Many people involved in motor vehicle accidents, such as motorcycle crashes or tractor-trailer collisions forgo exploring their legal rights after suffering serious injuries because they receive a traffic ticket. While a traffic ticket or law enforcement accident report that indicates you were at-fault can impact your legal claim, you should not assume that you must bear the burden of medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and other harm without any legal recourse.
Law enforcement officers are human and make mistakes when analyzing crash scenes, so their reports do not necessarily reach accurate conclusions. Even if the officer is correct that you violated a traffic safety law or otherwise were at-fault for causing a crash, this does not mean that you are the only party responsible for the collision. An independent investigation by an experienced Mississippi motor vehicle accident lawyer might reveal other parties that share financial responsibility for your injuries.
Comparative Negligence: Plaintiff’s Negligence Does Not Bar Recovery
Mississippi is a pure comparative negligence state, so a plaintiff can still recover in a lawsuit even if the plaintiff’s own negligence partially contributed to his or her own injuries. In a pure comparative negligence jurisdiction, the plaintiff will have any recovery reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to the plaintiff, but the plaintiff can still recover even if he or she is mostly responsible for the accident.
By way of example, the defendant might violate the right of way of the plaintiff by making a left turn in front of the plaintiff who is proceeding straight through an intersection. The plaintiff might be determined to have been speeding which made the injuries more serious because of the increased force generated by the collision. In this situation, a jury might decide that the defendant was 70 percent responsible for the plaintiff’s injuries while the plaintiff was 30 percent responsible for his own injuries. If the total damages were $300,000, the plaintiff’s recovery would be reduced to $210,000 (i.e. 70 % of $300,000).
Because the cost to litigate a motor vehicle accident can be tens of thousands of dollars, the estimated value of the damages, likelihood the plaintiff will be determined to share fault and the amount of fault that might be allocated to the plaintiff must all be considered when evaluating such a case. However, the mere fact that an injury victim was determined to be at-fault in a police report or that the victim received a traffic ticket should not discourage the individual from seeking legal advice. When an injury victim suffers catastrophic injuries like a traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, paralysis, loss of a limb or other permanent debilitating injuries, the potential value of the claim might make it worth pursuing even if the plaintiff might be determined to share a significant percentage of fault.
Dealing with an Inaccurate Police Report
If the accident report is inaccurate, you might want to contact the officer who prepared the report about amending or supplementing the facts. For example, accident reports often tend to unfairly favor the driver of a passenger vehicle over a motorcyclist. Because motorcycle crashes frequently result in severe injuries that require immediate emergency medical attention, many times the driver of the passenger vehicle is the only party available to provide an account of what happened. Sometimes the accident report can be supplemented if you promptly contact the law enforcement entity that prepared the report.
Whether or not an amendment or modification is made to the accident report, you should discuss the error with an experienced motor vehicle accident attorney. If the law firm is interested in taking your case, the firm might conduct an independent investigation of the facts as opposed to relying on the accident report.
Seeking Compensation for Catastrophic Injuries
Mississippi motor vehicle accident lawyer William S. Kellum III represents injury victims in Jackson, Brandon, Clinton, Canton, Brookhaven, Greenwood, Hattiesburg, Indianola, Madison, Meridian, Natchez, Pearl, Ridgeland, Vicksburg, Yazoo and other surrounding cities and areas. We offer a free consultation so that we evaluate your case and answer your questions so call us today at (601) 969-2709 or send us an email to schedule your initial consultation.
