Blog

Learn what to do if the defense tries to argue you are responsible for your own injuries.

3 Defense Arguments to Overcome in a Personal Injury CaseWhen an accident results in serious injuries, a lot of blame is going to be thrown around. The injured individual is obviously going to want responsible parties to step up and cover their damages, while the parties who alleged caused the accident are going to do everything they can to evade responsibility.

There are many possible arguments that may be used to defend against a personal injury claim, but some of the most common include various ways of showing that the injured individual actually caused or contributed to their own injury.

If you have been injured in a traffic accident, premises accident, or some other incident, you may come up against the following 3 defense arguments as you struggle to recover the compensation you deserve.

Contributory Negligence

An argument of contributory negligence may be used to argue that the plaintiff was actually entirely responsible for their own accident.

For example, if a person spilled their own soda in a store and then slipped in the puddle, obviously the store would not be at fault. However, cases involving contributory negligence are often much more subtle than this, involving existing conditions on a property that were not caused by the plaintiff but nonetheless should have been noticed and avoided by any reasonable person. For example, if a person slipped on a wet floor in a store because they were looking at their cell phone and did not see the wet floor sign, any resulting injuries would be due to their own negligence.

Comparative Negligence

The defense may argue comparative negligence in cases where the defendant and the plaintiff both made mistakes that contributed to the accident. This is often the case in car accidents where both drivers may have been speeding, changing lanes without signaling, following too close, or committing some other traffic infraction. If it is not possible to disprove that you drove recklessly or negligently, the focus will be on proving that the other driver’s behavior was worse. This way, you can receive a more favorable split of liability than 50-50, which will enable you to recover a greater percentage of your damages.

Failure to Mitigate Damages

Another possible argument the defense could try to make is that you allowed your injuries to become worse by negligence in not seeking prompt and proper treatment. This is why it is very important to get medical attention quickly after an accident, and continue with any treatment or medication advised by your doctor. Even so, it is a fact that some types of “late-appearing” injures such as whiplash can take time to develop. Your attorney can help argue that your response to your injury was actually appropriate based on the nature of the injury.

Hire an Experienced Attorney for Help

If you have not received an acceptable settlement offer, you need to consult an experienced personal injury attorney like Fernando D. Vargas for advice. If you have a strong case for compensation, your attorney can help you secure the evidence you need to fight back as effectively as possible against these and other defense arguments.