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Joint and several liability - Who is at fault for a multi vehicle accident - YouTube
Channel: LawFull
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if you were injured in an auto accident
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caused by two or more vehicles can more
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than one person be held responsible for
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your injuries watch this video to find
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out hi
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Barry here with the lawful channel on
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this channel we provide weekly videos on
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the legal topics that affect your life
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if you're new here check out the links
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and show notes in the description below
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and please consider subscribing to our
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Channel and if you have any questions or
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comments reach out to me if I can't help
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you I'll find someone who can many times
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accidents are caused by more than one
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vehicle so it would seem to make sense
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that you could recover against both
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parties right well the quick answer is
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yes of course you can recover against
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more than one party for your damages
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this falls under the concept of joint
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and several liability but that raises
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the question of how do you allocate
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fault between the defendants and how
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much can you recover against each party
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because that's going to be a big factor
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in how much you recover why because one
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party might have a large insurance
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policy or have a lot of assets and the
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other party might be uninsured that's
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where joint and several liability comes
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into play so like it sounds joint
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liability means that both defendants are
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liable for your damages and either
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defendant could be responsible to pay
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100% of your damages this might be
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necessary if one of the defendants is
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uninsured or otherwise unable to pay so
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why would one defendant be responsible
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for all the damages well it's just fair
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it's a matter of public policy it makes
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more sense to put the burden on the
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defendants than it is to put it on the
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innocent victim on the other hand
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several liability means that each party
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is responsible for their own share of
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the damages joint and several liability
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is treated differently in every state so
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it's really important to look into your
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state law to see how the defendants are
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to be held responsible some states
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follow the theory of pure joint
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liability in this case it means that
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either defendant could be held
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responsible for 100% of your damages so
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for example let's say you get involved
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in an accident and there are two
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defendants vehicle a and vehicle B let's
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say vehicle a is only really forty
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percent responsible for the accident in
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a pure joint liability state it doesn't
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matter
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vehicle a is on the hook for up to a
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hundred percent of your damages only a
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few states followed pure joint and
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several liability to find out which ones
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check out the show notes below the
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second type is called modified joint and
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several liability this is followed in
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the majority of states in these states
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the only way you can go after a
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defendant for all your damages is if
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they meet a certain threshold so for
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example in my home state of Illinois
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we followed modified joint and several
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liability and what that means is that if
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a defendant is 25% or more responsible
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for an accident you can go after them
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for a hundred percent of your damages if
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the defendant is less than 25 percent
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responsible for the accident then you
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can recover against them for a hundred
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percent of your economic damages like
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your medical bills and your lost wages
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but you can only recover against them
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for their fair share of your pain and
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suffering finally there is pure several
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liability in these states you can only
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recover against the defendant for their
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actual share or percentage of fault so
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if a defendant is thirty five percent at
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fault for the accident you can recover
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against them for thirty five percent of
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your damages period by the way if the
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plaintiff recovers against one of the
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defendants that defendant is then going
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to seek contribution or reimbursement
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from the other defendant for the monies
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paid to the plaintiff okay it's time for
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your take on the law were you involved
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in an accident that involved multiple
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defendants if so were you able to
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recover and against to let me know about
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it in the comments below
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thanks for checking out this video if
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you want to see more lawful videos like
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this please consider subscribing to our
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Channel and if you have any questions or
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comments please reach out to me if I
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can't help you I'll find someone who can
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you
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