Oklahoma Car Accidents at Work involve more complex legal issues. If you have a car accident at work you may be in the position to bring an action. This action is against your employer and the other driver’s insurance. In all events a car accident case always begs the first question: who was at
fault.
In the case of a car accident, who’s at fault is mostly a question of fact. As with all vehicular accidents the best evidence for this comes from looking into who received the traffic ticket. If the Police wrote the ticket to the other driver this creates a rebut-table presumption that this person was negligent. In a car accident case this is particularly helpful to you as the insurance company will place a high value on the testimony of the police on the scene.
Assuming the Police arriving at the scene wrote the ticket to the other driver your next concern is do they have insurance coverage. So often I’ve had clients whose vehicle is totaled and they’ve suffered serious personal injury only to find out that the other party doesn’t have any insurance. In this case unless you have uninsured coverage or the car accident happened while you were at work there won’t be much that you can do. Yes you will be able to bring a negligence lawsuit against the other driver. However, if they have the money or not is another issue.
Who Pays For Car Accidents at Work:
The best and most optimistic answer: both your employer’s workers compensation and the other drivers insurance pay for your injury. Workers compensation insurance will cover the injury if the car accident happened while in the course of your employment. The injuries that can receive damages in Oklahoma workers compensation are in Okla. Statute title 85A. The law is clear. Only if your employer can prove that the accident happened outside the normal course of your employment will they be off the hook. An example of what they might argue is that you were on a lunch break or otherwise off work when the accident occurs.
What if Both Workers Comp and Liability Insurance Paid:
This is called double dipping and is not favorable in the law. The best thing you can do in this case is to hire an injury attorney. Especially one that’s both familiar with workers compensation and personal injury law. At our law firm we’ve dealt with several cases just like what’s in the article. Although the insurance company is entitled to subrogation, or payment from the insurance company whose client was negligent, this isn’t always how it goes. At the end of the day its dealt with on a case by case basis. These are best handled by an injury attorney familiar with both kinds of law.
