Was your accident partially your fault?
Posted October 6th, 2015 by Anthony Carbone, PC.
Categories: Personal Injury.
Not all accident claims are created equal. In some cases, you may have contributed to the circumstances that led to your injuries. Was your accident partially your fault? If so, can you still recover for damages? Let’s go over some basic premises.
Workers’ Compensation Claims
Were you hurt at work? In New Jersey, workers’ compensation claims are the purest form of no fault insurance. For the most part, you can expect certain remuneration under the law. You can read more about these here in one of our prior articles. However, there are exceptions. Were you involved in horseplay at work that led to your accident claim? Were your injuries more health related? For example, was it just happenstance that led to your heart attack on the job? These are all disputable actions that are best handled by an experienced personal injury attorney.
Comparative Negligence
We don’t want to burden you with legal lingo, but comparative negligence is an integral term in litigation. Essentially, comparative negligence means that your actions may have contributed to the accident to some extent. The good news is that the New Jersey statutes still allow recovery provided that your negligence was less than fifty percent of the adverse parties’ actions.
What are some examples of comparative negligence? Perhaps you were in a hurry and scooted across the middle of a busy intersection. Although the driver who hit you had a duty to keep his vehicle under control, you clearly played a part in the accident. It is up to your lawyer to prove the extent of your role in the incident.
Left turn accidents often represent controversial litigation matters. Again, the onus is on the driver making the left turn to take extreme caution before entering the intersection. However, what happens when the other vehicle operator appears out of nowhere and speeds into the other car? Again, this type of accident requires investigation and a skilled personal injury attorney.
Contributory Negligence
You may have also heard the term “contributory negligence” tossed around. New Jersey has chosen to abide by the law of comparative negligence. This is a good thing for New Jersey accident victims. In short, states that invoke contributory negligence statutes have no lenience. Even if your actions represented only one percent of fault, you cannot recover for your accident claim. That jaywalking shortcut seems to give open season to the driver who was not paying attention and struck you.
Contact Us
If you have been injured in an accident, you are likely concerned about medical bills and future earnings. At the Law Offices of Anthony Carbone, we recognize the importance of recovering damages for our clients. Contact us to schedule an appointment to secure competent legal advice.
