When multiple vehicles are involved in a collision, often referred to as a chain-reaction crash, establishing the overall liability for the crash can get a bit complicated. While New York’s status as a no-fault state may guarantee compensation from your insurance, it is still important to identify who was responsible to prevent any reductions in your compensation, and should you decide to file a lawsuit on the matter. It is in moments like this where hiring a car accident lawyer in NYC should be one of your top priorities.
Explaining Multi-Car Accidents
When handling cases as an injury lawyer in Brooklyn, we can attest that most car accident cases involve two vehicles. However, in certain situations, more than two vehicles can be involved in a car accident, thus resulting in a multi-car or chain-reaction accident. Multi-car accidents are quite common during bad weather and when there is drunk or reckless driving involved. As such, some of the most common types of multi-car accidents include:
- Rear-end crashes;
- Head-on collisions; and
- Intersection accidents
How is Liability Determined?
Since New York is a ‘No-Fault’ insurance state, your insurance provider will cover medical costs and loss of wages up to a certain extent, regardless of who bears the fault in the accident. However, it is also important to acknowledge that multi-car accidents can often result in serious, life-changing injuries such as broken bones, permanent disability, and loss of limbs, satisfying New York’s serious injury threshold and opening the doors for potential lawsuits.
While it is important to acknowledge that determining liability can be complicated, it is nonetheless important since it would allow your attorney to decide whether or not you should focus on one party or multiple parties when filing a lawsuit to claim compensation. To make this determination, it is important to carry out a proper investigation on the car accident by looking into:
- Police Reports;
- Medical Reports;
- Photographs and videos of the accident site;
- Eyewitness accounts; and
- Expert witness testimony (including accident scene reconstruction experts)
An experienced attorney can correlate all the evidence and make a determination on where they should focus their lawsuit to secure the maximum compensation for you.
What Should You Do After a Multi-Car Accident?
Like in any car accident matter, when deciding on the actual value of the settlement, insurance companies and opposing parties will look into your conduct in the aftermath of an accident, and they may point to any number of acts or omissions in an attempt to justify reducing your compensation under New York’s comparative negligence laws.
While we as an accident lawyer in New York understand that the immediate aftermath of an accident can be incredibly disorienting and overwhelming, we cannot stress the importance of your conduct in the aftermath of such an accident. Therefore, we advise that you do the following:
- Move to a safe location, but do not leave the scene of the accident. If you’ve been driving a vehicle, it may be considered a hit & run.
- Call 911 to inform local law enforcement and request immediate medical attention.
- Get the names, contact information, and insurance details of everyone involved in the accident.
- Take pictures and videos of the accident scene, particularly the damage to your vehicles.
- Inform your insurance provider about the accident as soon as possible.
- Contact a car accident attorney in NYC to get a better understanding of your rights and liabilities involved with a multi-car accident.
How Does Pure Comparative Negligence Impact Multi-Vehicle Accidents Cases?
Since New York adopts the pure comparative negligence law, this means that multiple parties can share the blame in a multi-car accident. Pure comparative negligence mostly comes into play when determining the extent of compensation awarded by either an insurance claim or lawsuit.
According to pure comparative negligence, the compensation you are able to claim can be reduced by the extent of your fault in the accident. For example, take an example of situations involving drivers X, Y, and Z. X rear-ends Y, who then goes on and hits Z. An investigation finds that X is 70% at fault for the incident while Y is 30% at fault. Due to comparative negligence, the compensation for X and Y will be reduced by 70% and 30%, allowing them to only claim 30% and 70% of their respective compensation.
Conclusion
In New York, determining liability for car accidents is a crucial step in claiming compensation. However, the situation can get a bit complicated when there are multiple cars involved in an accident. If you or your loved one is injured in such a multi-car accident, contact an experienced car accident attorney in NYC to get an understanding of your rights and liabilities, as well as to plan your next steps towards securing your compensation.
