MIAMI BEACH - On November 21, 2012, in Cevallos v. Rideout, 37 Fla. L. Weekly S739a, Case No. SX09-2238 (Fla. 2012), the Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s decision that the presumption that the accident was the rear drivers fault could not be rebutted. So, yes, you can sue the person that you rear ended. But let’s use some common sense. The accident has to be his or her fault, at least partially. As long as the person in front of you that you rear-ended did something wrong that rebuts the legal presumption that the accident was your fault, you should be able to recover. But your recovery is limited to the percentage of the accident that was not your fault.
So, if you were injured in a rear-end accident in Miami or Miami Beach, our attoneys may be able to recover for you even if you did the rear-ending.
The most common thing that a front driver does wrong to cause someone else to rear-end them is to make a sudden stop in an area where such a sudden stop wouldn’t be expected.
But the law is that you can recover the portion of the accident that was not your fault. And the Birge case, which we discuss on this Blog, makes that even more clear.
So, we are Miami Beach and Miami personal injury attorneys and can represent you if you rear-ended someone but it wasn’t entirely your fault, call us or fill out the form on this page and our lawyers will see if we can recover on your behalf.