Car Accident Injury Claim
and the burden of proof
One of the most difficult things to swallow when you have a car accident injury claim is that most of the time, you are completely innocent.
In fact, you could have been a passenger that was asleep when someone ran a light, hit you, and now you are hurt.
What makes this situation even more frustrating is the insurance adjuster telling you that you must prove your damages. Isn’t this backwards? You are the victim!
Unfortunately it is true. You have the burden of proof.
You are the victim of a car accident now you have to prove that someone hit you and caused severe distress in your life? Is that not unfair? Yes, it is.
Have you hear the saying, you are innocent until proven guilty? It applies to civil law as well. The person that hit you is innocent or not liable until proven otherwise.
But what exactly you have to prove in a car accident injury claim and exactly what is the burden of proof?
Since car accidents are civil cases, you must show by preponderance of the evidence (not beyond a reasonable doubt), that:
- The person was negligent and
- Her negligence caused your injury.
How can you show this in a car accident injury claim? It depends who you are dealing with. If you are dealing with an insurance company then the process is faster and less complicated than if you are dealing with a court case.
In insurance claims the elements of negligence are quickly established. To show that someone is negligent you must show duty, breach, causation, and damages.
The insurance adjuster does not spend much time establishing duties, the rules of the road of every state place a duties in anyone that is driving a vehicle. The adjuster will try to find breaches of those duties quickly by taking recorded statements and looking at the police report.
When the adjuster gets to “causation,” they usually just move on to assess damages.
Causation means cause. Did the “breached duty” (not stopping at a red light) cause the ultimate damage? The answer is usually yes and causation is established.
However, insurance adjuster is more concern with the issue of damages. Did this accident cause you back pain, or was it the fact that you did not sleep well the night before? This is the type of focus an injury adjuster will have.
If you are dealing with a car accident injury claim in a court of law, you still have to prove that:
- that person was negligent and
- that her negligence caused you’re the injury (not the accident, but the actual injury to your body).
However, the these elements will be plead and disputed one by one, and every single one can become a huge legal battle.
Attorneys will be looking at what duties everyone had very closely.
What do the state rules exactly say about this specific situation? Is the statute completely on point or can it be a deviation that could lead to no duty owed?
Even if a statute says you cannot go over the speed limit, jurisdictions in the U.S. are mainly divided among three groups. Those three groups look at the breach of a legislative statute as:
1. Negligence per se
2. A rebuttable presumption
3. Evidence
Depending in what jurisdiction the accident happened at, the car accident injury claim will be ruled by one of those three categories.
In a Negligence Per se jurisdiction, the fact that you were going over the speed limit will automatically make you negligent (as long as damages exist and that your opponent shows causation).
There are few ways to get around this analysis. For example, if there is a statute that is impossible to follow. Most states have statutes that require pedestrians to walk on the sidewalk.
Let’s say that you hit a pedestrian on the street and that pedestrian was not on the sidewalk.
In a Negligence Per Se jurisdiction the pedestrian will be negligent since they did not follow the statue.
However, if in this particular street there is no sidewalk, then statute would be impossible to follow and negligence cannot be attributed on the basis of that statute.
If you can show that the statute is against your opponent, and they cannot justify the reason for breaching the statute, then the jury will be instructed to find that person negligent.
A rebuttable presumption jurisdiction looks at the statute and the person’s actions but before making that person negligent, they shift the burden of proof to the defendant.
Once you show that a statute is against them, they now have to prove their innocence.
They must show a really strong reason why they failed to obey the statute (usually emergency situations). If they can exculpate themselves, then no negligence can be attributed on the basis of that specific statute. Who decides what a strong reason is? A jury.
The Evidence jurisdiction will take everything as simply evidence. They will not make a call on negligence just because you did not follow a statute. They will admit everything as evidence and let a jury make a decision. There will not be any jury instructions as of the negligence of anyone.
After looking at duties and breaches in the car accident injury claim, attorneys will fight on the causation aspect.
They will argue that the accident was or was not (depending of which side) the factual cause of the accident and the legal cause.
They will also argue that the plaintiff (the injured person) must show that the accident was also the factual cause and the legal cause of every injury they are claiming.
In any scenario, you the victim must show that both your damages (to your car) and injuries were caused because of the accident. If you fail to show this by a preponderance of the evidence, you claim and case can be dismissed without compensation.
Insurance companies are not on your side—talk to a personal injury attorney before you make any decisions! Fill the form below or call toll free at (866) 493-7760
Ask a Lawyer Now!
Follow the links below for more information about accident injuries, bodily injury claims, and what to ask when making this type of claim.
1. Who can make a bodily injury claim
2. Reserving your bodily injury claim
3. Soft Tissue Claim Part I
4. Permanent Injury Claim
5. Medical bills, medicine, expenses
6. Loss of Wages
7. Loss of Earning Capacity
8. Loss of Business Income
9. Loss of Consortium
10. Loss of Quality of Life
11. Loss of Essential Services
12. Future Treatment and Expenses
13. Pain and Suffering
14. Prior Injuries
15. Psychological Injuries
16. Personal Injury Claim Settlement (evaluation of a claim)
17. Car Accident Injury Claim and Burden of Proof
18. What affects compensation for back and other injury claims
19. A word about Head Injuries
Making a Personal Injury Claim: Steps 1 to 5
Making a Personal Injury Claim: Steps 6 to 10
Pain and Suffering Reimbursement
Injury Demand Letter - How to write one
When to write an Injury Settlement Demand Letter
The Actual Injury Demand Letter (Format)
