When Motor Accidents Happen In The Motor City

Detroit is often famed as the Motor City, the legendary birthplace and Mecca of the car world. Unfortunately, this fact also entails that car accident will happen in the same place. The first crucial step in propping up a case is to prove the offending party is indeed at fault. To accomplish that, you would need to find an injury lawyer in Detroit, specializing in car accidents.

A simple review from highway cameras or the like can immediately reveal who and what went wrong in the incident. In addition, some glaring violations can be seen, such as beating a red light. Proving a party’s negligence is key to securing a strong foothold in the potential case.

• Motor accident basics
• The types of motor accidents include:
• Car accidents
• Truck accidents
• Bus accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Airplane accidents
• ATV accidents
• Boat accidents
• Mobile home accidents

Different types of motor accidents require different criteria, and give out compensations depending on the severity of the incident. Most states employ a tort liability system which a victim can get compensation due to an incident and/or injury caused by negligence or misconduct.

Proving negligence in a case

A general rule for all motor vehicle operators is to have a duty to watch for their fellow operators on the road (and high seas). This general duty is observed to avoid accidents. This is broken when certain things not intended to go together with driving are done, such as drinking alcohol, driving with fatigue, among others.

Steps should be made to obtain the other’s contact details, as well as the witnesses’, so coordination can be made. All of this should be coordinated with your lawyer, to corroborate all the details.

Legal Measures and Countermeasures

There are three doctrines that are followed across states: pure comparative negligence modified comparative negligence, and contributory negligence.

Pure comparative negligence reduces recovery in proportion to a plaintiff’s fault, even in 99%-plaintiff-fault cases. The damages in monetary matters are divided in proportion of who is more at fault. For example, if the damages incurred amount up to $100,000, and side A  is at 70% fault, side B can obtain $70,000 from side A.

Modified comparative negligence follows the same rule, up to a point. They have a 51% rule that prohibits the plaintiff from recovering if at 51% fault. If at 50% fault, the award is reduced by that percentage, a law followed by 12 states.

Contributory negligence dictates that a plaintiff would be prohibited from having a recovery, even at 1% fault. It is reputed to be difficult to obtain recovery damages with such rule, like Maryland.