In a car accident claim, the key is always to be able to prove who was at fault, the degree of fault (if various people share fault), and exactly what happened as a result of that fault. Laramie, Wyoming accident lawyers can help you to gather all the evidence that you will need to support your car accident claim.
What Types of Evidence Are Critical in Supporting a Car Accident Claim?
In a car accident claim, which is really a type of personal injury claim, you are trying to prove four important elements. The first is to show that the person or persons responsible for the accidents had a duty of care towards everyone else. Step two is to show that this duty of care was not fulfilled. Step three is showing that the accident was directly a result of the failure of duty of care.
Finally, you have to show that you suffered damages and losses and that these damages and losses were caused by the accident that resulted from someone else’s failure in their duty of care toward you. Each of these elements is important, and if you’re not able to prove one of the links in this chain, you won’t have a strong case.
Proving Duty of Care
In a car accident, this is often the easiest thing to prove. If your accident was caused by another driver, you don’t really need a lot of direct evidence for this step because every person who gets behind the wheel is assumed to have a duty of care towards all other road users. The duty of care means that they must obey all traffic laws, never drive distracted or impaired, drive safely for the weather conditions, and drive a vehicle that is in decent shape for the task. Someone who got into a vehicle without a driver’s license will also have failed in this duty.
However, there are times when this can get trickier. For example, if an accident is caused not by one of the drivers who was involved but rather by a faulty traffic light or a road hazard, the duty of care may then fall at least partially on whatever government entity was tasked to maintain the roads, or a road hazard may be related to road construction or even be something that an individual left in the road. Your accent lawyers will carefully take a look at the evidence to discover precisely what happened and whom to identify as having a duty of care.
Proving a Breach in the Duty of Care
Once you have identified who had the duty of care, the next step in the chain is to prove that they failed in the duty of care. This might be by a government entity failing to properly maintain traffic signals or the road itself. It could be an individual driver who was driving while under the influence or distracted. It could be a pedestrian or bicyclist who violated the road rules in crossing or using the street. Or, it could be any driver involved who failed to follow all traffic laws, often by speeding, failing to signal, failing to stop when required, etc.
To prove this, the most valuable evidence is usually video footage and witness testimony. Once the accident is concluded, photographs themselves may be valuable, but the photographs usually can’t tell a whole lot about what happened prior to the accident. An accident reconstruction specialist can look at the photographs and reconstruct the events of the accident, but they may not be able to say whether, for example, one of the drivers was texting. Dash cam footage, traffic camera video, video from nearby stores or from pedestrians who may have happened to be recording at the time, and the testimony of any witnesses who saw what happened will all be useful here.
Causation
This third step, known as causation, is where you prove that the breach in the duty of care is actually what caused the accident. This is an important step and can’t be skipped over. It’s important to understand that just because someone involved violated their duty of care to other road users does not automatically make them liable. It still must be shown that it was specifically their violation of the duty of care that caused the accident in the first place.
So, for example, if one driver runs a red light and hits another driver who had the right of way and the green light, even if the driver who was hit was driving without a license, that breach of the duty of care on their part does not make them liable. The liability for the accident still lies with the driver who ran the red light. The driver who has no license will likely face fines and punishment from the state, but they would not be liable for damages in civil court. Photographs, eyewitness testimony, video footage, and the testimony of accident reconstruction specialist can all be valuable here in piecing together what exactly happened to show that the breach in duty of care actually caused the accident.
Damages
The final link in the chain is to show that your damages and losses were directly caused by the accident that another person’s failure in the duty of care caused. You will need your medical records, bills and receipts for car repair and other financial losses, financial information related to lost wages, and possibly the testimony of various expert witnesses to put together a comprehensive picture of exactly what you have lost as a result of the accident. Your lawyer will help to put all this together to show that these losses are definitely the result of the accident.
Other Issues Laramie, Wyoming Accident Lawyers Can Review With You
Comparative Fault
Wyoming has a comparative fault rule which allows for anyone who is 49% or less responsible for the accident to recover damages. Those who are 50% or more responsible are barred from recovering any damages, and anyone who bears any responsibility at all will have their final damages reduced by the same percentage as their responsibility.
In an accident, it’s quite common for one person or entity to be primarily responsible but for others to bear some degree of responsibility, as well. One of the things your lawyer will particularly help you with is protecting you from any excessive blame so that your final compensation is not reduced more than it should be.
Complicated Liability
Car accident cases can get complicated when there are multiple parties to blame, and particularly if one of the parties involved is a commercial or government entity. There are special rules about how to bring a claim when the government is involved, and when there’s a commercial vehicle involved your often facing a trucking company with lots of resources and motivation to deny liability and try to shift blame away from their driver. Having a lawyer is very important in these situations. A lawyer’s understanding of the law and the court procedures, as well as experience in negotiation and dealing with insurance companies, is your best protection.
If you’ve been involved in a car accident, contact the Ochs Law Firm for help in Laramie, Casper, Jackson, and Teton Village areas of Wyoming.
