All personal injury cases depend upon proving negligence. In other words, plaintiffs must be able to show that the at-fault party acted recklessly and that their carelessness directly resulted in the victim’s injury and other losses.
Some claims will include multiple defendants. For example, a truck accident involving multiple vehicles may find that fault is spread among all of the involved parties, including yourself. It could also include trucking companies or parts manufacturers if a defective part played a role in the crash. While other cases such as a drowning in a pool, where only one party could be at fault for not putting up a fence.
Many injured people make the mistake of believing that they cannot recover compensation if they are partly to blame for an accident. That’s not necessarily true. Texas uses a legal concept called comparative negligence in cases of shared fault. Put simply, it means that you can still be awarded money as long as you were not more than 50 percent responsible for the accident. However, your portion of the award will be reduced by your percentage of fault. It’s best to talk to an attorney when there are questions of shared liability because you could completely be barred from damages with an unfair assignment of fault.
Sometimes it is straightforward to identify the negligent parties in an accident. But a thorough investigation by an attorney could reveal “hidden” defendants that you may have never thought could play a role in your case.
Possible defendants could include individuals, property owners, landlords, retailers, product designers or manufacturers, companies, hospitals, dog owners, government agencies and employers, to name a few. The unique circumstances of every injury claim means that each case could be handled differently under Texas law.