In the aftermath of your car, truck, or motorcycle accident, you need money to provide you with financial stability while you focus on your recovery. These funds will be needed to pay for your hospital stay, medical treatment, rehabilitation, and medication. You’ll also want compensation to offset your lost wages and to ease your pain and suffering. Although a personal injury lawsuit might help you alleviate your damages, you might be wondering whether your own actions leading up to the accident are going to jeopardize your claim.
Montana’s comparative negligence law
Under Montana law, you can’t seek compensation from someone if your liability is greater than theirs. However, so long as the defendant is more responsible for the accident than you are, you can still seek compensation even if you’re partially to blame for the wreck. If you win your case and are found to be partially at fault, though, then your recovery will be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to you.
How to defend against comparative negligence
You should be prepared to face comparative negligence arguments in your case. Here are some ways to do that:
- Analyze and be honest about your actions leading up to the wreck.
- Find ways to minimize the evidence the defense presents pertaining to comparative negligence.
- Contextualize your actions so that they pale in comparison to the defendant’s.
- Present contradictory evidence that diminishes the impact of the defense’s argument.
There might be other ways for you to defend against allegations of comparative fault. You just need to know how the law applies to your set of circumstances and how to craft persuasive legal arguments that protect the integrity of your claim. If that’s something that you need help doing, then we encourage you to read up on the law and browse through the rest of our website.