Key points about disputed fault in Alabama car accidents:
- In Alabama, even a small amount of fault can potentially prevent an accident victim from recovering personal injury compensation.
- An insurance company’s fault determination is not final and can be challenged with additional evidence.
- When fault is disputed, evidence such as surveillance footage, vehicle data, cellphone records, and witness statements can help establish what actually happened.
- Getting an attorney involved early can help preserve hard-to-obtain evidence and protect you from making statements an insurer could use to shift blame onto you.
Being injured in a car accident is difficult enough. But what happens when the other driver insists you caused the crash—or their insurance company tries to put some of the blame on you?
In Alabama, a dispute over fault can put your entire personal injury claim at risk. Unlike most states, Alabama follows a strict contributory negligence rule that may prevent you from recovering compensation if you’re found to have contributed to the accident at all.
In this article, we’ll explain how fault is determined after an Alabama car accident, what happens when drivers disagree about who caused the crash, how to challenge an insurer’s decision, and what evidence can help prove you weren’t at fault.
If you’ve been seriously injured in an Alabama crash and fault is being disputed, schedule a free consultation with the Birmingham car accident attorneys at Nomberg Law Firm. We can review what happened, explain your rights, and help protect your claim.
Is Alabama a no-fault state for car accidents?
No. Alabama is an at-fault state, which means the person who causes a car accident can be held financially responsible for the injuries and other damages that result.
But Alabama also follows a particularly strict rule known as pure contributory negligence. Under this rule, if you had any role in causing the accident, you’re typically barred from recovering personal injury compensation from the other driver.
For example, suppose another driver runs a red light and hits your vehicle, but their insurance company claims you were speeding and could have avoided the collision. If you’re ultimately found to have contributed to the accident, that finding could prevent you from recovering compensation.
That’s why seemingly small disagreements over what happened can have a major impact on your Alabama car accident claim.
Does a police report say who was at fault?
A police report can contain important information about a crash, but it doesn’t necessarily have the final say on who is legally responsible.
Depending on the accident, the responding officer may document:
- Statements from the drivers and witnesses
- The location and direction of the vehicles
- Visible vehicle damage
- Road and weather conditions
- Diagrams of the crash
- Traffic violations or citations issued at the scene
- The officer’s observations about what happened
The report can become an important piece of evidence when insurance companies investigate the accident, but since the officer usually arrives after the crash, they’re not a direct witness to what happened.
If the police report contains inaccurate information or appears to unfairly place blame on you, a Birmingham car accident lawyer can help gather evidence that may end up telling a different story.
How do insurers decide who is at fault after a car accident?
After a crash, the insurance company will conduct its own investigation to determine who it believes caused the accident and whether it is responsible for paying the claim.
An insurance adjuster may consider many of the same things documented in the police report, but the investigation can go much further. Depending on the circumstances, they may review:
- Statements from drivers and witnesses to compare different accounts of how the accident happened and look for inconsistencies
- Photos and videos from the accident scene that show vehicle positions, skid marks, debris, road conditions, and other details
- Dashcam, traffic camera, or neighborhood doorbell cameras that may show which driver had the green light, made an unsafe lane change, or otherwise caused the crash
- Medical records for information about when and how your injuries occurred
- Cellphone records when distracted driving is suspected
- Vehicle damage to determine where the impact occurred and potentially help establish how the vehicles collided, including damage severe enough for a vehicle to be considered a total loss
- Traffic laws and citations to determine whether either driver violated a law before the collision
- Social media posts for photos, comments, check-ins, or other information about the accident or your activities that could potentially be used to challenge your version of events
- Vehicle event data, sometimes called “black box” data, which may provide information about speed, braking, and other vehicle activity immediately before a serious crash
It’s also important to remember that the other driver’s insurance company isn’t a neutral third party deciding the case. It represents its policyholder and has a financial interest in limiting what it pays.
In Alabama, finding evidence that you contributed to the accident could potentially allow the insurer to deny your personal injury claim altogether.
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Can I dispute an at-fault determination if the insurer says I’m partially responsible for the crash?
You can dispute the insurance company’s decision. You should start by asking the adjuster to explain exactly why they believe you were partially or fully at fault. Then, look for evidence that challenges their reasoning.
You can point out factual errors, provide additional photos or videos, submit witness information, correct inaccuracies in the police report when possible, and ask the insurer to reconsider its decision.
However, if the insurer reviews the additional evidence and still refuses to change its position, you may need an attorney to take the dispute further.
The problem is that by this point, you may have already given recorded or written statements that the insurer can use to support its contributory negligence argument.
That’s why, when serious injuries and substantial compensation are at stake, it’s usually safer to involve an Alabama car accident attorney instead of trying to challenge the insurer’s fault determination on your own.
How do I prove a car accident wasn’t my fault?
To prove the other driver was at fault so you can recover compensation after an Alabama car accident, you’ll need to establish 4 basic elements of negligence:
- Duty. The other driver owed you a duty to operate their vehicle with reasonable care.
- Breach. The driver failed to meet that duty, such as by speeding, driving while intoxicated, running a red light, texting while driving, or making an unsafe lane change.
- Causation. The driver’s actions caused the accident and your injuries.
- Damages. You suffered losses because of the accident, such as medical expenses, lost income, property damage, or pain and suffering.
When fault is disputed, strong evidence is needed to establish these elements and also defend against allegations that your own actions contributed to the crash.
If you took photos or videos at the accident scene, preserve them. Images showing the vehicles, vehicle damage, intersection, road conditions, traffic signs, skid marks, debris, and other details may help establish how the crash occurred.
Contact information for anyone who witnessed the accident can also be extremely valuable. Additionally, you should obtain and keep copies of the police report, medical records, insurance correspondence, photographs, repair estimates, and other documents related to the crash.
For a serious accident, however, some of the most valuable evidence—like surveillance footage, vehicle data, cellphone records, or records from a trucking or rideshare company—is often difficult for you to obtain yourself.
That’s where getting a local Alabama car accident attorney involved early can make a significant difference.
How can a Birmingham car accident attorney help when fault is being disputed?
When fault is disputed after a serious accident, an experienced attorney can conduct an independent investigation, take over communications with the insurance companies, and build a case that addresses both who caused the crash and how much compensation you should receive.
Depending on the circumstances, your attorney may be able to:
- Preserve evidence before it disappears. An attorney can send preservation letters requesting that potentially important evidence not be deleted, destroyed, repaired, or overwritten. This can be especially important for surveillance footage, damaged vehicles, and electronic data that may otherwise be lost.
- Dig deeper into electronic vehicle data. Modern vehicles can contain information about speed, braking, acceleration, and other activity immediately before a collision. If a self-driving or highly automated vehicle was involved, additional system data may help show what the vehicle detected, how it responded, and whether the automated system or a human was controlling the vehicle at the time.
- Obtain commercial vehicle records. Trucking and other commercial vehicle accidents can involve evidence such as electronic logging device data, onboard camera footage, GPS information, inspection and maintenance records, and driver or company records that aren’t typically available to the average accident victim.
- Investigate rideshare or delivery drivers. If an Uber, Lyft, or other app-based driver was involved, app and company records may help establish what the driver was doing at the time of the crash and potentially identify additional insurance coverage.
- Bring in an accident reconstruction expert. When drivers give conflicting accounts or the mechanics of a serious crash aren’t clear, an expert can analyze vehicle damage, roadway evidence, measurements, photographs, electronic data, and other information to reconstruct how the collision most likely occurred.
- Protect you when dealing with insurers. Once you have an attorney, they can handle communications with the insurance companies on your behalf. That limits opportunities for an adjuster to ask confusing or leading questions, take statements out of context, or obtain comments that could later be used to argue that you contributed to the crash.
- Negotiate from a stronger position. An attorney can present the evidence supporting liability along with documentation showing the full extent of your medical expenses, lost income, future medical needs, pain and suffering, and other damages. A well-supported claim can make it much harder for an insurer to justify denying the claim or making a low settlement offer.
- Take the dispute to court when necessary. If the insurance company won’t back down from an unsupported fault determination or offer fair compensation, an attorney can file a lawsuit and use the legal discovery process to obtain additional evidence, question witnesses under oath, and ultimately ask a judge or jury to resolve the dispute.
At Nomberg Law Firm, we’ve spent more than 50 years representing injured Alabamians and negotiating with insurance companies on their behalf. Our Birmingham car accident lawyers understand just how much is at stake when fault is disputed in Alabama.
If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury or wrongful death in an Alabama car accident and the insurance company is trying to unfairly assign blame, contact Nomberg Law Firm for a free consultation.
We’ll thoroughly investigate what happened, protect your claim from the start, and fight for the full compensation you deserve.