An interesting question arises in accidents wherein Mississippi car accident victims assume that the other driver will obey the rules of the road (i.e. comply with right of way laws), but the other driver fails to do so which results in a serious auto accident. Because Mississippi follows the legal doctrine of comparative negligence in auto accident cases, the question arises whether a driver is negligent for not anticipating a violation of the rules of the road by the other driver. The consequence of the answer to this inquiry makes it very important. An interesting issue comes up in a fair number of Mississippi motor vehicle accidents.
Comparative negligence is essentially the failure of an accident victim to exercise the ordinary care of a reasonable person to prevent injury to oneself. If a Mississippi car accident victim is found to be partially at-fault in contributing to one’s own injuries, the damages awarded for the car accident victim’s injuries may be reduced by the victim’s percentage of fault. If an auto accident victim were 40 percent at fault in an auto accident then a $100,000 damage award would be reduced to $60,000. Because the original damage award was the true assessment of the victim’s injuries, such a reduction can mean very harsh results. A practical example of how the legal principle of comparative negligence is affected by a failure to anticipate violations of Mississippi’s rules of the road is provided by the Mississippi case of Busick v. St. John, 856 So. 2d 304 (Miss. 2003).
In Busick, the injured auto accident victim filed a personal injury lawsuit contending the other driver was negligent in operating her vehicle, which caused a parking lot collision. A jury in Rankin County, Mississippi, found that the defendant’s driving conduct was not the cause of the injured victim’s serious spinal injury so the injury victim recovered no compensation and appealed the unfavorable verdict.
The evidence established that the injury victim was driving along the side drive of a parking lot. The other driver was stopped at a row of bushes that cut her visibility as she was exited the parking lot. The defendant inched forward but stopped when she saw the injured person’s vehicle coming. The injured person admitted she continued to travel 300 feet, making no attempt to stop before the collision. The court considered the issue of the injury victim’s reliance on right of way rules (i.e. the rules of the road). The court held that the rules of the road did not apply because the accident occurred on private property so ordinary negligence rules applied.
However, the law in Mississippi provides that a driver having the right of way may assume that the driver of the other car will stop his car before entering an intersection, but this general rule has limitations. While a motorist has a right to assume that the driver of a vehicle proceeding toward an intersection will obey right of way rules, this right exists only until the accident victim knows, or in the exercise of ordinary care, should know otherwise. While the driver in the Busick case had a right to presume that the driver exiting the parking lot would obey the rules of the road, once it was obvious that the driver was violating right of way, the court found the injury victim had an obligation to take reasonable precautions for the victim’s own safety. The tragedy of this case is that the victim suffered a serious spinal injury but recovered nothing because of the victim’s degree of fault in the accident.
If you or someone close to you suffers a serious injury or wrongful death in a Mississippi car accident, the insurance company will often look for grounds to assert that you are partially at-fault for your own injuries. This can have a devastating impact on your ability to pay medical bills or compensate for past and future lost income. It can even result in an accident victim receiving no compensation for one’s injuries as in Busick depending on one’s degree of fault.
The experienced Mississippi car accident attorneys at Barrett Law, PLLC are very familiar with insurance company defense strategies including blaming the victim. We carefully investigate the facts of our client’s cases so that we can build the evidence needed to assign liability and fault to the party responsible for our client’s injuries. If you have been injured or have lost a loved one in a serious motor vehicle accident in Mississippi, the attorneys at Barrett Law, PLLC may be able to help so call us today at (662) 834-2376.