When an individual becomes injured in an accident, there are a litany of factors which can play into whether he or she may be entitled to financial compensation through a personal injury claim. Amongst the most important of these factors is the underlying cause of the injurious accident. For the vast majority of successful personal injury claims in Pennsylvania, it must be proven that the accident in question was caused by the negligence or recklessness of another party. Today, our personal injury attorneys will discuss finding fault, comparative negligence regulations, and the impact these statutes may have on your potential personal injury claim.
The legal definition of negligence in Pennsylvania essentially boils down to an individual or organization failing to act as would be reasonably expected. Recklessness entails actions or inactions which are potentially harmful with little to no regard to the safety or wellbeing of others. In order to build a successful claim, your Bucks County personal injury liability lawyers will need to prove that another party acted either negligently, recklessly, or both. A typical example of negligent behavior might be a motor vehicle operator causing an auto accident due to texting while driving.
However, there are exceptions to this rule. Personal injury claims due to defective product injuries do not require proof of negligence or recklessness. This is due to Pennsylvania’s “strict liability” regulations. The manufacturers, assemblers, distributors, or retailers of products are considered inherently liable for defective products. These laws were put into place to protect consumers from injury without the burden of proving manufacturing defects or other complex legal arguments.
As discussed above, personal injury claims require finding fault in another party, which will generally involve proving that another party acted negligently or recklessly. So what happens when you are partially at at fault for your injurious accident? Even if you are partially liable for the accident in question, your Northeast Philadelphia comparative negligence attorneys may be able to help you recover compensation through a personal injury claim.
Pursuant to Pennsylvania comparative negligence regulations, partial fault will not prevent claimants from recovering compensation through legal action so long as the negligence of the claimant was not greater than the negligence of the other party. In other words, you may file a personal injury claim against any party who is more at fault than you. This concept is known as comparative negligence. Let’s examine an example of a multi-car auto accident and how comparative negligence works in action.
In this scenario, you will be able to file claims against both driver X and driver Y because 20 percent is a lesser degree of fault than either 35 or 45. A the same time, neither other driver will be eligible to countersue for damages, as you were not more at fault for the accident. It is worth noting that comparative negligence regulations may impact the total settlement awarded based on your percentage of fault as well.
The personal injury liability and comparative negligence attorneys of Cohen & Riechelson have well over four decades of experience helping clients recover full and fair compensation through personal injury claims. We take pride in serving victims of injurious accidents from Bucks County towns including Northeast Philadelphia, Levittown, Bensalem, Feasterville, Millbrook, Penndel, and all of Southeastern Pennsylvania. If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, construction accident, slip and fall accident, motorcycle accident, or any other kind of accident, lean on our extensive experience and focused legal knowledge to protect your legal rights.
Contact us online or by calling our Bensalem offices at (215) 337-4915 today for a free and confidential consultation regarding your accident, your injuries, and how we can help find fault in your case and recover the financial compensation you need and deserve.
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