As you move forward with your personal injury case, the other side is probably going to argue that you contributed to the accident in question. Their hope is that a judge or jury will agree with them, which could significantly reduce or even eliminate your recovery. Given the power of our state’s comparative negligence law, you need to develop your legal strategy in a way that seeks to head off any arguments that you were comparatively at fault for your wreck.
How to address comparative fault in your case
Dealing with comparative fault arguments can be difficult. But there are ways to mitigate or even beat these arguments. Here are some ways that you might be able to effectively handle them:
- Use expert testimony to help show who was at fault. Just be prepared to counter any expert testimony put forth by the defense.
- Attack witness credibility to diminish the impact that the defense’s witnesses have when they testify about actions that could be construed as comparative negligence.
- Maximize your damages so that even a finding of comparative fault will have a limited impact on your ultimate recovery.
Address your personal injury claim from all angles
There are several aspects of your case that you’ll need to adequately address if you want to protect your claim. To those who are unfamiliar with the law, though, it can be hard to spot these issues. That’s why many injured car accident victims turn to an attorney for assistance.
That choice is one that only you can make, but we encourage you to read up on how personal injury cases are presented and defended against so that you have a full understanding of the process ahead of you. Only then will you be able to make the fully informed decisions that are right for you.