Who's at fault

Many people believe that if car A hits car B, the driver of car A is always legally at fault. This is not necessarily true. If it were, it would be a legal travesty.

http://www.all-about-car-accidents.com/resources/auto-accident/state-car-accident-law/Georgia.html

Comparative Fault Rules in Georgia

State laws differ significantly in how they handle a situation in which more than one party is at fault for causing an accident. In Georgia, you can recover compensation from any party that is more at-fault than you are, but your recovery will be reduced by the percentage of your own liability. And if you’re more than 50% at fault for the accident, you can’t recover anything at all. In legalese, this means Georgia is a “modified comparative negligence” state.

So, just how could we expect to see this “modified comparative negligence” rule applied in the real world? Of course, this rule controls jury awards in civil lawsuits (if your case gets that far), but since an insurance claim adjuster negotiates in reference to how the case would fare in court, he or she will look to Georgia’s comparative fault rules when determining what your claim is worth. As should be apparent, there is no clear-cut rule for assigning a percentage to each party’s fault, so this is something that will either have to be negotiated with an insurance company or determined by a judge or jury.

An example should make this a little more concrete. Let’s say an oncoming driver makes an illegal left turn in front of you. You’re speeding and cannot stop fast enough. You have $10,000 in medical bills and vehicle damage. Because the other driver made an illegal turn, he was at fault, but it is also determined (by negotiation with an insurance company or via deliberation by a judge or jury) that you were negligent for speeding, and you’re therefore 20% responsible for the accident. Under Georgia’s comparative fault rules you would be entitled to recover only $8,000 ($10,000 damages reduced by 20%, which represents your fault). However, if you are found to be more than 50% at-fault, you would not be able to recover anything.

•••••