Attorneys spend copious ink (and digital bandwidth) encouraging readers to consult legal counsel if they have been hurt in a vehicle crash. This advice is not self-serving — many researchers have surveyed the subject, and the results consistently show that injury victims with legal representation fare better (both in terms of success versus defeat and the amounts recovered) than self-represented victims. If you have been seriously hurt in an accident, one of your first steps should be to contact an experienced Oregon auto accident lawyer.
On TV, cases often turn on some sudden in-court revelation. In real life, the seeds of success (or failure) can be sown long before trial during the pre-trial investigation process.
Take, for example, an incident that occurred last month about 20 miles south of Portland. On the afternoon of September 26, a multi-vehicle crash closed the northbound lanes of Interstate 5. The collision claimed a total of seven vehicles. At the time that FOX 12 reported on the accident, the Oregon State Police disclosed that some of the vehicles’ occupants were injured, but did not say how many or how severe their injuries were.
Contrast a seven-vehicle incident like this with a two-vehicle crash. In a basic two-vehicle collision, determining fault can sometimes be relatively straightforward. If Vehicle A stopped safely at a red traffic light and Vehicle B crashed into the rear of A, then the driver of B very possibly has significant (if not total) liability to the driver of A for any injuries the crash caused.
The Many Permutations of Multi-Vehicle Collisions
Multi-vehicle crashes can be much less straightforward. Assume that three, not two vehicles, are involved in a rear-end crash at a red light and that the driver of Vehicle 1 (the front vehicle) is seriously hurt. In this scenario, the driver of Vehicle 1 needs to know many details to pursue a civil lawsuit effectively. For example, if the driver of Vehicle 2 stopped properly but the driver of Vehicle 3, who was driving while texting, did not see the stopped traffic and slammed into Vehicle 2, pushing it into Vehicle 1, the driver of Vehicle 3 may bear 100% liability for all the harm caused.
On the other hand, what if Driver 2 was distracted and crashed into Vehicle 1, and Driver 3, who was going too fast, could not stop and slammed into the rear of Vehicle 2, which hit Vehicle 1 again. In that hypothetical example, both Drivers 2 and 3 could potentially be liable for the harm caused to Driver 1.
Note that those are only a couple of examples involving just three vehicles. The more vehicles, the more possibilities in terms of liability, as each scenario could be anything from a single vehicle crashing into numerous stopped cars — drowsy or distracted truckers are often involved in these scenarios — to a possibility of multiple drivers bearing some culpability for forms of negligence like following too closely or failing to keep their vehicle under control. (Bad weather chain-reaction crashes are a typical example of this.)
Injury victims understand that success is not just about dollars… it is fundamentally about identifying wrongdoers and holding them accountable. To do that, you need to develop a clear and complete picture of the accident. You need to amass a wide array of evidence, including crash scene photographs, video footage, eyewitness testimony, police reports, and more.
Executing the Process
To get everything you need for an accurate assessment, you have to know how to go about the process. You have to understand how to investigate the crash scene and how to acquire copies of the documentary, photo, video, or testimonial evidence that will shed light on your case. This can involve a variety of legal tools, ranging from Depositions to Sets of Interrogatories to Requests for Production of Documents to Requests for Admissions and more.
These discovery tools are the keys to completing the “picture” of your accident, and your experienced injury accident lawyer has extensive knowledge about how to use them and how to go about all the other necessary evidence collection steps your case needs.
Given how important achieving a fair and appropriate outcome is, you owe it to yourself to avoid unnecessary risks and ensure you have done everything necessary to arrive at that successful endpoint. That includes having skilled legal counsel on your side. The experienced Oregon auto accident attorneys at Kaplan Law LLC have handled a full spectrum of severe auto accident cases, so we are fully equipped to help you pursue justice. To learn more about our services, call (503) 226-3844 today or contact us online to schedule your free consultation.