Company Car Accidents

Driving the company car can have benefits. You don't need to pay for gas and maintenance yourself. Your personal car is preserved for your own purposes. However, if you are involved in a company car accident, questions of liability can be more complex than it is when a driver’s own car was involved. It can be hard to know who should be held accountable in company car accidents, especially those involving multiple cars. If you were seriously injured, you should call the experienced Syracuse car accident attorneys of DeFrancisco and Falgiatano. We are regarded by peers and independent organizations as being among the best counsel you can hire to pursue a personal injury lawsuit in court.

When you're involved in a crash in the company car and your employer bought commercial auto insurance, the insurance provider should pay valid claims arising out of the accident. Generally, you must have been using the vehicle appropriately when the collision happened. Often, an employer directly communicates with its insurance company about a claim. However, you are expected to cooperate.

In most cases, when trying to establish another party’s culpability for an accident, our lawyers will need to show negligence. This requires us to prove by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) the defendant owed you a duty to use reasonable care, (2) the defendant failed to abide by the duty to use reasonable care, (3) causation, and (4) actual damages.

Another driver may breach the duty to use reasonable care by doing any of the following:

• Speeding
• Tailgating
• Driving distractedly
• Driving while fatigued
• Failing to yield right of way
• Failing to follow traffic signals or signs
• Weaving through traffic

When you get into an accident caused by someone else who was driving a company car, his or her employer may be responsible for compensating you for your injuries. This is where it can be more complicated than establishing liability in an ordinary car accident. Employers can be held indirectly responsible for their employee’s actions under the doctrine of vicarious liability when their employees’ negligence occurred in the course and scope of their employment.

What is the scope of employment? In order for an act to be within the scope of employment, it needs to be authorized by an employer or so closely connected to an authorized act, the employer should be held accountable. For instance, if your car is T-boned by someone driving the company car, we will need to show that the other driver was doing something for the employer’s benefit at the time of the accident.

If we can establish another driver’s fault, we may be able to recover damages on your behalf. These are usually compensatory damages; they are intended to make up for the tangible and intangible losses you sustained in the accident. They may include:

• Medical bills
• Wage loss
• Lost earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Mental anguish
• Loss of enjoyment
• Loss of consortium

When another driver is at fault for a company car accident and was under the influence at the time of the collision, it may be appropriate to pursue punitive damages.

New York is a pure comparative negligence state. That means your damages will be reduced by an amount proportionate to your fault whether a company car was involved or not. For instance, if you were speeding and another driver ran a stop sign, you may both bear a share of fault for the resulting collision, and you will not recover the full amount representing what you lost.

If you were injured in a company car accident in Upstate New York, you need the personal injury firm with the best reputation to represent you. You should call the seasoned Syracuse car accident attorneys of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. We represent clients in Lowville, Rochester, Auburn, Watertown, Herkimer, Oswego, Wampsville, Canandaigua, Lyons, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Oneida, Utica, Binghamton, and Elmira. Fill out our online form or call us at 833-200-2000.