Rear-End Car Accidents in Fullerton
Getting rear-ended on the road can be a traumatic experience. Unfortunately, a lot of rear-end car accidents in Fullerton end up causing severe psychological and physical trauma, not to mention a ton of unexpected expenses that can ruin your financial stability for years afterward.
If you have been hurt in this kind of crash, you likely have a right to demand civil compensation from the person at fault for causing the incident. To maximize your recovery, it’s important to seek help from an experienced car accident lawyer as early as possible in the legal process.
Proving Someone Else at Fault for a Rear-End Wreck
Although rear-end car accidents in Fullerton are often the fault of the rear driver, courts will not automatically assume this in every case. Instead, fault for this type of crash and all other auto accidents is usually established through the legal theory of negligence.
Someone is legally negligent if all the following conditions are met:
- They had a duty of care to act reasonably under the circumstances
- They breached that duty through a specific reckless, careless, or illegal act
- That breach of duty was the main and direct cause of an accident which likely would not have otherwise happened
- That accident was the main and direct cause of at least one injury requiring professional medical attention
Every California driver has the same duty of care to follow traffic laws and pay attention behind the wheel, but a skilled attorney’s help can be crucial to establishing that a particular wreck met all the other conditions listed above.
Fighting Accusations of Comparative Negligence
Another thing legal counsel can help with during rear-end car crash litigation in Fullerton is proving that an injured person was not at fault for causing their own injuries through their own negligent behavior. If a court or insurance company believes that an injured person is partially to blame for an accident, they can assign that person a percentage of comparative fault and reduce the total amount of money available to them by that same percentage.
What Damages Could Be Recoverable?
Finally, legal counsel can play a key role not just in identifying specific losses that need to be factored into a rear-end car accident claim, but also in assigning a fair financial value to those losses. While economic damages like medical bills and lost work income tend to have fairly objective values, non-economic forms of harm like physical pain and emotional distress are much more subjective. A skilled lawyer could help prove to a court or insurance company that a specific amount of money is reasonable for those losses under the circumstances.
Talk to a Fullerton Attorney About a Possible Rear-End Car Accident Lawsuit
Of course, these are just some of the many legal and procedural roadblocks you might run into while filing a lawsuit or demanding a settlement after a car wreck. Support from a dependable legal professional is crucial to handling the obstacles you know to expect and the ones you could not have predicted in advance.
A car accident lawyer from our team could discuss your options after a rear-end car accident in Fullerton in more detail during a private initial consultation. Call CD Law today to set up a meeting.