How does the court determine who is at fault for the accident?
Determining who was at fault, to what degree, and what each party will pay in damages depends on the circumstances of the accident and on state law. In order to bear responsibility for injury in an auto, truck, or motorcycle accident, you must be the proximate cause of the injury, with no intervening cause changing the natural flow of events resulting from your action. Factors such as the other driver’s negligence, road and weather conditions, and auto manufacturing defects can come into play in determining fault. Often, in cases of comparative negligence, responsibility for the accident is split between the parties involved. For example, if it’s determined that you were 60 percent responsible for driving too fast in fog, while the other party was 40 percent responsible for not using headlights, you would only pay 60 percent of the damages.
