The legal system uses evidence of negligence to define fault. During the moments that lead up to a given accident, which party has been more careless? Which party has demonstrated the largest level of negligence?
How do insurance companies make use of that definition?
The adjuster tries to identify those acts that demonstrate negligence. The neglectful and careless individual gets pointed to as the party at-fault.
The personal injury lawyer in Lincoln knows that court does not automatically accept any allegation of fault. The person or company that has made that allegation must offer proof, in the form of the essential elements of negligence.
What are those essential elements?
• Duty of care towards the plaintiff on the part of the defendant
• A breaching of that duty
• The plaintiff suffers damages, as a result of the defendant’s breach. The plaintiff was harmed by the defendant’s actions.
If the court has acknowledged the existence of those elements, then the insurance company asks 2 questions?
• What was the nature and extent of the plaintiff’s damages?
• Was anyone else partly responsible for the accident or the injury? Was there shared blame?
Any reported damage must agree with the details, concerning the way that the defendant breached his/her duty.
If pictures show damage to the side of an automobile, such photographs do not agree with an allegation that the driver of the same automobile rammed into a second vehicle. The pictures could be used to counter a claim from the defendant, a claim that the driver that was hit from the side had caused the accident.
Sometimes the adjuster searches for details in the police report. An adjuster might say that because a police report does not deny a demonstration of carelessness or neglect, it could be assumed that the plaintiff had been careless or neglectful. A lawyer would counter that argument by pointing out that there was no mention of carelessness or neglectfulness in the report from the arriving officers.
Adjusters also seek to determine how well the description of a reported injury matches with the details about the injury-linked accident.
The above statement highlights the need for any accident victim to seek immediate medical care.
That medical care could be just the observations made by a physician. Those observations might mention the likelihood for a certain eventuality, such as the emergence of slow-to-appear symptoms.
That mention could serve as support for a claim, regarding the gradual appearance of specific symptoms. It would also indicate the doctor’s awareness of the patient’s involvement in a car accident.
Those factors should help to strengthen the victim’s claim. Those factors should work to weaken any argument that might be presented by the adjuster. A personal injury lawyer could take advantage of that fact.