When you are involved in an accident and sustain injuries, the medical expenses and other losses you face associated with the accident may leave your head reeling. You know your best move forward will be to reach out to attorneys for injury/negligence who will explain the legal options open to you and help build a strong case for your defense. If the weather or the environment played a role in the accident, you may be wondering whether this is something that might help or hurt your case. Read on to find out more on the subject.
Negligence In Personal Injury Cases
For your claim to be successful, you need to establish that there was negligence on the part of the party that is liable for your injuries and losses. Your lawyer will help you establish that the defendant owed you a duty of care and by acting negligently, the accident happened and thus your injuries.
When weather or the environment plays a role in the accident, it will be up to your attorney to present the right arguments when the other party claims that it was the rain or some other weather phenomenon that ultimately caused the collision.
What Weather-Related or Environmental Factors May Impact Negligence Cases?
You may think that rain in Florida may be the only weather event that would play a role in car accidents. However, many other environmental manifestations may also cause accidents to happen. Among them:
- Fog
- Hail
- Severe storms
- Landslides
- Floods
- Wind
- Hazardous waste
- Pollution
These are just the most salient examples in South Florida but there may be others. In negligence cases, even the most extreme weather event would not change the fact that you would need to establish negligence on the part of whoever harmed you. Your lawyer needs to make sure your case is solid enough to avoid the defendant claiming that they were trying to prevent the accident but the conditions of the road made it impossible for them to stop in time before hitting you.
Preventing the Weather from Impacting Your Case
If the weather was present when the accident happened, you may have trouble getting the police to come to the scene and take photographs of the vehicles involved, you may also have trouble locating witnesses who are willing to testify on your behalf since there may not be anyone around during a storm. On the other hand, the weather might have caused the accident to be much more catastrophic, causing your injuries to be more extensive and severe. The damage to your vehicle may also be greater than what it would have been if the accident had happened on a sunny day.
Ultimately, in spite of your attorney’s best efforts to attempt to leave the weather out of the picture, the defendant may be successful in proving they were driving defensively and were aware that you were nearby but the weather was to blame for the accident.
