Personal Injury Claims When You Are Partially At Fault
How to determine fault for a personal injury claim
Accidents happen. When they do, figuring out whose fault it was can be complicated. You may have made a mistake, and it can leave you believing that you can’t do anything about it. Fortunately, this is often not the case. An experienced lawyer can help you with your personal injury claim, even if an accident was partially your fault.
Sharing the Blame
It can be too easy to blame yourself for an accident. On the highway, you may have reacted too late to another driver’s actions. You may look away for a moment and slip and fall on someone’s property. In these situations and many others, the other party will try to blame you for your own injuries. This approach can discourage you from even filing a claim–which is exactly what they want. If you accept all the blame, you won’t recover for someone else’s negligence.
Contributory Negligence in Wisconsin
Fortunately, the law recognizes that more than one person can be at fault. Wisconsin, like most states, does not keep you from recovering when you are partially responsible for an accident, unless a court finds that you are more than fifty percent responsible for what happened. That means that if another person was at least as responsible for your accident as you, you can recover damages.
In these situations, courts reach a decision on how much responsibility you bear, and reduce your damages accordingly. If your mistake made you forty percent responsible, for example, any damages you suffer will be reduced by that amount. In that scenario, a $1 million damages determination would leave you able to recover $600,000 from the other party.
Getting Experienced Legal Help
None of this is simple. After an accident, you need legal help from experienced attorneys who can not only help you understand your case, but break it down and show a court that your mistake does not outweigh the negligence of others. For help in Madison, Wisconsin, contact Eisenberg Law Offices, online or at 608-256-8356. We will help you get the recovery you deserve.