Legal Issues in Rear End Wreck Cases

Driver negligence, usually driver inattention or improper driver judgment, causes most rear-end collisions. These crashes constitute about a third of the motor vehicle collisions in Texas. Sometimes, traffic backs up and the tortfeasor (negligent driver) fails to reduce speed appropriately. Other times, tortfeasor misjudge the distance between their vehicles and the vehicles in front of them.

Driver inattention and driver misjudgement are usually negligence, or a lack of care. Motorists have a duty to watch the road and avoid accidents when possible. If negligence causes a wreck, a Sugar Land car accident lawyer can obtain substantial compensation for victims. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Generally, car accident claims settle out of court, and on victim-friendly terms.

Establishing Liability

Failure to maintain a proper lookout violates the traffic code. If a safety law violation substantiality causes injury, a Missouri City personal injury lawyer can obtain compensation as a matter of law. However, the negligence per se shortcut only applies if emergency responders issue a citation. Sometimes, they do so, to clearly establish accident fault. But usually, they don’t issue citations in a matter they view as a civil dispute.

So, most rear-end crash cases hinge on the ordinary negligence doctrine. In Texas, ordinary negligence has four basic elements:

• Duty: We touched on the duty of care above. Commercial drivers such as truck drivers and Uber drivers, have a higher duty of care in Texas.
• Breach: Not every driving mishap is a breach of duty. For example, if Jerry slammed on his brakes for no reason and Lisa rear-ends him, she may not be liable for damages. This maneuver is part of the swoop-and-squat insurance fraud scam that’s especially common in no-fault insurance states, like Florida.
• Cause: A Missouri City personal injury lawyer must establish factual and legal cause. First, a lawyer must prove that negligence substantially caused the wreck. Bad weather may contribute to crashes, but it very rarely causes them. Attorneys must also prove foreseeability (possibility). When tortfeasors don’t watch the road, crashes are foreseeable.
• Damages: In most cases, the victim must sustain a physical injury and/or incur property damage. The worse the damages, the higher the compensation, at least in most cases.

The victim must establish all these elements by a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not. So, a little evidence goes a long way.

Possible Defenses

The sudden emergency defense occasionally applies in rear-end crash cases. This legal doctrine excuses negligent driving if the tortfeasor:

• Reasonably reacted to
• A sudden emergency.

However, in most cases, neither element applies in rear-end collision matters. As outlined above, most tortfeasors don’t react reasonably in these situations. In fact, they often don’t react at all. Furthermore, a stopped-short or stalled car is not a sudden emergency in this context. These hazards are everyday dangers which, according to the duty of care, drivers must anticipate and avoid.

Comparative fault, a watered-down version of sudden emergency, sometimes applies in these cases. Let’s go back to the above example. If jurors conclude that Jerry indeed slammed on his brakes for no reason, they could put most or all of the legal responsibility on his shoulders.

Reach Out to a Diligent Harris County Attorney

Injury victims are entitled to significant compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Missouri City, contact the Henrietta Ezeoke Law Firm. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.

Source:

crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/809540