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After an accident, determining who was responsible is not always straightforward. One person may have caused most of the accident while another person’s actions contributed to what happened. When multiple parties share responsibility, Alaska’s comparative negligence rules can have a significant effect on the amount of compensation an injured person may recover.
For people pursuing personal injury claims in Palmer and throughout Alaska, understanding comparative negligence is especially important when an insurance company argues that the injured person shares some of the blame. At the Law Offices of Curtis W. Martin, we help injured Alaskans understand how liability disputes can affect their claims and their ability to pursue compensation.
Comparative negligence, sometimes called comparative fault, is a legal principle used when more than one party bears responsibility for an accident.
Alaska follows a pure comparative negligence system. This means an injured person may potentially recover damages even when they share responsibility for the accident. However, their compensation can be reduced according to their percentage of fault.
For example, imagine that someone suffers $100,000 in damages after an accident. If that person is determined to be 20 percent responsible, their potential recovery could an accident. If that person is determined to be 20 percent responsible, their potential recovery could be reduced by 20 percent, leaving $80,000.
This makes the percentage of fault assigned to each party extremely important in an Alaska personal injury claim.
Yes. Alaska’s pure comparative negligence system does not automatically prevent someone from pursuing compensation simply because they contributed to the accident.
This differs from rules in some states that may prohibit recovery once an injured person reaches a particular percentage of fault.
The ability to recover despite partial responsibility can be important in cases where several actions contributed to an accident. However, every percentage point attributed to the injured person can potentially reduce the compensation available.
Our Alaska personal injury attorneys can investigate how an accident occurred and respond when an insurance company attempts to place an unfair share of responsibility on an injured person.
Determining comparative fault requires examining the specific facts surrounding the accident. Insurance companies, attorneys, judges, and juries may consider evidence showing what each party did before the injury occurred.
Relevant evidence may include:
The evidence needed will depend on the type of personal injury case.
For example, a Palmer car accident may require an investigation into speed, right-of-way, road conditions, and driver behavior. A premises liability case may instead involve questions about a dangerous property condition, how long it existed, and whether reasonable steps were taken to address it.
Car accidents provide a common example of how comparative negligence disputes arise in Alaska.
Suppose one driver makes an unsafe turn and collides with another vehicle. The turning driver may bear most of the responsibility, but the insurance company might argue that the other driver was speeding and therefore contributed to the severity or occurrence of the crash.
Other allegations of shared responsibility may involve:
Alaska drivers frequently encounter snow, ice, limited visibility, and other difficult road conditions. Those circumstances can make disputes over reasonable driving behavior particularly important after an accident in Palmer or elsewhere in the state.
Comparative fault is not limited to motor vehicle collisions. Questions about shared responsibility can arise in many types of Alaska personal injury cases.
In a slip-and-fall case, for example, a property owner may argue that the injured person should have noticed the dangerous condition. Following a dog attack, there may be allegations that the injured person provoked the animal. After an ATV or boating accident, multiple participants may disagree about whose conduct caused the incident.
Similar disputes can arise in cases involving:
The fact that an insurance company alleges comparative negligence does not mean its assessment is correct. Liability should be evaluated based on the available evidence and Alaska law.
Comparative negligence directly affects the amount an insurance company may ultimately have to pay.
If an insurer can establish that an injured person bears a greater percentage of responsibility, the potential value of the claim may decrease. As a result, disputes about fault can become a significant part of settlement negotiations.
An insurance adjuster might argue that the injured person could have avoided the accident, reacted sooner, behaved more carefully, or taken another action that would have reduced the risk of injury.
Those arguments deserve careful scrutiny.
An injured person should not assume that an insurer’s initial determination of fault is final. Evidence gathered during an independent investigation may provide a substantially different picture of how the accident occurred.
What someone says after an accident can potentially affect a later liability dispute.
People sometimes apologize instinctively at an accident scene even when they do not believe they caused what happened. Others may speculate about speed, distance, timing, or actions they took immediately before an accident.
Those statements can later be interpreted in ways the person never intended.
When speaking with an insurance company, injured people should also be careful about guessing or providing information they do not know. There is an important difference between accurately describing what happened and speculating about who bears legal responsibility.
Someone injured in Palmer or elsewhere in Alaska can speak with a personal injury attorney before providing detailed statements to another party’s insurance carrier.
When comparative negligence applies, it can affect the overall damages awarded in a personal injury case.
Depending on the circumstances, damages in an Alaska injury claim may involve losses such as:
The nature and amount of recoverable damages depend on the individual case. Establishing an accurate assessment of both damages and fault is therefore important.
A significant injury can create expenses that continue long after the accident itself. If an injured person is unfairly assigned too much responsibility, the resulting reduction in compensation can have substantial financial consequences.
Evidence can become harder to obtain as time passes. Accident scenes change, vehicles are repaired, witnesses become difficult to locate, and video recordings may be erased or overwritten.
After receiving necessary medical care, injured people should consider preserving photographs, records, witness information, correspondence with insurance companies, and other materials connected to the accident.
An attorney can also investigate the circumstances surrounding the injury and evaluate allegations of comparative negligence.
For people injured in Palmer and throughout Alaska, early attention to liability issues can help ensure that an insurance company’s version of events is not the only version considered.
If you are dealing with injuries caused by an accident in Palmer or elsewhere in Alaska, our attorneys are here to help. The Law Offices of Curtis W. Martin can evaluate the circumstances of your accident, address disputes over comparative negligence, and help you understand your options for pursuing compensation.
Call us today at (907) 746-9800 or connect with us online to schedule a free consultation.
