Auto Accident Settlements and Duty of Care

Getting fair offers for auto accident settlements often relies on clearly establishing Duty of Care. It's one of the cornerstones of any liability claim.

We'll use the example of an auto collision as we explore this concept. Auto collisions are often straightforward cases because the law is very specific with almost all aspects of driving, so defining someone's duty is usually easy.

The idea behind Duty of Care is this:

Every one of us has an obligation to act in a way that will not injure anyone else. When driving a car we all have a responsibility to act within the law and, beyond that, act like any reasonable person would in order to look out for the safety of others. This includes cyclists, pedestrians and other drivers.

In many auto accident settlements cases there is a clear duty of care at play. Drivers have to signal turns, they have to stop at stop signs, they have to obey traffic signals and they have to observe the speed limits.

After an accident you have to determine whether or not that duty of care was upheld. If not, it's referred to as breach of duty. Anyone who is determined to have a breach of duty is negligent in an accident, and therefore liable.

This is not only an important factor in determining liability in a car accident, it also plays on the basic rights of citizens. One of the key factors that makes our society work is that we know that we all have a duty of care towards each other and we all have to uphold that duty.

Individuals who choose to pursue auto accident settlements on their own should use these legal terms when talking to the insurance adjuster. If you know that the accident was caused because the other person made an illegal u-turn then you should state that the "liability" falls on them because their "duty of care" was to not make that u-turn.

Use the words sparingly and in context. The idea is to let the adjuster know that you understand how auto accident settlements work and you won't be strung along.

In pretty much any type of auto collision there is a duty of care at play, but it doesn't necessarily fall on the driver. The breach of duty may be a result of the municipality failing to mark an obstacle or not properly maintaining the roads.

In other personal injury cases there might be no duty of care at all. If the accident happened after entering a room marked "Danger - Keep Out" then the property owner can argue they had no duty of care towards you. It's important to realize right from the start that if this responsibility doesn't exist, your claim won't be successful.