How Is Negligence or Fault Established in Roseville Personal Injury Cases?

Personal injury can be a rather complex legal process. Though it can seem simple that those who are responsible for the losses they cause others to be held accountable, there are various limitations to this process. How is negligence or fault established in a Roseville personal injury case?

A Roseville personal injury accident lawyer is always available to answer your questions regarding your case during a free consultation. Contact Triumph Law, P.C. for a free case evaluation to gain insight into your right to file a personal injury claim.

How to Prove Negligence in California

To file a personal injury case, you have to prove several factors before you can move forward:

• The other person is negligent in the incident, such as a car accident. That means their actions or inactions caused your harm.
• You suffered serious losses as a result of the incident.
• The negligence of the defendant is what played a substantial role in causing the harm you have experienced.

Proving negligence in California is often done on a case-by-case basis. That is, to determine if someone is negligent, we need to examine all of the legal data available and then determine if negligence occurred.

For example, did you have the expectation of being safe? Did the other party’s actions cause you to be unsafe? Did you suffer losses such as medical bills and lost time at work? If so, then you may have a personal injury case.

The Four Elements You Must Prove

Providing negligence and liability revolves around four key aspects. The victim must show:

• The other person (the at-fault party) had a duty to the victim
• The other party breached that duty in their actions or inactions
• The breach of that duty caused an accident to occur
• The accident caused the injuries that the victim sustained

This applies to nearly all types of personal injury cases in California. Our goal, as your attorney, is to provide evidence that backs up each component of this process. Doing that can ultimately help to maximize the compensation owed to you.

How Is Fault Established in a Personal Injury Case?

Fault is a bit different than assigning negligence. When a car accident occurs, for example, a police officer at the scene of the crime will investigate what occurred. That officer will gather information from the vehicles, witnesses, and all involved parties. 

They then use that information to determine who is at fault, piecing together what occurred. Typically, the police report completed by that officer helps to establish fault and liability.

Sometimes, that information is not correct. Further investigation may reveal that something else occurred. In that situation, our personal insurance attorneys work to gather evidence to support those alternative beliefs so that we can pursue financial compensation for those losses.

In some situations, it takes going to court and allowing a judge to make the decision about fault. This is not the simple way forward and not the first step, but it is often a necessary step to take if you are owed compensation in some situations.

Evidence that Can Make a Difference in Negligence and Liability

Our Roseville personal injury lawyer will work closely with you to determine what additional information may be necessary to prove fault in your case. Often, there is no additional information necessary, but having evidence can justify the compensation you are after.

Police reports are often a good starting point, but your attorneys and research team may need to go further to establish negligence and fault. To do that, we access a range of additional forms of evidence, including:

• Video and photos of the scene
• Witness statements from anyone involved
• Accident reconstruction to demonstrate what occurred
• Information and data analysis from the scene of the incident
• Reports and logs from those involved or official statements
• Testimony from experts in the matter
• Medical records from those involved

Evidence can do two things. It can prove that someone else caused your losses, and it can show that the losses you incurred are substantial and deserve compensation. That is why we encourage you to reach out to our personal injury attorneys immediately after an accident so we can begin to work on your case, building up all available evidence to prove your losses.

Insurance Adjusters Do Their Own Research

Our goal is to prove what you say happened is what occurred. The insurance adjuster who is responsible for the actions of the at-fault party is going to work against you, doing their own research to determine what could have occurred. Their goal is to pay less. 

To achieve that, they will investigate several things:

• Do they have a policy that is viable in place for the defendant?
• Is their policyholder at fault for the losses?
• Is it possible that you, the victim, share any level of fault in the incident?
• What amount of money is necessary to pay to cover your losses fairly?

The good news is the decision the insurance adjuster makes is not always the same one the court will agree with, especially when you have additional evidence to support your claims. Our personal injury lawyers in Roseville will work hard to ensure that is the case.

Whenever possible, we negotiate with the insurance company to ensure they are providing a fair settlement based on the documented evidence and information available. We do not stop there, though. We also work to pursue legal action in a court of law through a lawsuit if we believe that the insurance company is not being fair in its settlement.

Let Us Offer Insight into Your Case with a Free Consultation

A trusted, experienced personal injury firm serving all of Roseville, Triumph Law, P.C. is dedicated to helping our clients prove negligence and get the compensation owed to them. We do not back down but instead spend our time working to support injured victims in the pursuit of compensation owed to them.

Meet with us. Let us help you determine negligence and fault in a Roseville personal injury case. We provide a free consultation to you. You pay nothing, but you get answers to all of your questions.