Vehicular accidents are a leading cause of insurance claims and personal injury lawsuits. When one person hits someone else, the person affected usually wants compensation for their lost wages, medical expenses and vehicle repair costs. Most drivers in Kentucky affected by a crash anticipate making a primary insurance claim afterward. In some scenarios, it may soon become apparent that the available insurance coverage carried by the at-fault driver is not enough to address a crash victim’s losses.
A personal injury lawsuit filed under Kentucky law could more thoroughly compensate someone injured in a crash than an insurance claim alone. However, if the plaintiff made any mistakes in traffic, those errors might affect the compensation they can receive.
Kentucky has a comparative negligence rule
Few situations are so black-and-white that only one person is to blame for everything that happened. When one party claims that another injured them by causing a wreck, the defendant responding to the claim could try to place some of the blame on the plaintiff.
Provided that they have evidence affirming their claim that the plaintiff contributed to or exacerbated the situation, the courts may agree that the plaintiff is partially to blame for the crash. A judge would then determine how much fault applies to each party according to Kentucky’s comparative negligence rule.
After the courts determine the validity of a comparative negligence claim, the plaintiff can still proceed with the lawsuit. However, the plaintiff must understand that the courts will reduce the compensation they award by the percentage of fault the plaintiff contributed to the accident.
In such cases, it falls to the defendant blaming the plaintiff for the wreck to prove their claim has merit. Consequently, those who did not use a turn signal or made a minor traffic error may still want to pursue a lawsuit after a crash even though they acknowledge they may have partial responsibility for their harm.