Determining Fault for a Los Angeles Accident Injury

Determining Fault for a Los Angeles Accident Injury

Determining fault in an injury accident is all important. As you might imagine, though, fault is often not black and white. The fact is that here in Greater Los Angeles, almost every injury accident requires a thoughtful, detailed analysis of the facts and an in-depth knowledge of the law to figure out who is to blame.

To understand the whole notion of determining fault, it’s important to know that nearly every injury accident is governed by the legal theory of negligence. And what that means is that someone is considered to have acted with negligence when they breach a standard of care and that breach results in hurting someone. Put another way, everyone owes each other a duty of care to act or not act in a certain way. Many duties are written down as laws, such as the duty to drive sober (DUI laws), the duty to drive at a reasonable speed (speed limit laws), and on and on.

For as many people and situations as there are in Los Angeles, you can think up as many scenarios of accidents. The problem is, powerful insurance companies, defendants, and the savvy legal defense firms they hire know every trick in the book to try to put liability on you and to prove that you, the injured, were at fault.

Now, in California, we are what is called a “pure comparative fault” state, which means a plaintiff can still recover even if they are at fault, but their recovery is reduced by the percentage they are deemed to be at fault. This is a dramatic improvement over “contributory negligence” states in which a plaintiff who is at fault by more than 50 percent is completely barred from any recovery.

How’s comparative fault work in the real world? Say you are speeding, but the other driver ran a red light. The other side may argue that if you had not been speeding, then the accident would not have occurred. Does that mean the defendant who ran the red light gets off scot-free? No, it just means that you will be charged with a certain percentage of fault and your ultimate monetary reward will be reduced by that amount. If, for example, a jury gave you $100,000 but deemed you were 20 percent at fault, you would then recover $80,000.

This is an over simplified example, but as you can see, the complexities of determining fault demand that you have a powerhouse law firm in your corner with the resources, staff, and experienced lawyers to fight for your rights.

The Dominguez Firm is a powerhouse injury law firm with thousands of successful results in all sorts of accidents and injuries, and will fight to get you the compensation you deserve. If there is no recovery, there is no fee! Call now for a free consultation at 800-818-1818.