In Texas, you have the right to seek financial compensation from another driver if he or she is at fault for causing your car accident. If one of you experienced a sudden or unexpected emergency, such as an urgent medical situation, this is a usable defense to a negligence allegation.
If the sudden emergency defense arises in a car accident or truck accident case in Austin, this could dramatically change the claims process. You may need to hire an Austin personal injury attorney to help you prove your side of the case.
What Is the Sudden Emergency Defense?
Texas is a fault state. This means the driver responsible for causing a crash is held financially accountable, or liable. Typically, the liable driver is the one who was negligent, or acted in a careless or reckless manner. The sudden emergency doctrine is a defense that a driver – or, more likely, the driver’s attorney – can use to try to combat allegations of negligence.
Negligence is at the heart of most car accident cases. It means that someone has breached the duty of care or fallen short of the expected standard of care for the situation, resulting in harm to others. A driver may be guilty of negligence if he or she broke a traffic law, ran a red light, drove while distracted or drove drunk.
The sudden emergency defense asserts that while a driver may have broken a traffic law or otherwise caused the crash, it was due to an unexpected emergency – such as a medical event, tire blowout or a child choking – rather than negligence. If this defense succeeds, it could protect the driver from being held liable for the victim’s medical bills, property repairs and other crash-related damages.
When Can the Sudden Emergency Defense Be Used in Texas?
The sudden emergency defense may reduce an individual’s liability for an automobile accident if there is proof that a sudden and unexpected emergency situation resulted in the car crash, not the neglect or wrongdoing of the party being blamed.
An unavoidable accident is one that could not have been prevented with the exercise of reasonable or ordinary care. In other words, if a reasonably prudent person would not have been able to prevent the crash in the same or similar circumstances – with the same sudden emergency faced by the driver – the driver was not negligent.
Any set of circumstances that interferes with a driver’s ability to safely drive or forces the driver to make a split-second decision could be considered an unexpected emergency for the purposes of a car accident claim. Sudden and serious medical events can meet this definition, such as a heart attack, stroke, seizure, loss of consciousness, asthma attack and severe allergic reaction.
What Is Considered an Unexpected Emergency?
The event must be unexpected and unavoidable to defend the driver from car accident liability. If the individual had a diagnosed medical condition and knew that he or she should not have been operating heavy machinery, for example, an episode behind the wheel that causes a car crash most likely would not qualify as an unexpected emergency. The defendant could still be held liable in this example based on the unreasonableness of his or her actions.
If the urgent event could not have been foreseen or prevented, on the other hand, the driver may not be held liable for a related car accident. Factors such as the suddenness of the event, its foreseeability or lack thereof, whether the driver’s response to the situation was reasonable, and the level of driver incapacitation will all be taken into consideration when determining the validity of the sudden emergency defense.
Who Pays for an Accident Caused By a Sudden Emergency?
If there is proof of a legitimate sudden emergency in connection with an automobile accident in Texas, the driver who experienced the emergency may not be held responsible for paying. The other driver may have to turn to his or her own car insurance policy for coverage, instead.
If any percentage of the blame is assigned to the individual who experienced the emergency event, however, he or she will still be responsible for paying for this degree of fault. Texas’s joint and several liability law holds each defendant liable for his or her degree of fault for an accident and injury.
What to Do if You Experienced a Sudden Emergency That Led to an Accident
If you suffered an abrupt medical emergency while driving that led to a car accident that you could not have reasonably avoided, it’s important to combat liability allegations with help from a car accident attorney. It will be up to you or your attorney to demonstrate the necessary elements for a successful sudden emergency defense.
Without this defense available to you, you may be held personally liable for the car accident. Your own insurance company may or may not cover the damages, depending on the circumstances. Even if the other driver is also found to have shared fault, your financial recovery will be reduced by your percentage of liability under the comparative negligence law in Texas.
Your lawyer can collect evidence to support your defense, such as your medical records, medical and crash expert testimony, police reports, witness statements, photographs, and dashcam or traffic camera video footage. Your attorney will act quickly on your behalf, before vital evidence to support your sudden emergency claim is lost or destroyed.
What to Do if the Other Driver Is Claiming a Medical Emergency in Austin
If the other driver involved in your car accident in Austin is attempting to avoid liability by claiming that he or she had a sudden medical emergency that led to an unavoidable loss of vehicle control, consult with an attorney. You may need a lawyer to help you obtain evidence that refutes the other driver’s claim.
Your car insurance company won’t just accept the sudden emergency defense from the other driver without cause. For this defense to successfully prevent the other driver from absorbing liability for your losses, there must be evidence supporting the driver’s claim. If you hire an attorney, he or she can assert a lack of sufficient evidence to undermine this defense. You can count on a lawyer to find proof that contradicts the other driver’s version of events.
Your lawyer can help you deal with insurance companies and recover the amount of money that your claim is actually worth with a tailored legal strategy. To discuss a specific car accident case involving a sudden emergency with a knowledgeable attorney in Austin, contact FVF Law Firm – Injury & Wrongful Death Lawyers at (512) 640-2146. Our lawyers bring together more than a century’s worth of practice area experience. Contact us today for a no-cost consultation.
