Accidents in Ontario share at least one feature with accidents that take place anywhere. The legal system has been set up so that some person gets held responsible for the injuries and losses that have resulted from that accidental occurrence.
Lawyers that specialize in personal injury law go after the parties that must bear the stamp of liability. A lawyer gathers evidence with an eye towards convincing a judge and jury that the opposing party should be held liable for a given accident.
Typical questions raised in court by a personal injury lawyer:
• Who was careless and neglectful; who was negligent?
• Who failed to protect others from injury?
• Who did not use a reasonable amount of care in this situation?
• Was the injured victim where he or she was supposed to be?
Rules for determining liability in various situations:
Personal Injury Lawyer in Kitchener is of the view that if an employee has carried out a negligent action, then legally, the employer can be held liable. If a property owner has done a poor job of maintaining a building or a piece of land, and if someone gets hurt on that same property, then the property owner becomes responsible for the resulting injuries.
If a defective product causes a consumer to get injured, one of 3 different groups of people could be held liable for the consumer’s losses and injuries. An investigation would need to be carried-out, in order to determine whether the designers, the manufacturer or the marketers should have to bear the responsibility.
When more than one person is responsible for an accident, the victim sues one of the parties held liable. That party covers the victim’s expenses. Then that same party has legal grounds for seeking reimbursement from the other parties that were burdened with the stamp of liability.
If the court finds that the victim was a bit careless or neglectful, then the monetary award for the plaintiff can be reduced. The court decides what percent of the liability should rest on the shoulders of the defendant, and what percent should rest on the shoulders of the plaintiff. The court’s decision determines the extent to which the plaintiff’s award gets reduced.
For instance, if the court finds that the defendant’s actions contributed to 75% of the factors causing the accident, and the plaintiff’s actions contributed to 25% of those factors, then the size of the plaintiff’s compensation package would be reduced by 25%.
The court realizes that personal injury lawyers get a contingency fee from their clients. In other words, a plaintiff/client might lose more than just the amount of money taken from the compensation package. If an attorney got a lower fee, that same lawyer might decline to take another case from the negligent client.