Determining Fault

In a car accident claim, it is important to determine exactly who is at fault, and what percentage of the fault may be assigned to various parties. When talking about fault, understand that fault can often be divided up amongst multiple parties—car accidents are often messy and not clear-cut.

In a car accident, some of the parties who may share in the fault include:

The Driver: First, in most accidents, the fault will be assigned to one or more of the drivers involved.

The City: Next, in certain cases, it may be possible that the city was at fault in an accident. An example of this would be if a city did not make reasonable efforts to maintain a stoplight in working order, and that broken stoplight ended up causing a collision.

The Bar: Plus, in states with a “dram shop” law, a bar or drinking establishment may be held liable for the injuries in an accident. These laws hold bars liable if they served a patron who was obviously intoxicated who then went on to cause a car accident while under the influence.