Evansville Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help Determine Liability After a Multi-Vehicle Accident

November 25, 2024

While liability can be fairly straightforward in a two-vehicle Evansville car accident, it might be significantly harder to assess when a larger number of cars take part.  If you been hurt in a crash in Evansville involving more than two drivers, let us explain how Evansville personal injury lawyers can help determine liability after a multi-vehicle accident. 

The Challenges Posed by Evansville Multi-Vehicle Accidents 

According to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, multi-vehicle accidents only make up around 12 percent of all collisions in the United States, but the impact that they produce can make them disproportionately destructive.  Fortunately, compensation could be available when someone else is responsible for the crash, though multi-vehicle accidents can still pose serious challenges to inexperienced claimants. 

The most basic Evansville multi-vehicle accident is the classic chain reaction collision.  In this scenario, a vehicle neglects to stop when the vehicle ahead of it does, resulting in a rear-end crash whose force makes the rear-ended vehicle hit the vehicle in front of it.  The driver and/or owner of the vehicle that first caused the collision will generally be held accountable for the multi-vehicle accident, and any insurance policies applicable to that vehicle will probably be the chief sources of economic recovery for the injured parties. 

Though a multi-vehicle accident of this nature might be a relatively simple affair, liability may not be as obvious in Evansville multi-vehicle accidents in which there are more cars in the mix.  For example, a vehicle could strike the rear of another vehicle, then itself get rear-ended by a third vehicle, which in turn could be rear-ended by a fourth vehicle.  Here, the initial rear-ending vehicle would likely be culpable for the initially rear-ended vehicle’s damages, though the third and fourth vehicles might also be pursued for any damages that they inflicted.   

Some Evansville multi-vehicle accidents could end up being even more complex, especially when additional factors are at play, such as intoxication or illicit cellphone usage.  In certain instances, you might find yourself in a multi-vehicle accident in which you are simultaneously a victim and a perpetrator.  If that should happen, the degree to which you can show that you were less to blame for the incident than others may influence how much you can obtain for it or whether you can obtain anything whatsoever under Indiana’s comparative fault laws.   

Moreover, unscrupulous insurance adjusters may try to minimize their own financial exposure by pointing their fingers elsewhere, including at yourself, which could place a heavier burden on your shoulders at a time when you may already be struggling to stay afloat. 

How Hiring an Evansville Personal Injury Attorney Can Make a Difference 

It can be tough to know how to proceed in the wake of a multi-vehicle accident, when it may feel as if one false move could put your future in jeopardy, but hiring an Evansville personal injury attorney can make a difference. 

Your lawyer will begin by launching a comprehensive investigation into your Evansville multi-vehicle accident in order to identify the individuals and entities who contributed to it and the extent of their wrongdoing, then move swiftly to amass the materials to support your claim, such as: 

• Police reports 

• Citations and dispositions 

• Witness statements 

• Crash site photos 

• Dash cam, streetlight, and surveillance footage 

• Black box data 

• Phone records 

• Driving histories 

• Vehicular maintenance logs 

• Accident reconstruction and forensic analysis 

Once an airtight case has been assembled, your attorney will strive to secure a settlement that reflects its true value.  When confronted with compelling evidence of your losses and the insured’s greater share of guilt, a sensible adjuster may be convinced to tender a generous settlement rather than risk a worse verdict at trial.  This is a key reason why the wrongfully injured receive 3.5 times more with lawyers than they do without them. 

Evansville car accident cases are frequently resolved during negotiations outside of the courtroom, though a trial might be unavoidable in a case with highly disputed liability.  At that point, a seasoned litigator will become pivotal, since plaintiffs who represent themselves in court lose about 96 percent of their cases, whereas plaintiffs with professional representation are statistically favored to win.   

And if your attorney can manage to convey everything that you have lost to a receptive jury, you might just acquire the funds necessary to get your life back to normal.   

Our Evansville Personal Injury Lawyers Will Be There for You 

Hensley Legal Group has been standing up for injured Hoosiers since 1998.  If you have been badly hurt in an Evansville multi-vehicle accident, our Evansville personal injury lawyers will be there for you. 

Please call or text us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form to schedule a free case review with a dedicated Evansville personal injury attorney today.