There is no doubt in your mind about who was to blame for the collision that gravely damaged you. You were not issued a ticket at the scene and did not violate traffic regulations. The other driver hit you suddenly from nowhere. The responding police even gave him a traffic penalty. You are horrified that the at-fault driver’s insurance company believes your conduct contributed to the collision and should not be required to provide you with as much compensation. Get help from Caruso Law Offices, P.C.
Watch out for Insurance Company Tricks
You may have left the collision site believing the at-fault driver would indeed be held accountable. When his insurance company becomes involved, you can be certain that they will take every precaution to reduce their exposure. In other words, they want the Two-Car Crash at a New Mexico Intersection policy to pay out as little as feasible. The law of comparative negligence only applies in New Mexico. This implies that blame can be distributed across drivers, with a certain amount of responsibility being placed on each motorist. If the court upholds the insurance adjuster’s contention of comparative negligence, the victim’s damages will be decreased by the proportion of blame placed on him.
What Does Being Partial to Blame in a Car Accident Mean?
According to the theory of comparative negligence, even though another motorist may have violated the law by speeding or operating a vehicle while intoxicated or stoned, he would not have collided with you if you had not also committed a slight error of some sort. Another defense an insurance agent might use is that if you had not been careless in some way, you would not have suffered the serious injuries you did.
Insurance companies will make all sorts of absurd claims, but a few instances of what they might assert are as follows:
You were not buckled into your seatbelt.
The insurance adjuster could contend that since you broke the law and contributed to your injuries by not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision and suffered serious injuries, they should not be obligated to cover all of your medical expenses. This is because wearing a seatbelt is required by law in New Mexico.
You either failed to signal, or your taillights were out.
If your vehicle was rear-ended in the collision, the adjuster could argue that you did not utilize your turn signal, your brake lights or tail lights were out, or both, and their client would not have struck you if the lights had been on.
