Why It's Challenging To Litigate A Taxi Cab Collision Accident

If you are injured in a car accident, then you deserve compensation from the responsible party or parties. Unfortunately, getting this compensation can be difficult if you were in a taxi that collided with another car. Complications arise because:

Determining Liability is a Complex Process

The first difficulty is to determine who is to blame for the accident so that you can go after him, her or it (if it is a company). The process is challenging because there are so many parties that may be responsible, and each of them will be seeking to deflect the blame to others.

Here are some of the ownership and accountability issues and scenarios possible with taxi cabs:

  • The driver is the owner and is wholly responsible for his or her mistakes
  • The driver rented the car from a company, so both are responsible for the accident
  • The cab company owns the car and employs the driver, so it is fully responsible for the accident
  • A mechanical failure caused the accident, so the mechanic or defective part manufacturer is responsible

As you can see, there are so many directions the blame game can take. In some cases, the taxi may even be under illegal operation, which calls for a different approach altogether.

You May Be Held Hostage by Opposing Insurance Companies

If the investigations reveal that both drivers were at fault, then the next step is to determine to which extent each party is responsible. Here again, a problem arises because the respective insurers are likely to begin disputing their respective client's liability.

In essence, you will be a pawn in the game between the two insurance companies, and you will be the one suffering because they can afford to play chicken with each other for as long as possible. In fact, they may do this hoping that you get fed up and accept their offer, however little it is.

You May Exhaust the Available Insurance

If there were passengers in both cars, then you will have to share the available insurance with all of them. The final settlement offers could be very little, especially if both cars had multiple passengers. If you don't want to settle for less than what your case is worth, then you can go after the driver's personal liability. This may be possible, but it can also be an overly complicated and lengthy process. Of course, this also assumes that the driver was directly responsible for the accident.

So what should you do if you ever get involved in a taxi accident? Considering how complicated the personal injury case can get, your best course of action is to start the claim process as early as possible and get the best lawyer available. Hagelgans and Veronis is a local law firm that specializes in car crash and personal injury cases.


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