What Is Comparative Fault in
Auto Accidents? A Tampa Car Accident Attorney Explains
To examine the issue
of comparative fault, it helps to give an example of how
this legal term may be used in a fictitious auto accident
case. In our example, you are traveling down Hillsborough
Avenue in Tampa, Florida. You are speeding a little bit,
maybe 10 or 15 miles per hour over the posted limit. As
you pass through a green light, a car from a side street
ignores a red light and turns right in front of you, hitting
the front end of your car. You sustain serious injuries.
Who would you say is at fault? Obviously the person who
did not stop at the red light before turning in front
of you is mostly to blame, but some may say that you were
traveling over the speed limit. Are you partially to blame
for the car accident?
This is a question that
may ultimately have to be decided by a jury, but prior
to that can best be answered by your Tampa
car accident attorney, whose job it would be to argue
for you to receive the highest appropriate settlement
for your injuries. The most critical part of your car
accident case—and any other car accident case—is determining
who is at fault. The person at fault (and his or her insurance
company) will be responsible for paying for injuries.
In many car accident cases, however, more than one driver
may have been negligent. When this is the case in your
car accident, it is likely that your attorney would discuss
“comparative fault” with you.
Comparative fault is
a law in Florida (and several other states) that allows
more than one person to take some share of the blame in
a car accident. The question of comparative fault is often
hashed out between insurance companies, car accident attorneys,
and juries as they try to determine the percentage of
fault for each driver. This percentage directly affects
the settlement received by the injured party.
In our example above,
let's assume a jury awards $500,000 in damages to you,
the injured person, but you were found to be 20 percent
responsible for the car accident. This would reduce your
settlement by 20 percent for a total settlement of $400,000.
Tampa car accident attorney
Dale Appell, P.A. aggressively fights for the rights of
his clients to receive the maximum settlement possible.
Even if you believe you may have been at fault in your
Tampa Bay area car accident, if you have sustained serious
injuries, please contact our law firm for a free initial
consultation. From our Tampa location at Rocky Point,
we serve injury victims and their families all over the
area including Pinellas Park, Hudson, Clearwater, Temple
Terrace, Hillsborough, Dade City, Dunedin, Palm Harbor,
St Petersburg, and Bradenton.
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