The Complications Of Multi-Party Personal Injury Claims In Indiana

In this article, you can discover…

• How multi-party personal injury claims differ from other claims
• How to identify all parties involved in your accident
• Pitfalls to avoid when involved in a multi-party claim 

What Are Multi-Party Personal Injury Claims And How Are They Different From Other Claims?

Multi-party claims may involve multiple plaintiffs or multiple defendants. These cases can be complicated as parties are likely to blame one another and disagree as to their level of personal responsibility for the resulting injuries and damages. 

In Indiana, there’s a statutory legal principle in place called “comparative fault.” At trial, the jury will be instructed to consider how much fault, if any, should be allocated to all the parties (including the injured plaintiff), such that they all add up to 100%. If a case is to settle before trial, it would require all the parties to reach an agreement on how that fault should be allocated. This is much harder when dealing with multiple defendants than when there is only one defendant – especially when trial is scheduled several months down the road. The closer trial gets, and the more the facts and evidence are developed, the more likely the defendants are to agree on their share of the blame.

For, the injured plaintiff, the greater the percentage of fault you admit to, the smaller the percentage of damages you’re entitled to. For example, admitting to 25% of the liability reduces your awarded damages by 25%. So, if a jury verdict or a settlement were reached for damages totaling $100,000, the plaintiff’s share would only be $75,000 after comparative fault is applied. Even worse, Indiana is actually a “Modified Comparative Fault State,” meaning that this pro-rata reduction only applies if the injured plaintiff is 50% at fault, or less. If the injured party is deemed more than 50% at fault, then the law requires that the jury award the injured plaintiff nothing.

The situation is even further complicated where the different at-fault defendants have different maximum policy limits. For instance, if there are two defendants (“A,” an individual, and “B,” a big corporation). Let’s also assume that your damages from your injuries total $500,000. Finally, assume that the liability limit of insurance carried by “A” is $1.0 million, and by “B” is $50,000. If the defendants were to agree during settlement negotiations that your damages were worth $500,000, but the evidence tended to suggest that “A” was only 20% at fault and “B” was 80% at fault, “B” would be legally obligated to pay out 80% of $500,000, or $400,000. Unfortunately, “B” only has $50,000 of insurance coverage. This requires working throughout the case to develop a case theory and supporting evidence that points more of the blame at “A,” whose insurance policy will cover the damages.

A final complication comes from settlements with less than all of the defendants. For instance, in the preceding example, the insurance company for “B” might offer to pay its $50,000 policy limits prior to trial, knowing that there is little chance of any verdict coming in for less than that, and recognizing that it will only incur unwarranted attorney’s fees to continue to fight. When this scenario happens, and it does often happen, the remaining party will seek to keep the settling defendant named in the case for purposes of allocating fault. Indiana courts will allow this to ensure a proper allocation of fault based on the facts of the case. Again, this requires the development of a case theory and case evidence that points to the defendant with the larger amount of insurance coverage.

Navigating the allocation of fault in a multi-party litigation case can be a complicated process that requires the guidance and knowledge of a seasoned attorney to navigate deftly. The sooner you speak with an attorney about how the accident unfolded and the scope of your injuries, the better. 

How Do You Identify All Parties Responsible For The Injury?

Your attorney will sit with you and conduct a client interview to help them understand how the accident unfolded from the very beginning. It’s important to have a clear picture of what you were doing, the weather conditions, where you were headed, and what was on your mind prior to the crash. 

In this process, you and your lawyer will review the police report. This report should contain names and contact information for all involved parties and witnesses, as well as statements by the parties and witnesses, giving their individual accounts of the crash. These statements can help your attorney identify possible areas of dispute that should be discussed as early as possible. 

Attorney Thomas Scifres is a veteran lawyer serving Indiana. With over 30 years in personal injury law, he’s helped hundreds of clients just like you navigate multi-party accidents with greater confidence and win the damages they deserve.

Have you suffered in a multi-party accident? Unsure of your options?
Reach out to Attorney Thomas Scifres at (812) 359-8007 for an initial consultation today!

Once everyone involved has been identified, and their description of events is gathered, your attorney will interview the witnesses to solidify the facts and determine all other potential sources of fault that may lead to the inclusion of additional defendants in a lawsuit. For instance, there may be two vehicles involved in a crash, but there may be a known dangerous road design or condition that warrants naming the proper governmental entity in the claim. There may also be an employer of one of the drivers who should be named as a liable party – or a neighboring landowner whose livestock contributed to the crash. When the parties are sufficiently identified, and the lawyer determines it is the appropriate time, a lawsuit is filed. Under Indiana’s Comparative Fault Act, any named defendant in a lawsuit can name other parties they think are liable for the incident. Therefore, it is important to file in sufficient time so that it may be amended later to include other involved parties.

What Are The Pitfalls To Avoid In Multi-Party Personal Injury Claims?

The biggest mistake people make is not hiring a lawyer quickly enough. I advise people to consult with legal counsel as soon as possible. Once hired, the lawyer will step in to make sure that you are not contacted again by the insurance company, guide you in the gathering of evidence and the monitoring of your treatment, work toward the development of your case to maximize settlement offers during the buildup to trial. When a lawyer isn’t brough in soon enough, sometimes statements are made to an insurance company that might lead to limitations on liability or the assessment of damages, or decisions may be made with respect to medical treatment or other matters that put the case for damages in a poor light and lead to early, low settlement offers.

Sometimes, a person may wait so long that not all the liable parties are properly identifiable in time. It’s essential to make sure that all liable parties (those responsible or potentially responsible for causing the accident) are identified quickly to avoid missing the statute of limitations. If this deadline is missed, the opportunity to recover against their insurance policy is gone forever. 

How Can Your Attorney Help Manage Communication And Negotiation With Multiple Insurers?

Every personal injury lawsuit boils down to two basic issues: (1) who is at fault (and how much fault do they share); and (2) what are the total damages. Both of these issues need to be developed in an injured party’s favor from as early in the case as possible. 

A good attorney will be in regular contact with the injured client, the insurance companies for the liable parties, and the records custodian of the medical providers. They’ll also continuously evaluate the evidence as it unfolds and develop your case toward trial. Developing the case in a favorable light and presenting that to the insurance companies helps prevent the insurance company from forming an early opinion that the case is not worth much.

Where multiple parties are involved, learning the factual support for their positions on liability and determining what insurance coverages they have is vital. While your attorney cannot control what opposing parties and their insurance company employees think, your attorney can certainly take control of your case and drive a narrative that favors your position. But to do this requires hiring your attorney early on, and cooperating in the development of your case.

For more information on Multi-Party Personal Injury Claims In Indiana, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (812) 359-8007 today.