Liability insurance covers another person’s losses in an accident, and not yours. This means if you are the victim of an accident and you are not at fault, someone else’s police — not your own — will cover your damages.
When you make a claim against a liable party, coverage will usually be split between two components: bodily injury and property damage. Other items, such as legal defense costs, may be covered depending on the policy.
Understanding Liability Car Insurance
It’s a common misconception that your insurance policy pays for your own damages in the event of an accident. This is the case with personal injury protection, but liability insurance is meant to compensate people other than the policyholder.
What Does Liability Insurance Actually Cover?
As mentioned, there are two primary components to liability insurance: bodily injury and property damage. These are indicated as three numbers separated by slashes like 25/50/20 in Illinois.
The first two of these numbers indicate the coverage for bodily injury: the maximum per person (in multiples of $1,000) and the total across all injured parties, respectively. That is, a number of 25/50 means a single accident can cover up to $50,000 in injuries, up to a cap of $25,000 per person.
The third number is the limit of property damage coverage for the entire accident.
To break it down further:
- Bodily Injury: This component compensates for injuries themselves; that means medical care, recovery programs, lost income due to injuries, etc. Personal injury law largely covers this component of liability insurance.
- Property Damage: The second component pays for repairs or costs of things a liable person damaged. Say, for instance, if you sideswiped a parked car, property damage liability will cover any scratches and dents to their vehicle, but also any fences, walls, or other public property that may have been damaged during the accident.
Note that the limits of liability insurance only determine how much the insurance provider will cover and not how much an injured party can legally pursue. Any outstanding damages can still be claimed by a victim, though the liable party will have to pay through other means.
What Does Liability Car Insurance Don’t Cover?
A policyholder cannot use liability car insurance to cover their own damages, damage caused intentionally, and — at least in most cases — damage that occurs while operating a vehicle for commerce. That last one generally requires commercial coverage.
In addition, a person’s liability coverage cannot extend past the agreed-upon limits of the policy, except in rare cases where an insurer’s actions (or the terms of an insurance contract) can be argued to be in bad faith. Such cases will usually depend on court judgments.
Will My Rates Go Up if I File a Claim but I Wasn’t at Fault?
For the most part, you don’t have to worry about your insurance rates increasing if you file a claim and you were not at fault. The owner of the policy that covers damages will usually shoulder the rate hike.
However, the keyword here is “usually.” Most states follow a comparative negligence doctrine when it comes to tort claims, which means it isn’t uncommon for more than one party to share fault.
In fact, it’s actually the norm that multiple parties try to argue that they had no fault, or at least as little fault as possible. What this implies is that if you do file a claim, both you and the other party are likely to see some increase in your rates unless at least one of you is clearly at 0% fault, as you both have damages to cover.
That said, insurers don’t look solely at fault as a factor as to whether a rate increase is warranted. Both your own as well as statewide claim frequency and cost are other determining factors, so it can be the case that rates go up just by filing, but such scenarios are exceptions rather than the rule.
How Fault Is Determined in a Car Accident Case?
Fault in any personal injury case is built on the concept of negligence. While there may be subjective or case-to-case differences across car accident claims, there are also objective and observable factors to consider when discussing negligence.
Legal doctrine breaks negligence into four distinct elements:
- Duty of Care: A party cannot be considered negligent if they had no legal duty of safety to another. In the case of car accidents, the fact that a driver has a license to operate a vehicle implies that they are aware of their duty of care owed to other road users.
- A license implies a person understands the rules of the road by having passed a test.
- A license implies a person accepts the responsibility of following those rules.
- Breach of Duty: A party cannot be considered negligent if they did not breach their duty. A breach in this case does not have to be willful malice; only that they did not meet the standard of care they are expected to.
- Damages: The breach of duty must have directly led to some form of loss, be it physical, financial, or even emotional. Strictly speaking, a person may have been negligent in action, but without damages, there is no basis for any other party to seek compensation.
- Causation: If there are indeed damages, the losses must be the direct result of the accident. Lawyers distinguish two forms of causation for the purpose of personal injury cases:
- Actual Cause: “The crash would not have happened if you were not drunk.”
- Proximate Cause: “It’s foreseeably obvious that drunk driving leads to accidents like this one.”
Both can be present in a case, with the actual cause establishing what happened, and the proximate cause determining whether the law considers a person responsible.
Distributing fault in a car accident case requires one to look at each party involved and determine to what extent their actions (or inactions, as the case may be) contributed to the losses involved in the accident.
Comparative vs. Contributory Negligence
Earlier, we mentioned comparative negligence and how it is the most common method of handling tort cases. Under comparative negligence, multiple parties may share in liability and still be eligible for compensation; the caveat being that any amount they are owed is reduced by their degree of liability.
A select few states, however, still use what is known as contributory negligence. Under this system, a party must have absolutely no liability to file for damages.
Potential Evidence in Car Accident Cases
Because everyone using the road is implied to have a general duty of care for others, any evidence that proves negligence — and thus fault — comes down to proving the breach, the damages, and the link between the two.
The most common, and often most reliable forms of evidence are:
- Police Reports: Police reports are usually the foundation of a case because they serve as the official account of what happened. They are not always admissible in court as direct evidence, but well-written reports provide important context to help insurance adjusters determine the degree to which a person is liable.
- Photo and Video Evidence: Visual evidence is often matched up with written accounts to verify that the accident occurred as reported. Investigators will often look into:
- Skid marks and debris from the accident
- Locations of traffic signals
- Weather and lighting conditions at the scene.
- In the modern day, footage is captured from dashcams, CCTV systems, doorbell cameras, or even just phones.
- Witness Statements: Written and recorded statements from eyewitnesses help establish credibility and can enforce or weaken assumptions that can be made regarding other pieces of evidence.
- Medical Records: While evidence of injury doesn’t help point the finger, it does serve as documentation that a person did suffer harm and that there is a monetary value assigned to that harm.
- Financial and Employment Records: In the event an injury leads to missed work, pay stubs and tax returns can be used as documentation for the economic impact the accident had on a person.
Broadly speaking, the more consistent the documentation of different types of evidence is, the more precisely one can reconstruct an accident, and the more accurately one can determine the degree of fault across multiple parties.
Need to Cover Costs After an Accident? Turn to The Personal Injury Lawyers™
At the Personal Injury Lawyers™, we understand the complexities and frustrations that come with car accidents, especially when you’re not at fault. Our Chicago car accident lawyers are dedicated to guiding you through every step of the claims process, ensuring your rights are protected and that you receive the maximum compensation you deserve.
If you’ve been involved in a car accident and are seeking justice, don’t hesitate to reach out for a free consultation. We’ll review your case, explain your legal options, and help you understand how we can alleviate the stress and financial strain of the aftermath.
With The Personal Injury Lawyers™, you gain a powerful advocate committed to achieving the best possible results. Contact us today at (312) 999-9990 to take the first step towards getting your life back on track.
