Side Impact Car Wreck Laws
Essay Preview: Side Impact Car Wreck Laws
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In cases where an injury or death has occurred from a side impact car wreck involving a mechanical failure, a personal injury attorney has had to investigate the circumstances leading up to the accident in order to determine liability. It goes through a chain of negligence. Every driver is responsible for proper maintenance and current inspections on their car to make sure they are road worthy and safe to drive. If the driver had not had their car inspected or if they had known about the mechanical problem and had not fixed it, they could be held responsible. If the driver had the car inspected and the mechanic was negligent, then the mechanic could be held responsible. If neither the driver nor the mechanic was found negligent, then the auto manufacturer could be sued under a product liability claim. Product liability lawsuits hold manufacturers, distributors and/or sellers of the mechanically failed car responsible when the car causes personal injury or death. So if a personal injury lawyer determines that the wreck was indeed caused by a car part malfunction, then a chain of negligence determines liability with the manufacturer and/or car dealer sitting at the end of that chain.
In most cases, “T-bone” accidents occur because one driver is not paying proper attention to the rules of the road. For example, a driver may not yield at a yield sign and drive into oncoming traffic or not stop at a red light and possibly hit or be hit by cross traffic. Drivers could also be involved in side impact collisions by pulling out of parking spaces or out of a driveway. In all these examples, driver negligence holds the driver liable for any consequences. However, in this case, driver negligence is not the reason for the accident, and faulty brakes or other vehicle malfunctions make the driver safe of any legal consequences.
Faulty brakes or other car malfunctions could cause a car to not stop properly and ultimately lead to a “T-bone” injury accident. In the event of this happening, the driver will not be held responsible if they can prove that the accident was not due to their own negligence. The driver may be able to hold the manufacturer or dealer of the car responsible and liable for all damages that occurred from the wreck. In most cases, anyone who had anything to do with getting the car into the possession of the driver could potentially be held liable in some way. Those at fault would not only be liable for the car that had the malfunction but also anyone else affected by the incident.
The specific rules for determining when dealerships/manufacturers can be held liable can change slightly state to state but are generally determined by a couple different factors. Strict liability rules exist in some cases that would make the manufacturer or dealer automatically liable for damages without the driver actually having to prove the dealership/manufacturer negligent. In this case, the driver would only have to prove the malfunctioning of the car part directly led to the accident while using the car the way it was intended. This can be easier said than done. Harris v. General Motors Corporation (U.S. Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit, 2002) “Proof of causation and proof that the manufacturers product was defective were essential to the consumers strict liability and negligence theories of liability, and the consumers evidence was inadequate on both points. The consumer did not proffer any expert witness who was competent to testify about any possible defect and she had no evidence that the injuries she suffered were any different from those she would have received if the airbag had deployed at the instant of collision.” In other cases, researching the companys manufacturing process and running tests on the part would be critical. The driver of the car involved would have to prove the company was negligent. This could be done by showing that not enough testing was done on the malfunctioned part or that lower quality parts were used which “reasonable” manufacturers would not use. While these two