No one wants to imagine being rear-ended in an auto accident. However, whether it is due to a driver under-appreciating how slick or slippery roads are, a driver falling victim to distractions like cell phones, or some other cause, these accidents happen all too often. When it happens to you, you probably know that the rear driver is typically at fault and that you may be entitled to compensation in court. But would you know how to go about getting that much-needed compensation? And, more precisely, would you know the best way to do it? For answers to these and other questions, be sure to retain the services of a skilled New York City injury attorney.
Many people probably know that they can sue the driver who rear-ended them. But there’s more to it than that. A full trial on the issue of the accident’s causation and the other driver’s liability can possibly be very time consuming and stressful–and there may be a way to avoid it. That method for avoiding a full trial on the issue of liability is called “summary judgment,” and was a key to success for a pair of injured drivers in their recent cases.
Summary judgment means that the judge has decided that, of the factual disputes that may exist between you and the other driver, there are none that would alter the outcome of the case. Even if every factual dispute was resolved in your opponent’s favor, the law would still dictate that you win. When that happens, you win on liability and the case moves on to a trial–albeit only on the issue of how much your damages award should be.
Rear-end accidents can often be very fertile cases for injured plaintiffs to win on summary judgment. The law requires all drivers to keep a proper lookout for other vehicles and to maintain a safe follo
