You just got hurt in a car accident that wasn’t your fault, and in addition to the general worries about insurance and how fault will be assigned, one thought keeps nagging at you: you haven’t gotten your car serviced in a long time. Is it possible that this will negatively impact how much compensation you could recover?
The answer is that it may, but you don’t need to jump straight to panicking. The actual decision is determined by what kind of condition your car was in generally before the accident, and whether your lack of upkeep had any actual effect on how the accident played out. A Lake County personal injury lawyer can help you understand what you can do to minimize its impact.
Can an Opposing Lawyer Use Your Car’s Condition Against You After an Accident?
In Illinois, fault for personal injury cases determines whether and how much compensation someone can recover. The modified comparative fault rule under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116 allows people to recover damages even if they had some fault in an accident. This holds as long as the person wasn’t more than 50 percent at fault.