Personal Injury Law

Rollover Accident On 520--How Much Responsibility Should Be Attributed to the State?

By Michael Myers

On Halloween a vehicle rolled while negotiating a turn on the ramp from westbound State Route 520 to southbound Interstate 5.

I take that same route almost every time I drive into work. The turn is tight and people go too fast around it.

The State is responsible for designing and constructing safe highways. But where does the State's responsibility end and personal responsibility start? Or is there an overlap between state and personal responsibility?

I think there's an overlap. And the law seems to support my view.

When there is an overlap of responsibility, a concept called comparative fault of comparative negligence comes into play. It's an evolved concept that allows persons to recover a portion of their damages even if they are not fault free.

Full post as published by Seattle Personal Injury Lawyer on November 02, 2008 (boomark / email).