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Car accidents can have serious implications for victims and their families. In worst-case scenarios, car accidents can leave victims disabled or can cause deaths. Under most circumstances, victims and their families require financial assistance to stay afloat. However, the stress and trauma of the accidents discourage them from filing litigation and recovering compensation from the at-fault driver. This article will walk you through the factors that impact your qualification for compensation and help you identify whether filing a lawsuit will be in your best interests. At the end of the piece, you will come across a few stories from victims of car accidents. These stories will enable you to get a better perspective of your case and help you make an informed decision.
There are a variety of factors that impact a victim’s qualification for compensation. Ranging from the state you reside in to the events leading up to the car accident, everything can influence whether you get compensation for the accident or not. Although state laws vary, the common principles applied to car accident cases remain the same across the country. Here are the factors that will decide whether or not you qualify for compensation:
The first and most basic requirement to qualify for compensation is that you or your loved one should have sustained injuries in the accident. If you have been injured, then you have a viable claim to demand compensation. On the other hand, if you have not sustained any injuries despite being in an accident, you do not have a valid claim for demanding compensation.
Basically, the statute of limitations is a term used to define the time limit that a plaintiff (victim) has to bring a case against the defendant (the at-fault driver). The statute of limitations varies from state to state. Typically, every state allows a victim to file a personal injury or a wrongful death claim two years after the accident. Victims get four years to file a claim to recover compensation for damages to their property and vehicles. If you fail to file a case within this time span, your compensation claim will become invalid despite meeting all the other requirements.
Another major factor that will impact your qualification for recovering compensation is proving fault. The burden of proving fault falls on the person bringing the claim to the court. Not all cases are straightforward and involve only one driver being at fault. There are chances that a breach in your judgment may have contributed to a certain extent to the accident. Therefore, there are two basic models used for determining whether or not the plaintiff gets compensation and what its value will be:
Under the comparative negligence model, each party involved in the accident is allocated a fault percentage that depicts their negligence. This is the most common model used for determining fault and has been adopted by most states. The fault percentage assigned to you determines whether or not you will be qualified for receiving any compensation and, if yes, what would the amount awarded be. Comparative negligence is adopted in one of the following forms:
Only a few states adopt this model. Under the doctrine of contributory negligence, an accident victim is barred from recovering any compensation from the defendant if they were negligent and contributed to the accident in any way. This means that you will not be qualified to recover any compensation in such states even though your negligence may be negligible compared to the defendant.
Every car accident case is different and brings a different set of challenges with itself. It is, therefore, in your best interest to have your case evaluated by a professional before filing the claim. Here are few stories of the people who were in a car accident and used The Legal Helpers to ascertain their qualification for compensation and find a car accident attorney:
I was in a bad car accident and took a year for rehabilitation. I then decided to get my case evaluated. I contacted The Legal Helpers for assistance. They evaluated my case for free and informed me that I still had a healthy chance of recovering compensation for my damages. The platform then helped me find a car accident attorney who guided me through the litigation process and enabled me to settle the case and recover the damages I incurred due to the accident.
A fatigued truck driver crashed into my car, and I suffered severe injuries. The incident occurred on an interstate highway. I was unsure what laws would apply to the accident and whether I should file litigation or settle for recovering a part of my damages from my insurance company. I contacted The Legal Helpers with these doubts, and they helped me understand that filing litigation was the right thing to do. I then found a car accident attorney through the platform who helped me go through a series of negotiations and represented me in a trial after the trucking company’s insurer denied paying fair compensation. I won the case and recovered compensation that covered my damages.
