If you contributed to the causes of a car accident in California, you may be wondering how it could affect your car accident claim. Are you still entitled to compensation for the harm and losses you suffered, or will your role in the crash disqualify you?
California law allows you to recover damages sustained in a crash regardless of your level of fault. It does not matter if you bore the most responsibility for the crash. You can still file a car accident claim against other liable parties, but your contribution to the accident will impact your potential settlement or damages award amount.
Usually, fault for a car accident is assigned in percentages after a review of the events leading up to the crash and other relevant evidence like police reports or witness statements. You can recover compensation, but only to the extent you were not at fault. For example, if you were 80% to blame, you can only recover 20% of the value of your harm from other responsible parties.
Understanding your legal rights and options
It’s not uncommon for insurance companies to try to minimize their payouts by shifting more blame than one deserves. It can be impossible to recover enough compensation when this happens, leaving you to deal with the aftermath without sufficient financial support.
The good news is that you can dispute your assigned level of fault if you think it is incorrect. You can do this by providing evidence that supports your position and shows the inaccuracies in the initial findings. In such cases, it is prudent to seek early legal intervention to help you build a strong case, safeguard your rights and explore other options to ensure you get the settlement and/or damages award that you deserve.