While many personal injury cases result from incidents caused by a single party, others involve multiple at-fault parties who can each be held liable for their contribution to the incident. However, the more liable parties there are in a personal injury case, the more complex the case will be, as the parties attempt to shift liability off themselves and onto each other in order to minimize their own financial exposure. An experienced and knowledgeable attorney will know how to approach cases with multiple at-fault parties with the goal of maximizing your compensation.
Parties That Could Be Liable for Your Injuries
Depending on the type of accident that caused your injuries, several parties could be liable, including:
- Motor vehicle drivers who fail to use caution when behind the wheel
- Property owners who fail to remedy known or expected hazards on their properties, including wet floors
- Product manufacturers who release products with design, manufacturing, or warning label defects to the public
- Government entities responsible for maintaining public roads and land to keep them free from hazards
- Owners of public places that fail to keep patrons safe from criminal violence
- Dog and other animal owners who fail to control their pets and prevent them from attacking
How the Liability of Multiple Defendants Is Determined
In general, anyone at fault for harming someone else is only responsible for their own contributions to that person’s injuries. A trial court hearing a case involving multiple potentially at-fault parties will assign each defendant a percentage of fault for what happened, which in turn establishes how much of the injured person’s award that defendant is responsible for paying.
For example, let’s say you were in a car accident involving two other drivers. Driver A ran a red light, and Driver B was speeding and couldn’t stop in time to avoid the crash. Those vehicles then collided with yours. In this case, Driver A may be assigned 75 percent of the fault, and Driver B 25 percent.
If your total award amounts to $30,000, the first driver will be financially responsible for covering 75 percent of that amount ($22,500), with the second driver being responsible for the remaining 25 percent ($7,500).
That said, both New York allow injured parties to hold a single defendant liable for an accident involving multiple at-fault parties under certain circumstances. In New York, the courts have ruled that any defendant can be held fully liable for the entire award, with the exception that a defendant found to be less than 50 percent at fault is only responsible for their share of the injured party’s non-economic damages (e.g., pain and suffering).
How Holding Multiple Parties Liable Can Benefit Your Recovery
If only one party is liable for your injuries, it could limit your ability to recover the full damages you are owed. This is because insurance policies have limits, and the at-fault party may not have the means to pay any additional compensation beyond what their insurance covers.
However, if you can hold multiple parties liable, your damages can be divided among them. In certain circumstances, you might be able to hold the most financially secure defendant liable for the full amount. This reduces the impact of any individual insurance policy caps or lack of at-fault party assets.
Contact Our Personal Injury Lawyers
If you sustained injuries in an accident caused by someone else in New York, contact Fessenden Laumer & DeAngelo, PLLC, to speak with an experienced and compassionate personal injury lawyer about your case. Our lawyers will help identify the parties that could be at fault for your injuries and walk you through the steps involved in holding them financially liable.
