Parking lots are often crowded, confined areas, with both pedestrians and vehicles trying to navigate through. As cars are focused on finding an empty spot, and people are focused on getting into the store or finding their own cars, unfortunate collisions often result. The car accident attorneys at the Law Offices of Robert Dixon represent people in Miami and throughout South Florida who have been harmed because of the carelessness of others. Although these accidents often involve slower speeds, when there is a pedestrian involved or a strong impact between two unequally sized vehicles, injuries can still occur. Our firm serves individuals in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, helping them pursue compensation from any parties at fault.
Complications of Parking Lot Accidents
Parking lots are private property, and therefore state and local traffic laws do not apply. This makes the process of establishing who is at fault a little more complicated, since police officers will not often issue a ticket, and witnesses can have conflicting opinions as to what exactly happened. Sometimes, emotions run high in crowded garages, as drivers fight for limited parking spaces and drive quickly to beat others for a coveted spot. These aggressive driving practices can lead to serious accidents and injuries, especially if a pedestrian is struck. Injuries that may result from these collisions include broken bones, brain trauma, and spinal cord damage. Determining liability in these types of accidents can involve several factors, including a parking lot owner’s responsibility if an accident is caused by faulty lighting, inadequate security, or damaged pavement.
Bringing a Negligence Claim for Compensation
When accidents occur in a parking lot or structure, the question of who is responsible is quickly raised. To establish liability, a person seeking damages must show that the defendant, usually another driver, was negligent. To prove negligence, the victim must show that:
• The defendant owed him or her a duty of care to act as an ordinary, reasonable person would behave under the circumstances;
• That duty was breached by the defendant’s actions;
• The breach caused the victim’s injuries;
• Damages resulted that can be compensated.
The duty of care is generally defined in the context of operating motor vehicles as behaving in a way that avoids foreseeable risks of harm to others. Any conduct that falls below this standard may be considered a breach. Once the elements of duty and breach are shown, the victim then would need to draw a direct causal link from the defendant’s careless conduct to the accident. Damages can be both economic, or objective, and non-economic, or relatively subjective. Some commonly sought forms of compensation after a car crash include lost wages, medical expenses, the costs of future treatment or rehabilitation therapy, repairs to a vehicle, and pain and suffering.
Even if a victim is partially at fault for a parking lot accident, he or she may still pursue compensation. Florida follows a pure comparative fault theory of liability, which means that damages are awarded in proportion to each party’s degree of fault. When a victim is partially responsible, the overall amount of damages will be calculated and then reduced according to his or her percentage of responsibility.
