5 Car Accident Terms you Probably Don’t Know About

Speaking in car accident lingo can seem like an entirely different language at times. Luckily, if you’re unsure about the verbiage involved with car accidents, we’re here to help.

From the moment of impact to when you get a settlement, there are a multitude of things you are expected be aware of, and it’s difficult to do so while you’re injured, disoriented and confused.In this article we are going to cover some key car accident terms to know. It doesn’t matter if it’s you or a loved one—having this information can be invaluable when confronted with a police report, and insurance adjusters calling and heckling you. Be aware these are foundational terms, which means they can be paired together with other things and talked about in different connotations.

Dislcaimer: this is not legal advice. Anything taken from this blog should be considered an introductory look into personal injury and its terminology. For guidance about your accident case, make sure you contact an attorney.

Tort

A tort is basically a wrongful act committed not from a contract and is not a crime. This is the whole grounding of a plaintiff’s case, in which he or she seeks damages (usually in the form of compensation) to be made whole from the wrongful act.

Negligence

Negligence is a type of tort, and a fancy way of saying a driver was careless, and failed to act with reasonable care for another. While in some cases negligence falls directly on one person, this can oftentimes occur as comparative negligence, in which both drivers had a degree of carelessness in the accident. Be prepared to hear this word get thrown around a lot.

No-Fault

No-fault can be complicated to understand, and it varies from state to state. In essence, Florida is a no-fault state, meaning everyone is required to have PIP coverage on their auto insurance. Before suing someone outright, you must recover from your own insurance company (and the other person’s insurance company) to recover damages.

Emergency Medical Condition (EMC)

This ties in directly with your PIP, or Personal Injury Protection. Every insurance policy is required to have PIP, which is 80% of $10,000 of injuries related to your accident. With changed laws, in order to be eligible to receive the full $10,000, you must get clearance from a qualified physician (chiropractors aren’t considered “qualified” to give an EMC). We have some detailed content on this if you want to learn more here.

Burden of Proof

Explaining the burden of proof is much simpler than no-fault or some of the above terms: as the plaintiff (or person suffering damages), you must prove that the defendant is liable for the injuries and damages incurred. While explaining this may sound simple on the surface, this can be tricky to wrap your mind around when put into practice. Personal injury attorneys are pivotal in helping explain the burden of proof and providing a clear-cut connection to your damages being most likely caused by the other party.

The Takeaway

There are tons of personal injury terms to be aware of, but these are some common ones that are useful to know. If you’re wondering about anything else concerning an accident claim, regardless what kind of vehicle it was, make sure you contact an attorney right away. Doing so can make a huge difference in your case.