Determining liability after a car accident is often difficult, but the challenge becomes even greater if the crash was at least partially caused by hazards in the road, such as debris or a pot hole.
The difficulty in such a case is figuring out who was negligent and at fault for the hazards in the road. The negligent party could be a government agency responsible for road maintenance, or it could be a private entity.
Government agencies
If your accident happened because of potholes or certain types of debris, a government agency may have failed to provide proper road maintenance, making it responsible for the crash. Typically, entities responsible for maintaining infrastructure are state agencies or local municipal governments.
Claims against government entities can be challenging, as there are some circumstances in which the government might have immunity. In other cases, there could be special requirements for filing a personal injury claim against the government entity that make it difficult for you to get the case off the ground. For example, you usually must file a notice of claim within a certain period — and that time is often quite soon after the initial incident.
Private entities
When an accident takes place due to a road hazard created by the negligence of a private individual or company, you must carefully analyze the facts to determine who was liable. For example, if truck cargo falls on to a highway, the person responsible could be the driver of the truck, the trucking company or whoever conducted the pre-trip inspection on the vehicle.
To file a claim against a company, you may need to be able to prove the incident occurred in the scope of the responsible person’s employment.
For more information on seek damages after a Florida car accident, meet with a knowledgeable Bradenton personal injury attorney at Goldman, Babboni, Fernandez, Murphy & Walsh.