General Rules of Proving Fault In Personal Injury Claims In Aurora

Although the process of establishing the legal responsibility of an accident and the injuries caused by it (referred to as "liability" in legal terminology) is very complicated, it mostly relies on one simple rule: whether someone behaved negligently or not. Claiming that a given potential defendant is legally responsible for an accident and your injuries stemming from it and must pay for the same is easier said than done. But, before getting to that particular point, you, assisted by your personal injury lawyer in Aurora, must establish and prove that the defendant is the one legally liable.

Legal Liability - How to Determine

The basic rule that comes into play while determining legal liability of an accident in a personal injury claim is that: if two parties are involved in an accident, the more careless party has to pay various kinds of compensatory damages to the less careless party for causing damage to the latter.

However, the following propositions may also come into action in determining liability and must be discussed with an expert personal injury lawyer in Aurora to avoid any curve balls in the litigation process further ahead:

1. If the injured person suffered injuries because of being present at a restricted area that is known to be prone to accidents, the defendant may not be liable.
2. If the injured person also showed signs of negligence on his/her part; thus, resulting in his/her injuries, the compensatory damages may likely get reduced under the "comparative negligence" rule.
3. If someone causes an accident or injures someone while on duty, the defendant as well as their employer may be legally liable.
4. If someone gets injured on a property that is not well maintained, the owner of the property can be held responsible for being negligent about the property's proper maintenance.
5. If a person gets injured due to a faulty machine or a defective product, both the manufacturer and the seller of the product can be held liable in filed a personal injury claim.

Effect of Your Own Carelessness on Your Claim

Regardless of whether you were less careless in causing an accident or not, you may still receive at least some compensatory damages from the other, more careless entity involved in the accident. The total amount of damages to be paid by the other person in compensation is calculated by drawing a parallel between their negligence and yours. And, hence, the percentage of their negligence helps in determining the percentage of the compensatory damages that they must pay. This rule, as stated above, is regarded as comparative negligence.

However, you must keep in mind that different states are governed by different laws. Depending on the state where the accident happened:

1. You may get reimbursed upon the request of your personal injury lawyer in Aurora, based on the percentage of negligence shown by the defendant.
2. Or, you may not recover anything, given that your negligence and carelessness in causing the accident was 50% and/or over.
3. Applying the "contributory negligence" rule, you may not be entitled to any compensation at all, if you have contributed even slightly to the accident. Visit Here: BE Personal Injury Lawyer