You have certain legal rights after an accident. This can include being able to file a compensation claim to help cover your damages. You probably expect the insurance company to cover all of your damages or at least most of them. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always apply in every accident.
Sometimes more than one party is responsible for an accident and this can directly impact your personal injury claim. Navigating comparative fault in a Texas accident claim can be challenging, especially if you aren’t familiar with the legal standard.
What is Comparative Fault in a Texas Personal Injury Claim?
States have varying insurance laws that govern how compensation for accidents is handled. Some states like Florida follow no-fault insurance rules. This means everyone involved in an accident relies on their insurance provider to cover their damages.
However, Texas is an at-fault state so you often don’t need to worry about submitting a claim with your insurance provider. You typically only file a claim with your insurance company if the at-fault driver is uninsured, underinsured, or you’re at fault for causing the accident. Now that you have a general grasp of the varying insurance laws, it’s time to look at how comparative fault can affect a personal injury claim.
Also known as comparative negligence, this standard can play a role in compensation amounts. Yes, Texas follows comparative fault rules. Essentially, the legal standard allows for more than a single individual or entity to assume fault for the same accident.
An example is if you’re speeding and the lead car turns without signaling resulting in you crashing into their vehicle’s back bumper. Since both drivers failed to follow traffic laws, comparative negligence rules probably apply.
Both drivers are assigned part of the blame and their potential compensation amounts are reduced by their percentage of fault. So, if you’re 40% responsible for the accident, remember in this scenario you’re the driver speeding, your settlement amount will reflect your 40% of the blame. So, if your claim’s value is $200,000, you’ll receive a check for $80,000. Yes, comparative negligence can significantly lower the overall value of an accident claim.
You may be wondering if you can file an accident claim regardless of your assigned percentage of fault and the answer is no. In a comparative negligence state like Texas, you can’t file a compensation claim if you’re more than 50% responsible for the accident.
In this type of situation you’re going to need to rely on your insurance provider to help you cover your damages. You may also be able to file a lawsuit against the other driver. This is different from a personal injury claim. The lawsuit names the other driver as the defendant and not their insurance provider.
How is Fault Determined in Texas Accidents?
Multiple parties can have a say in who’s at fault for a car accident. The process usually starts with the responding officers. Most police officers are trained in accident scene investigations, and the authorities may even call in reconstruction specialists. This usually happens when the accident scene is complex like one involving a multi-car pileup.
After the authorities have finished investigating the incident, the information goes into your official accident report. You can usually get a copy of the report within about ten business days.
You should expect the insurance adjuster to also have a say in how fault is determined. The insurance company has a stake in who’s ultimately found to be responsible for the vehicle accident.
If the insurance adjuster can prove comparative negligence, they can reduce your claim’s value. Insurance companies are often searching for ways to lower the amount of any claim they may have to pay out. The insurance company will review the same information as the authorities and may come to a different conclusion.
Can You Appeal Your Percentage of Fault?
If you don’t agree with your assigned percentage of fault, you can file an appeal. This is sort of like a mini-trial. You and the insurance company will present your evidence. A judge or jury will review both sides of the case and issue a ruling. Your percentage of fault may be reduced or stay the same.
Sometimes the court’s decision isn’t what you want to hear. If this happens, you can appeal the court’s decision. However, there’s still no guarantee a higher court will rule in your favor.
Negligence Can Determine Fault
Regardless of whether you’re filing a claim for a slip-and-fall or a car accident, you must prove that the other party is negligent. This can also help determine comparative fault.
Negligence is the very foundation of most types of personal injury claims. If you can’t prove negligence, you probably don’t have a claim even if comparative fault doesn’t apply. How do you prove negligence? You must meet the following four elements:
- Duty of Care: Everyone has a duty of care to someone, even if you’re trying to emulate a hermit’s lifestyle. Duty of care is defined as a responsibility everyone has to act in a way that doesn’t knowingly or willfully place others at risk.
- Breach of Duty: A breach of duty occurs when someone’s behavior or actions place others at risk. An example can be a driver who’s willfully or knowingly ignoring all traffic laws. Speeding can be viewed as a breach of duty.
- Causation: Proving this element of negligence means showing that the breach of duty is directly responsible for causing the accident. For example, the accident probably wouldn’t have occurred if the other driver hadn’t been speeding.
- Damages: These are the losses you suffered because of the accident. If the accident hadn’t occurred, you wouldn’t have experienced any losses.
Proving the four elements of negligence can also help ensure you’re not unfairly assigned more than your fair percentage of blame.
Protecting the Value of Your Accident Claim
Insurance companies are often trying to reduce compensation amounts and comparative fault rules can work in their favor. To help ensure you’re not being unfairly assigned blame, it’s a good idea to partner with an experienced Texas accident lawyer.
From establishing negligence to appealing comparative fault percentages, your attorney can help protect the value of your claim.
