Sometimes, one driver is entirely at fault for an accident, for instance, when a reckless, aggressive, or impaired driver runs through a red light and causes a T-bone collision with another vehicle. In this case, the responsible driver is liable for the injury victim’s damages. In other cases, the responsibility for an accident isn’t as simple. What if both drivers share fault for a car accident? Can you still obtain compensation for car accident damages if you share fault for the accident? According to Atlanta car accident attorneys, in a modified comparative negligence state like Georgia, you may still recover a portion of your damages when you share liability, depending on the circumstances of the accident.
Some states have no-fault insurance laws requiring all accident victims to file claims against their own personal injury protection (PIP) policies. Other states have fault-based insurance laws, allowing car accident victims to recover compensation only by proving another party’s fault and liability for the accident. Fault-based car accident laws are typically pure or modified. In pure comparative negligence states, an accident victim can recover compensation for their car accident damages even if they are mostly at fault—in theory, even up to 99% responsible for the accident. Other states, like Georgia, use a modified version of this system.
Under Georgia’s modified comparative negligence system, an accident victim may recover compensation from the other driver’s insurance as long as they are less than 50% at fault for the accident. In this case, the insurance company subtracts the injury victim’s percentage of fault from the amount of compensation they pay out on the claim.
After a car accident in a fault-based insurance state, the insurance companies of both involved drivers investigate the accident and assign a percentage of fault to each driver. As long as an injury victim is less than 50% at fault, they can still recover a portion of their damages. For example, if one driver makes an unsafe lane change and sideswipes another vehicle, but the driver of the other vehicle didn’t have their headlights on in the rain, the results of an investigation could determine that the driver who made the lane change was 70% at fault so they cannot recover compensation for their damages. This leaves the other driver 30% responsible because their failure to use headlights in the rain made their car less visible. If the driver of the vehicle without its headlights on has an injury claim valued at $100,000, they could still recover $70,000.
A modified comparative negligence system benefits drivers who contribute to an accident by allowing them to recover a portion of their compensation. However, it may also incentivize an insurance company to assign an undue percentage of fault to the injury victim so they can pay out less on their claim or shift liability to them by allocating more than 50% of the responsibility for the accident.
When a car accident victim hires a specialized personal injury attorney in Atlanta to protect their best interests during the process of recovering compensation, the attorney investigates the accident and documents compelling evidence of the other driver’s liability so they can make the strongest possible case for their client’s full and fair compensation.
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