According to the most recent data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Mississippi is second only to Montana in the number of fatal car accidents occurring each year. About 85% of these fatal crashes occurred on roads outside of our cities, and more than half of all victims were not properly restrained at the time. Mississippi is, in short, a dangerous place for drivers.

If you are injured in a car accident, you may be entitled to receive compensation for your pain and suffering, your medical bills and your cost of living expenses (and the list does not stop there). But getting that relief won’t be easy; no insurance company will willingly hand over everything you need and deserve without a fight. That’s why you need to hire a personal injury lawyer to help you after a car crash in Mississippi: you’ll need someone who will fight in your corner.

Contributory negligence and your ability to collect compensation

Mississippi is a comparative negligence state. The law itself says:

“In all actions hereafter brought for personal injuries, or where such injuries have resulted in death, or for injury to property, the fact that the person injured, or the owner of the property, or person having control over the property may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery, but damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to the person injured, or the owner of the property, or the person having control over the property” (emphasis ours).

In other words, you can still collect compensation or damages if you are hurt in a car accident, but how much you collect is reliant upon how at fault you were. If you are 20% at fault for the accident, you can only collect up to 80% of what your claim is worth.

In some cases, your “fault” is clear-cut. If, for example, you are stopped at a red light and another car rear-ends you, you should be able to collect the full compensatory amount. But if you are in a multi-car pile-up – and you happen to be a car in the middle – then your amount of fault becomes less clear. The same can be said for some T-bone accidents in intersections. And it can be especially challenging to collect compensation if you hit another car head-on, or if you rear-end another car, but have sustained a serious injury as a result.

It comes down to simple numbers: you have a better chance at being able to recover more money for your medical bills and your pain if you hire a Mississippi injury attorney after a car accident. To find out more about what we do, we invite you to contact Taylor Jones Taylor at one of our three office locations in Olive Branch, Southaven or Hernando.