though not to the same degree.
In Georgia, there is modified comparative fault. For example, if one driver ran a red light, but the other driver was speeding, some degree of fault could be assigned to both drivers. People are held responsible for their own actions if they were partly to blame for being injured.
If both parties are held to share responsibility for the accident, a percentage of blame will be assigned to each. The driver who ran the red light might be 60% responsible, while the injured speeding driver was 40% responsible. If total damages were $100,000, the injured driver would collect $60,000 ($100,000 minus 40% or $40,000).
Duty
Suppose the person who was injured was someplace where they were not supposed to be and was injured. Should the owner of the property be responsible? It would depend upon the specifics of the accident. The property owner might or might not be liable, depending on whether or not they had a legal duty to be careful regarding the person who was injured.
Injury cases can be very complex. At Edwards & Bullard Law, the attorneys have 37 years of combined legal experience. When you need an experienced and hard-working accident injury attorney to fight for your right to fair compensation, call them for a free consultation.
