While most car wrecks tend to involve two vehicles, there is the potential for other people to be involved in the resulting lawsuit.
No one wants to be in a car wreck, but sometimes, life happens. If the wreck is bad enough, those involved are not exactly going to be coherent when asked what happened. For your own sake and the sake of any lawsuit you may choose to file later, don’t make any comments on the accident, what you were doing prior to the accident or what speed you think you may have been going. Hire a Chicago injury lawyer first, tell them the details and let them handle the fallout.
Personal injury lawyers with significant experience handling car wrecks have the innate ability to sort out the pertinent information needed to present in court. They also have the advantage of being calm and rational when dealing with the case, something you may not be, which could harm your lawsuit.
While most victims that have been hurt in a car crash as the result of someone else’s negligence know that they can sue, they may not be aware that they might be entitled to bring action against a third party as well. This would happen if the negligent driver did not own the vehicle he or she was driving. The legal owner of the car may also be named in a personal injury lawsuit and may ultimately be found liable.
This third party involvement is referred to as negligent entrustment and means that if someone lends an item they own, either accidentally or deliberately, and someone is hurt because of that, they could be legally liable. The owner/lender must be aware that by loaning their property, it created a risk of harm to others.
Negligent entrustment has some criteria you need to prove to succeed in court. The first is that the legal owner of a vehicle involved in a wreck did entrust their car to the person who caused the accident. To boil this concept down to English and not legal jargon, think: the act of providing access to a vehicle is enough.
The second criteria involves proving that the person who was driving the car (not the legal owner) was driving incompetently. Think: poor driving extract showing numerous traffic tickets and/or convictions for careless driving or other vehicular infractions, driving without insurance or a license or knowing the person who borrowed the car had a drug or alcohol problem.
If you find yourself in a situation like this, contact a Chicago injury lawyer and find out what your rights are and how a potential lawsuit may be handled.
Michael Osborne is a Chicago injury lawyer. The Law Office of Michael Osborne helps accident, wrongful death, and personal injury victims. To contact a Chicago personal injury attorney or learn more, visit Michaelosbornelaw.com or call (312) 315-1765.
