One way the defense might try to beat your personal injury case is to argue that you contributed to the accident in some fashion. If they succeed in showing that you were partially to blame for the wreck, then the amount of money that you recover could be significantly reduced, or you may even be denied compensatory recovery altogether. With so much on the line in these circumstances, you need to know how to fight back against comparative negligence arguments.
Deflecting comparative negligence arguments
There are several strategies you can use to try to protect yourself against a finding of comparative negligence. This includes:
- Attacking the credibility of the defense’s witnesses and knowing how to rehabilitate your witnesses when the defense attacks the reliability of their testimony.
- Using expert testimony to give a more convincing picture of causation.
- Contextualizing your actions in the broader sense, comparing them to the negligence exhibited by the defendant.
- Pursing discovery so that you can lock witnesses and the defendant into their stories and can find points of attack.
Remember, even if you can’t eliminate the possibility of a comparative negligence finding, you might be able to reduce the amount of fault that’s assigned to you. This can save you a significant amount of money in your recovery. So, don’t give up on your case just because you may have played a role in your accident.
There are several issues to address when you pursue a personal injury lawsuit. And you have to adequately face them if you want to maximize your chances of obtaining a favorable result. So, if you’ve been hurt in a car accident, now is the time to develop a plan for putting together the compelling case needed to protect your interests.