Accidents often occur when someone has been careless or negligent. It is easy to say a person or business is legally liable for an accident. Proving who is at fault, or the most careless in a situation can get complicated and often requires the help of legal experts such as personal injury attorneys.

How do you determine who is legally liable?

The basic rule to determine who is legally liable is called the rule of carelessness. This means that the person who is the least careless usually will be compensated by the person who is more careless when an accident occurs. There also are several factors that could be considered when determining who is at fault.

• If an injured person is not where they are supposed to be for the situation, the person causing the accident may not be held liable. They had “no duty” to anticipate the need to be careful toward the injured person in that scenario.

• If the injured person was also careless during the accident, his or her compensation for the injury may be set at a reduced amount. The legal term for this is called comparative negligence.

• An employer may also be liable if a negligent person is working for them when an accident occurs.

• An owner of a property may be held liable for injuries sustained by someone if the property is poorly built or not well maintained among other premises liabilities. The owner may be liable even if he or she did not create the dangerous condition.

• If a product is defective and results in injury to a person, both the manufacturer and the seller of the product could be held liable.

What happens if more than one person is at fault?

If more than one person is at fault for an accident, for example in a multiple car accident, the injured person can file for full compensation from any of the careless parties. You and your personal injury lawyer would notify the responsible persons that you will be filing a claim for damages. Once this has been done, you can file a claim with one of the responsible parties after the details of the accident are evaluated, and a determination is made about which insurance company should pay the claim.

If you find yourself in need of personal injury attorneys to help you after an accident or injury occurs, the law offices of Anderson, Moore, Bailey, and Nowell are here to serve you.

This blog is intended for general informational purposes only, and is not intended to serve as a substitute for talking to one of our lawyers here at Anderson, Moore Bailey and Nowell. In fact, the first step you can take towards resolving your problem is to have a face to face conversation with one of our lawyers. Our consultations are free, they are confidential, and we can almost always schedule you an appointment the same day we receive a call.