Placing Liability After Injury In An Accident
If you are looking to pursue an insurance settlement or personal injury lawsuit, you must be able to prove that someone else was liable for their injury in order to be successful This means finding who the liable parties are, and whether or not their negligence caused the injury. This can be difficult to prove if you've been involved in some type of accident, because even if you know who the responsible party was, convincing the insurance carrier for that person can be a difficult feat. This article will give you a brief overview on how you may be able to be successful in your pursuit, subsequently winning a settlement for compensation for your injuries.
Proving Liability
In order to hold someone else liable for injuries sustained, you must prove that the property owner or caretaker should have recognized there was a dangerous condition and that they should have taken the necessary steps to repair or remove that danger, but failed to do so. You need to prove that any reasonable person would have been able to identify the condition as being hazardous, and further prove that they had an opportunity to rectify the situation before the accident occurred. You may also need to prove that the property owner or caretaker actually caused the condition that lead to the slip and fall.
Your Own Liability
One of the defenses that the insurance company will use is somehow trying to place the blame on you. Even if they can't place full blame on you, they may still try to somehow determine that your actions also played a role in your injuries.
For example, did you enter into an area you were not supposed to be in, perhaps in a section of a store that was marked "For Employees Only"? While the property owner or caretaker may still retain some responsibility for not taking care of a dangerous situation, you may not be able to place 100 percent of the liability on the caretaker or owner of the property if you were in an area that was clearly marked as off limits.
Or, perhaps you were running on an icy sidewalk, and fell and injured yourself. Again, the property owner does take some responsibility for not properly clearing the sidewalk of ice and snow build-up, but you will have to assume responsibility for not walking carefully in an area where you know the possibility of falling is greater.
When partial blame is placed on you as the injured party, you may not be able to collect full compensation for your injury. Talk to an experienced accident attorney like Littman & Babiarz Law Office for more information regarding your own specific situation.
