Lawyers often talk about the driver’s rights after a car crash, yet passengers are sometimes overlooked. The little-known truth is that passengers often have more rights than the drivers.
If you are a passenger in a car crash, it’s crucial that you seek legal counsel from a qualified personal injury attorney without delay.
At the Jones Law Firm, our team has experience representing passengers who have been injured in car crashes. Here’s our breakdown of your rights as a passenger.
The issue of fault for passenger injuries
Determining liability (fault) is part of every car accident. Fortunately, it would be a bizarre circumstance for a passenger to have caused an accident. Obviously, we have to determine which driver might have caused the accident. But we also have to consider the road conditions, traffic controls, etc.
Here are a few examples:
- If the accident only involves one vehicle (for example, a collision with a stationary object like a tree, fire hydrant, or parked vehicle), the passenger might be able to file a claim against their own driver. After all, an innocent passenger shouldn’t have to pay the medical costs and other costs incurred by a driver’s negligence.
- If the accident involves several vehicles, liability is a bit more complicated. The pressing question is which driver is responsible for the accident. Once that is determined, then a passenger can sue the driver responsible for damages.
Our personal injury law firm is here to review the circumstances of your accident, determine which party is truly at fault, and pursue compensation on your behalf.
What if several drivers share fault for the accident?
A passenger injured in an auto accident with multiple vehicles might be able to pursue compensation from all or some of the negligent parties.
Each driver’s actions will be analyzed to determine who bears the fault or a portion of the fault. Fault can be allocated to each of the drivers. Then each driver is responsible for that percentage of your damages.
In other words, the percentage of fault for each driver would be equal to the percentage of money each negligent driver owes the injured passenger.
Additional avenues of legal recourse
Here are a few other ways you might be able to recover damages:
- Passengers who have auto insurance might also have coverage for accidents with underinsured or uninsured motorist insurance. This way, if the negligent driver lacks the appropriate level of auto insurance or has no insurance at all, the injured passenger will still have adequate insurance to account for resulting expenses.
- If the injured passenger was riding in a Lyft, Uber or other rideshare vehicle at the time of the collision, the rideshare driver’s special insurance might apply. This unique auto insurance often has liability coverage of $1 million for property damage, bodily injury and death. Furthermore, rideshare drivers are required to carry coverage to account for passenger expenses resulting from accidents with underinsured and uninsured motorists.
Contact a car accident attorney today
If you are injured in an auto accident as a passenger, you need an experienced personal injury attorney on your side to have any chance of emerging with a just result. As detailed above, there are multiple avenues of legal recourse available for passengers injured in auto accidents.
Meet with the personal injury legal team at The Jones Law Firm to review the nuanced facts of your auto accident as soon as possible. We will study the facts of your accident down to the very last detail to identify all potential paths to financial compensation.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation and talk about your case.
