Auto collisions cause more physical injuries to Americans yearly than any other kind of accident, and the Lone Star State sees almost half a million wrecks per annum. Unfortunately, most of these incidents only happen because one or more people involved were acting in a reckless, careless, or illegal way. Fortunately, that means people injured in wrecks often have grounds to pursue civil restitution from the parties responsible for harming them.
Holding Someone Liable for a Car Crash
In practice, holding someone else liable for causing harm in a motor vehicle accident means proving they were legally “negligent” in some way. More specifically, this means showing through a preponderance of all available evidence that all the following conditions apply to a particular scenario:
- The party being sued owed a duty to the person filing suit to act responsibly and reasonably under specific circumstances
- The party breached their duty by acting in some irresponsible way
- That breach was the proximate cause of the wreck or other accident which, without the breach of duty, likely would never have happened
- The complaining party suffered injuries as a result of the wreck or other accident
Every driver has the same basic “duty” to follow the law, watch for other cars and pedestrians, and generally react as a reasonable person would to conditions they encounter while driving. However, establishing that a breach occurred and connecting it directly to an ensuing crash can be difficult without a capable Garland car crash attorney’s assistance.
