Learn what you’ll need to show to recover for your car accident injuries.
If you’ve been hurt in a car accident, you may be feeling overwhelmed with stress, bills, and pain. You may believe that the other driver caused the accident — but how can you prove that?
If you hire an experienced car accident attorney, he or she will take on the responsibility of proving your case. However, understanding how it will happen can help to reassure you about your prospects — and to take steps to preserve your right to recover damages.
Proving Negligence
Car accident cases, like most personal injury claims, are usually based on a theory of negligence. This is a concept that means that a driver did not act with the same level of care that a reasonable person would in a similar situation. Someone can be negligent in any number of ways, including:
- Speeding
- Texting and driving
- Failing to look before turning onto a road
- Not stopping at a stop sign or relight
- Not yielding
- Failing to signal a turn
- Backing up without looking
Infrequently, a person may cause an accident through intentional conduct. This may open them up to criminal charges in addition to civil personal injury claims.
There are four elements that must be proven to win on a negligence claim: duty, breach, causation and damages. Your car accident attorney will formulate a plan designed to prove each of these elements to the judge and/or jury in your case.
- Duty: When you drive, you are required to exercise a reasonable level of care and caution. Proving that a person had a duty to practice a reasonable level reasonable care while driving is typically a simple matter — if the person was operating a motor vehicle, then he or she had a duty to operate it carefully.
- Breach: Next, you must show that the driver breached or violated that duty. This is shown by demonstrating that the driver did not act like a reasonable person would have under similar circumstances. For example, if a reasonable person would not text and drive, the fact that the other driver did so can be proof that he or she breached their duty to use reasonable care and caution.
- Causation: This is where you prove that the other person’s negligence caused your injuries. You can prove this by using your medical records and other proof of injuries. The other side may try to claim that the injury was pre-existing or that you were not injured as badly as you claim. That is why it is so important to have a skilled car accident attorney on your team.
- Damages: Finally, you must show that you suffered damages as a result of the other driver’s negligence. This could be in the form of medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, property damage, lost earning capacity and more. It’s important to keep careful track of your bills to be able to prove this element of the claim.
If you’ve been injured in a car accident, you can count on the Law Offices of Larry H. Parker to help you prove your claim. We have helped hundreds of clients recover millions of dollars for their injuries, and we never charge a fee unless we recover money. Contact our office today at 800-333-0000 or info@larryhparker.com to schedule a free initial consultation where you can learn about your legal rights and options.
