subject: Motor Vehicle Accident Causing Bicyclist's Leg Amputation Ends Up In $45o,000 Recovery [print this page] Okay, so you were hurt in a motor vehicle accident. Unfortunately you were to some extent, or possibly even, for the most part to blame for causing the accident. Will you be able to get compensated for your injuries? If so, what amount? The response may depend on where the accident occured.
Consider, for instance, the reported personal injury claim in which a nineteen year old woman was hit by a motor vehicle while she was going across an intersection riding her bicycle. The force of the impact threw her from her bicycle and she was then hit and dragged by a second vehicle. She sustained multiple serious injuries including an injury to her leg. The leg injury required her to undergo an above the knee amputation. Based on one report witnesses to the accident indicated that the woman went into the intersection without stopping for the red light. The law firm that filed the lawsuit reported that it took the lawsuit to trial. The jury concluded that the city and the first motor vehicle driver were 13% responsible and the second driver twelve percent responsible.
The jury found that the plaintiff was 75% to blame for the accident. In some States the law requires that the plaintiff be less than 50% at fault in order to be compensated for their injuries. The law in the State where this accident occurred permitted her to recover despite the fact that the jury determined that she was in excess of 50% to blame for the accident. However according to the applicable State law the amount she could get would only be proportional to her degree of fault. Thus, while the jury awarded $1.8 million, she was only able to recover twenty five percent, or $450,000.
Many people have the mistaken idea that if they were primarily to blame for a motor vehicle accident that they are not permitted to be compensated for their injuries. It is thus important if one is injured in a motor vehicle accident to check with a skilled motor vehicle accident attorney so as to determine if they are right in their believe that they were mostly responsible or if, legally, someone else was actually at fault. And even in case the plaintiff was really legally at fault for the accident, the lawyer will advise them on whether the pertinent laws would nonetheless allow the plaintiff to recover, and if so, the way in which the amount be established.
Only a competent attorney can accurately evaluate a possible claim under the applicable laws. Also, an experienced attorney will also know the range of awards juries in the location where the matter would be tried generally award for the plaintiff's injuries.
Motor Vehicle Accident Causing Bicyclist's Leg Amputation Ends Up In $45o,000 Recovery
