Who’s Liable for a Multi-Car Crash?

By Hardwick & Pendergast, P.S. on October 25, 2017

Liability is a tricky – but vital – aspect of a civil claim, and the more people involved in the accident, the more difficult liability can be to establish. In multi-car crashes, like the one on Seattle’s I-5 South last month, determining who is responsible becomes muddied by all of the people involved.

This is why you need an experienced accident injury lawyer to represent you after any accident. We have the knowledge and resources to get to the heart of these matters.

How It Started

In a two-person accident, the person who was mainly responsible for causing the collision is the one who’s liable. For example, if someone was driving too close to the vehicle in front of him and could not stop in time, then he could be liable for that rear-end collision. On the other hand, if the car in front did not have working brake lights, that could make the front driver liable.

What Happened Next

When more than two vehicles crash, it helps to look at the beginning of the crash. As more vehicles become involved, each person might be partially liable for what happens next. It can be difficult for drivers to react when an accident suddenly shows up in front of them, even when they’re driving in a reasonable way. A driver could be struck by debris from an accident, thereby becoming involved without any negligence on his or her part.

On the other hand, if these drivers are tailgating, they could collide with the already-wrecked cars due to their own negligence, which might make them partially liable (along with whoever initially caused the collision).

The Big Picture

Ultimately, reconstructing an accident and looking at all of these details is vital to understanding what happened and who is to blame. This takes experts and people with extensive experience working with automobile collisions. If you or someone you know has been in a car accident, don’t try to handle it all on your own. Call us today at Hardwick & Pendergast, P.S., at (888) 228-3860 to discuss your case.