Determining legal responsibility (i.e. liability) for an accident or injury can be complicated.
It often rests on whether someone was careless or negligent.
Sometimes, one party is clearly at fault while the other is completely blameless. However, its often the case that several different people share blame.
This can also include blame placed on the injured party. The basic rule in this scenario is: if one person involved in an accident was less careful than another, the less careful one must pay for at least a portion of the damages suffered by the more careful one.
If the injured person was also careless, his or her compensation may be reduced by the extent such carelessness was also responsible for the accident. This is known as comparative negligence.
Under comparative negligence, even if you were careless and partly caused an accident, frequently you can still get some compensation from anyone else who was also careless and partly responsible for the accident. The amount of the other person’s liability for the accident is determined by comparing his or her carelessness with your own. The percentage of liability determines the percentage of the resulting damages he or she must pay.
If you need a personal injury lawyer to help you figure out the potential for liability in an accident causing injury, you can contact McGraw Law & Associates at (575) 323-1529.
Las Cruces, NM