Determining who is at fault when you collide with a vehicle disabled due to a prior car accident is rarely cut and dry. From your perspective, you were following the speed limit and minding your own business. From the other driver’s perspective, his car was disabled and couldn’t be moved. So, how does Texas law determine who is at fault?
Texas is a Proportionate Responsibility State
In Texas, fault a/k/a liability is not an all-or-nothing proposition. Every driver has to follow the rules of the road. Failure to follow those rules is negligence. Your liability, if any, is determined by the proportion to which your negligence contributes to the accident. That proportion often has to be determined by a jury when parties cannot agree.
There is no limit to the number of parties who can be found liable for a car accident if their negligent conduct contributed to it. Anyone who had a duty and failed to act as a reasonable person would have may be found liable wholly or in part.
How Can I Be at Fault if I Hit a Wrecked Vehicle Blocking the Road?
Every driver has a duty to keep a proper lookout. This means that each driver is expected to keep their eyes on the road and travel at a safe enough speed that they can stop if the traffic slows or stops ahead of them. If you are distracted by the radio, phone, a passenger, or simply not paying attention, this negligence may contribute to the wreck. A jury may place a portion or all of the liability on you. This is why having a skilled car accident lawyer to argue on your behalf can be the difference between making a recovery or getting left out in the cold.
How Can the Disabled Vehicle Driver Be Liable for A Subsequent Wreck?
In 1974, the Texas Court of Appeals for Corpus Christi held that “irrespective of the reason for stopping, an operator of a stopped vehicle that poses a source of danger to other motorists owes a common law duty to warn those motorists that he is stopped, if an ordinarily prudent person in the exercise of ordinary care would have foreseen that, in the absence of such warning, a collision might occur.” Lofton v. Norman, 508 S.W.2d 915, 916. This holding set the standard for liability when a prior wreck gets hit by another car. When a car comes to rest after an accident, the driver has a duty to take any available precautions to prevent a subsequent wreck from occurring if a subsequent wreck is foreseeable.
Determining liability is a case-specific and factual determination. For example, if the accident was at night and the driver can leave lights on or add flares, the driver has a duty to do so if it is foreseeable that another car might hit the vehicle if left dark. If the wreck is in broad daylight and on a straight road, approaching cars are more likely to share responsibility for hitting the disabled vehicle. If the first wreck is just around a blind curve, the driver might have the duty to go around the curve and flag people down to warn them. Thus, the extent of the duty imposed upon the disabled vehicle’s driver largely depends upon the facts of the case.
Conclusion
There is no clear-cut answer to the question, “Who is at fault when you hit a disabled vehicle from a prior wreck in Texas?” Liability may rest with any or all of the parties involved. Furthermore, if the parties cannot agree to a division of responsibility, then a jury will likely have to evaluate the specific facts and determine what was reasonable conduct under the circumstances in order to determine whether each driver complied with their duty.
Author
