Negligence in McKinney Car Accident Cases

The biggest factors when considering negligence in McKinney car accident cases depends on the degree of choices poor made by each driver. Each driver on the road makes a series of choices and as more dangerous choices are made, it is more likely that fault is apportioned to the driver. Liability for an accident is not just about the fact that a person was hit, but whether the choices made were hazardous. The more dangerous the choices, the higher the degree of fault. An experienced car accident attorney can help you seek damages for the harm you have suffered.

Common Causes of McKinney Car Accidents

Distracted driving can be cause for negligence in McKinney car accident cases. It is well known that driving while operating a cell phone is not safe. When a person chooses to not look at the road and chooses instead to drive while looking at their cellphone, or chooses to be distracted while texting or doing something else while driving, their choices are put in stark contrast to the jury. There is a greater likelihood of that person being assigned a higher degree of fault. Texas law has cases specifically hold that the driving facts are not severable from the damage facts.

The issue of the dangerous activity always comes into play. For the personal injury lawyer preparing a case, it is important to find every factor that makes the at-fault person’s driving dangerous. There are many factors that can be involved in a vehicle accident. If a driver runs a red light at an intersection, a car accident lawyer may look at the intersection to identify other factors that might have contributed to just how dangerous the driving choices were in that case, such as schools or churches nearby, and bicycle or motorcycle traffic at that intersection.

Defining Comparative Negligence

Modified comparative negligence in McKinney car accident cases is considered the state-wide standard to determine the amount of recovery an injured person receives. When an injured person has some degree of fault in the injury, they may get some reduced recovery. As long as the injured person is not primarily at fault, and that means 51 percent or above, for causing an injury, each person is responsible for their own percentage of fault causing the injuries.

Classifying Roles Determining Fault for a Crash

A case in which an injured party may have some fault can negatively affect the value of the case. In some cases, because the degree of fault is split due to the degree of serious injuries, claims may not be feasible at all. That is especially true when there is a significant chance of bad fault-finding against the injured party or if, after reductions, the damages do not warrant a lawsuit. Driving facts come into play when apportioning fault between the parties.

When there are multiple percentages of fault dependent upon the at-fault nature of the person, the assignment of fault comes down to the individual facts of each case such as speeds, location, and distance in a car wreck case. The law refers to it as comparative negligence with a 51 percent-bar rule. When someone is found more than 50 percent at fault, they can be held for all of the injuries a person sustained that was not caused by that person. If there is a car wreck and the injured person is found to be 0 percent at fault.

How Does One’s Role Impact Recovery?

One defendant is found to be 70 percent at fault and another defendant is found to be 30 percent at fault. In that scenario, the plaintiff can recover 30 percent from the person who is 30 percent at fault and 70 percent from the other person. The injured person could collect 100 percent from the primarily at-fault defendant, the 70 percent at-fault defendant, and then that defendant can go after the other person for their money. That can be really important in cases in which defendants are not solvent or do not have adequate insurance money to take care of the plaintiff’s injuries. Too often, the person who has a huge percentage of the fault does not have adequate insurance or adequate assets to fully pay back the person they harmed.

Calculation of Car Crash Damages

If someone has a relatively minor injury that is believed to result in $10,000 of damages to them. Hypothetically, the jury puts 40 percent responsibility on the plaintiff and 60 percent on the defendant. In that scenario, the injured party’s total damages of $10,000 are reduced by the part they are at fault for which is 40 percent. That reduces the amount ofdamages by $4,000, so $6,000 is all that they can recover from the at-fault person.

Sometimes, damages for negligence in McKinney car accident cases may not be economically feasible. It may cost more money and time to put the case together than a person can recover. Assignment of damages is always case-by-case-specific. The greater the degree of impairment, the greater the degree of damages, the more likely it is that the case can be economically feasible; regardless of whether the plaintiff can recover 100 percent of the damages for what happened to them.