Liability for Parking Lot Accidents
Most car accidents take place on freeways, rural highways, and busy city streets. However, a surprisingly high number of crashes also occur in parking lots. Although usually smaller and less congested than most roads, parking lots can still play host to devastating accidents, resulting in broken bones, lacerations, and head trauma. If you were injured by another vehicle while driving or walking in a parking lot, you could be eligible for damages. Please contact a member of our dedicated car accident legal team today to learn more about filing your own claim against the at-fault party.
Parking Lot Accident Causes
Like any other type of car crash, parking lot accidents can occur for a variety of reasons, including:
- Aggressive driving, which often involves speeding to compete for a parking spot;
- Reversing out of a parking spot without properly checking one’s surroundings;
- Failing to look for pedestrians, grocery carts, and strollers; and
- Driving while distracted.
Many of the accidents caused by this type of conduct result in minor damage, especially when the collision involves two vehicles, as drivers in parking lots tend to drive more slowly than they would on surface streets. When a collision involves a driver and a pedestrian, on the other hand, injuries can be catastrophic and even fatal.
Who is Liable?
Determining who is liable for a parking lot accident is often much more difficult than assigning blame in a typical collision. This is because police officers don’t always respond to the scene of parking lot accidents, particularly if there are no severe injuries or property damage. As a result, victims often do not have access to police reports, which contain details about the accident and eyewitness statements, which can be crucial when demonstrating fault. For this reason, it is important for those who are involved in parking lot accidents to not only call the police as soon as possible after the collision, but to collect as much evidence about the crash as possible.
This process could include taking photographs of the scene of the accident, collecting the contact information of any eyewitnesses, and obtaining insurance information from the other driver. Many businesses also install cameras in their parking lots, so it may even be possible for an accident victim to obtain a video recording of the collision itself. This, combined with eyewitness statements, photographs, and medical records can help determine whose negligence caused an accident.
Once liability has been established, accident victims could be eligible for an award of damages compensating them for past and future medical bills, lost wages, property damage, and pain and suffering. In many cases, collecting damages is the only way that injured parties can pay off mounting medical debt while they recover.
Contact Our Office Today
While most car accident claims must be handled by insurers, those that involve serious injuries could be heard in court, where plaintiffs stand to recover damages compensating them for their losses. To learn more about filing your own claim, please contact one of the dedicated Fort Lauderdale car accident attorneys at Boone & Davis by calling 954-566-9919 or by sending us an online message today.
Resource:
money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/articles/2017-11-06/how-to-handle-a-parking-lot-accident
