Nobody likes to admit fault in a car accident. After a car collision, it might be obvious that one driver was at fault, but they will lean on the principle of “innocent until proven guilty.”
That’s especially true when money is involved, such as compensation for the injured party.
If you’ve been on the receiving end of a car collision, the burden is on you to prove who is at fault. Fortunately, you won’t have to do this alone.
An experienced Albuquerque car accident attorney can step in to help you gather evidence to establish clear liability. Before that happens, you need to understand the challenges you might face.
Understanding Pure Comparative Negligence in New Mexico
There are four states that follow the contributory negligence laws for car accidents.
With this law, even if you are found to be 1% at fault for an accident, you wouldn’t be able to collect any compensation. Fortunately, New Mexico is not one of those four states.
Instead, New Mexico follows the pure comparative negligence approach for determining fault. With this approach, you are entitled to recover damages even if you’re partially at fault.
The only concern is the percentage of fault. Whatever that number is, it will be deducted from the final compensation. For example, if you are found to be 30% at fault and the final settlement is for $100,000, you would only be entitled to receive $70,000.
If there are multiple parties involved in the crash, they can all be assigned partial fault.
While this law can be to your benefit, it also opens the door for the other party to attempt to shift some of the blame to you. Having strong evidence and a fierce legal advocate can bolster your chances of not being assigned any blame for the car accident.
Critical Evidence Needed to Establish Driver Liability
Proving fault in a car accident all comes down to the evidence. The same evidence that you might use in a courtroom can be applied to the initial car accident claim you file with an insurance company. The evidence you need to establish liability includes the following:
Police Reports
When the police are called to the scene of an accident, they are obligated to file a report. The New Mexico Uniform Crash Report follows the standard set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
It contains an officer’s observations, potential citations, driver and witness statements, and a neutral summary. All of this can be used as the foundation for your claim.
Videos and Photographs
You might have taken photos of the accident scene, damage to your car, and your injuries.
Those are all important pieces of evidence. Your attorney can go a bit further by collecting traffic surveillance footage or security camera footage from the surrounding area.
It’s crucial to act fast to gather that type of evidence, as it can be deleted.
Witness Statements
There might be pedestrians, cyclists, or passing cars who witnessed your accident.
Their independent accounts can help confirm the sequence of events that led to the accident.
Electronic Data
Cell phone records can indicate if the at-fault driver was actively texting or talking on the phone at the time of the accident. This can prove they were driving distracted. You might also be able to access telematic data from an electronic control module.
These would be found on most commercial vehicles and can help with truck accident claims.
Medical Records
You will need to establish a causation link between the accident and your injuries.
Your medical records can provide that link.
In addition to the critical evidence, your attorney might also utilize an accident reconstruction expert to provide an analysis of how the accident occurred.
Common Challenges in Disputed Liability Car Accidents
When a car accident claim is filed against an insurance company, that carrier will assign an insurance adjuster to conduct its own investigation to determine who is at fault. They will be looking for any challenges to your version of the accident.
These are the challenges that insurance adjusters will try to use:
- Conflicting Testimonies: It is extremely common in car accidents to have contradicting stories. That leads to a battle where both parties blame each other.
- Lack of Concrete Evidence: You don’t have to prove fault in a car accident by a reasonable doubt, but with a preponderance of the evidence. If you fail to produce police reports, eyewitness testimonies, or surveillance camera footage, it could make it more difficult to definitively establish fault.
- Blame-Shifting in Multi-Car Accidents: In pileups where multiple drivers were involved in a chain reaction collision, insurance companies may point fingers at one another to avoid liability. It might take a deep dive with a reconstruction expert to unpack what really happened.
- Adverse Weather Conditions: The likelihood of accidents occurring increases during heavy rain, wind, or low visibility. When those conditions are present, insurers might try to argue the crash was unavoidable.
- Disputed Injuries: Were your injuries caused by the crash, or were they preexisting? That is the question insurers will ask to label your injuries as a pre-existing condition and not related to the accident.
A skilled car accident attorney will be fully prepared to knock back every one of those challenges.
Impact of Traffic Law Violations on Your Claim
Traffic law violations such as speeding, running red lights, or failing to yield can be early indicators of a driver’s negligence. If the other driver was cited for a traffic violation, that can easily establish who was at fault, at least in theory.
It might be that both drivers are issued citations by the responding police. In that case, your lawyer needs to step up to establish that their client’s citation was not the dominating factor in the accident.
The experienced lawyers at Barrera Law Group LLC have successfully supported many clients in their pursuit of compensation after a car accident. We won’t move forward with a case unless we’re confident about who caused the collision. We know what a serious financial burden these accidents can be on a family.
Our mission is to help our clients recover their losses and help them put their lives back on track.
Will it mean taking the case to court? If that is the only way to find justice, then we’ll be fully prepared to provide a compelling case that firmly points to the responsible party.
Of course, most insurance companies want to avoid going to trial and will offer a settlement before that happens. As long as it is fair, we’ll be happy to accept on behalf of our client.