Many car crashes involve two automobiles. However, others may involve more than two vehicles, causing extensive damage and injuring motorists and passengers. A great number of these accidents happen when a vehicle hits another from behind, causing a domino effect and leading to a multi-vehicle crash. These collisions can be complex because determining the main culprit can pose a challenge. Therefore, if you're involved in such an accident, it is prudent to consider hiring an auto accident attorney to determine the at-fault parties and help you get justice. While seeking compensation for damages sustained in a multi-vehicle collision, here's some information to shed light on the process:
Getting Payments From Different Defendants
The process of seeking compensation might be complicated, especially if any at-fault driver does not have insurance coverage. Besides this, a comprehensive investigation must be undertaken on your behalf to determine each party's fault percentage and work out the amount of compensation they should provide you. To this end, your lawyer will have professional investigators investigate the accident and ascertain each defendant's contribution to the crash. They will then start the compensation process to ensure that each at-fault party pays their part of the compensation. In some cases, your attorney may start with the defendants with the most insurance or the greatest net worth before negotiating with the rest.
Getting Payments When You Also Share in the Responsibility
There is a likelihood that every party involved in the multi-vehicle crash will hire private investigators to determine their contribution to the collision. They do this to ensure an accurate estimate of their fault percentage, safeguarding against shouldering another person's responsibility. This is essential in determining the total amount each at-fault party pays to ensure that the injured party receives the compensation covering all their losses. In addition, some states allow defendants who pay more than their fault percentage to recover the extra amount from other at-fault parties involved in the collision. In such cases, accurately determining the fault percentage enables the defendant who had paid more to know the amount of money to request back.
The law also allows complainants who were partly at fault to get compensation. However, different states use different laws, so the amount you can get depends on your state's laws. In most cases, judges award payments depending on the plaintiff's fault percentage. Accordingly, if you had a high fault percentage in the wreck, you might only recover a small percentage of the total payments you're supposed to receive. Legal representation is necessary when determining fault to ensure that you don't lose payments because of wrong calculations from other parties.
Pursuing compensation for damages sustained in a collision involving several automobiles can be complicated. Therefore, you may consider working with a car accident lawyer to give you a fair chance of being compensated by the at-fault parties. First, the attorney conducts an in-depth investigation to determine all culprits and their contribution to the crash. They then negotiate on your behalf to help you get a favorable payment.
