Can You Sue If You Were A Passenger In A Car Accident?

When a car accident occurs that was someone else’s fault – leaving you as the driver with injuries – you have the right to file an injury lawsuit. However, can you sue as the passenger in a car crash if you suffered injuries? As long as you were not at fault and had some sort of financial loss from your injuries, you have the right to file a claim in a passenger lawsuit car accident. In fact, some aspects of proving you deserve a full financial award are easier when you are the passenger instead of one of the drivers involved, so it’s often in your best interests to explore your options as an injured passenger.

Our local car accident lawyers in Minnesota or Wisconsin can represent injury victims in accidents. However, the rules about filing an injury lawsuit after a car accident are different in the two states, often necessitating the expertise of our attorneys. Learn more about the process of seeking a financial award if you were an injured passenger in a car accident.

Steps When Deciding to File a Lawsuit as a Passenger in a Car Accident

If you suffered injuries in a car crash as a passenger, your first step should be to seek medical care. You need a doctor’s diagnosis of the injuries you suffered so you can begin treatment to try to regain your health. Should you decide to file an injury lawsuit, you also need an official record of your injuries.

When you hire our personal injury lawyers to represent you, we take a few steps on your behalf to move your case forward.

We do an investigation to determine which party or parties caused the accident and who should be the defendant in the lawsuit.
If our investigation can show that at least one of the parties violated one or more traffic laws before the crash, this is a sign of negligence that likely led to and caused the accident.
We’ll officially file an injury lawsuit against the responsible party in the correct local court jurisdiction.
We take over correspondence with the insurance company representing the responsible party, meaning you do not have to speak to the insurer without having us present.
We begin negotiations with the insurance company to try to reach a settlement on a financial award without having to go through a court case.
If we cannot reach a settlement, we will represent you in a court case.

If you’re familiar with filing an injury lawsuit in a car accident when you were the driver and another driver caused the accident, you’ll probably recognize these steps. Within a couple of the steps, though, a few differences exist when filing a passenger lawsuit for a car accident.

Proving Negligence When You Sue as the Passenger in a Car Crash

To have a chance to win your injury lawsuit as the passenger in a car, you have to prove that at least one of the drivers involved behaved negligently and caused the car accident. Sometimes, this driver would be in a car that hit the car you were riding in. At other times, this might be the driver of the car in which you were a passenger. Sometimes, both drivers might be at fault.

Because you can file the lawsuit against either driver (or both drivers), it can be easier for you as a passenger to win a lawsuit. As a driver, you can file a lawsuit only if the other driver was primarily at fault.

It may seem odd to file a lawsuit against the driver of the car you were riding in, especially if this person is a friend or family member. If you find yourself in this situation, you might feel bad about filing an injury lawsuit. Remember, though, that the insurance company is almost certainly paying any financial award that you win in the lawsuit. Rarely does the responsible party have to pay the award out of personal finances. Our team can explain how this situation works and give you the information you need to decide if you want to go forward with the lawsuit.

How Minnesota’s No-Fault Act Affects Filing an Injury Lawsuit as a Passenger

The Minnesota No-Fault Automobile Insurance Act doesn’t affect your ability to file a lawsuit as a passenger, but it does change the process compared to that found in some other states.

When you suffer injuries in a Minnesota car accident, you’ll first file a claim for your medical bills and lost wages against your own car insurance company. If you don’t have your own insurance, you would file against the policy of someone in your household. If you don’t live in a house where someone has an auto insurance policy, you would file your initial claim against the policy of the person who was driving the motor vehicle where you were riding when you suffered injuries in the crash.

If your financial losses are beyond the limits of your policy, because of severe or lingering injuries, you would then potentially file a lawsuit against the party or parties that caused the accident to try to win the additional money. You could potentially seek a pain and suffering award when you file against the at-fault driver’s insurance policy.

As an Injured Passenger in Wisconsin, You’ll File a Lawsuit Against the At-Fault Driver

Wisconsin follows at-fault rules when injury car accident victims are filing a lawsuit. This means that you, as a passenger, would file your lawsuit against the at-fault party. In this situation, you could seek a financial award for lost wages, medical costs, and pain and suffering. Most states follow this process for filing a lawsuit as a passenger in an injury accident.

What If You as a Passenger Are Found to Be Responsible for the Crash?

Although it’s rare for the passenger in a car accident to bear some responsibility for causing the crash, it could happen. Then, you might be eligible only for a reduced financial award. You might even lose your ability to win any award in a car crash lawsuit. Some of the ways a passenger could be at fault for the crash include:

Assaulting the driver
Causing a distraction for the driver
Encouraging the driver to take risks
Grabbing the steering wheel
Affecting the driver’s ability to physically control the vehicle.

Our injury lawyers representing you would investigate the accident to try to find evidence that shows that you as the passenger did not do anything to cause the crash.

At Tyroler Leonard Injury Law, We Can Represent Both Driver and Passenger Lawsuit Car Accident Victims

Call Us Today for a Free Consultation

Although a few aspects of filing a passenger lawsuit after you suffer injuries in a crash may seem strange, you do have the right to sue as the passenger in a car crash. As long as you and our Wisconsin or Minnesota car accident attorneys can prove that someone else was primarily at fault for causing the accident, you have the right to seek a financial award with our help.

Our team at Tyroler Leonard Injury Law can explain your options regarding seeking a financial award as a passenger in a car crash. We offer a free case review to discuss what happened in your accident. You are under no obligation to hire us after this review. If you do decide to hire our team, we will go to work immediately for you, investigating the accident and starting negotiations with the responsible driver’s insurance company. To discuss your case for free, call us today at (651) 259-1113.

Attorney Isaac Tyroler

Attorney Isaac Tyroler has been a strong advocate for injured people his entire legal career. He has a passion for righting wrongs, and he deeply cares about representing injured clients who may feel overwhelmed or uncertain about how to navigate the legal system. He is compassionate toward clients and aggressive with insurance companies and defendants. He is on the elected Board of Governors of the Minnesota Association of Justice (MAJ), the top personal injury lawyers’ group in Minnesota. And is currently the chair of MAJ’s legislative committee. [ Attorney Bio ]