When filing lawsuits for personal injuries or property damage following car crash accidents, accident victims must prove certain elements in order to be compensated for damages. Two basic elements of a car accident are causation and damages. Causation is basically what it sounds like it is: the cause of the accident. Damages include medical costs, property damages, pain and suffering and sometimes even punitive damages are allowed which essentially punish the liable party for extreme negligence.
Causation Is Not Always Clear Following an Accident
Causation is what courts use to determine who is liable for a car accident. While the term may seem like common sense, determining causation in a car accident can be very complicated. A driver who slams into the back of another car may appear to have “caused” the accident, but the causation may actually be something else. The recent Toyota recall is a good example of complicated causation in car accidents. A vehicle that malfunctions can be the causation of a car accident rather than the driver of the vehicle. A vehicle that doesn’t stop, as in the now famous Toyota cases, is caused by a defect in the car and the car manufacturer may be liable for the damages resulting from the accident rather than the driver. Determining whether the actual cause of the accident was a malfunction or was the result of a negligent driver might require testing and evidence.
Causation May Not Caused by Another Driver
Causation may result in no one person or company being liable. For example, it is possible that causation of an accident is actually the weather. An accident resulting from cars sliding on ice when attempting to stop (while traveling at a safe speed for conditions) may be the result of icy roads which even the most attentive city workers could not control. In an accident such as that where the causation is truly not anyone’s fault, it is difficult to pin liability on any one particular party.
Causation might also be shared among drivers. In a case where more than one driver is negligent, states treat the liability issue differently. Some states do not allow compensation to a driver who is even partially liable for an accident. Proving causation is essential to an award of compensation for all car accidents.
Getting Legal Help
Causation can be a simple element to prove where one driver is clearly negligent. Unfortunately, those cases seem to be rare. Causation tends to be a complicated legal issue requiring evidence and sometimes requiring testing or forensic evaluations. An experienced personal injury attorney can assess an accident victim’s case and help uncover the causation of an accident in order to get compensation from the responsible party.
