This article is definitely for you if you are one of those individuals who are in charge of driving a company car. The number of four-wheeler accident cases in the United States has increased a lot in the past few years. In comparison to personal vehicles, it has been noticed that more commercial cars cause horrifying accidents on roads and highways.
Most US employers spend nearly $25 billion every year on car crashes that employers cause during work. On average, motor vehicle accident victims receive $64,000 for non-catastrophic injuries and $670,000 for accident-related deaths. Professional car accident attorneys possess rich expertise in calculating lost earning capacity in a car accident claim.
Read on to find out how companies manage to pay lump-sum compensation to victims aside from when a company is responsible and when an employee is liable for a car collision.
How an Employer Pays Out Huge Settlements?
In most company vehicle crash-related cases, an employer pays a significant amount of injury settlements through its commercial car insurance policy. However, you should know that insurance agencies do not make any profit by paying out a lump sum amount of money as injury settlements. Most employers’ insurers initially deny coverage for commercial motor vehicle crashes so as to get away with it.
An employee who sustains injury after causing a car accident on the job can become entitled to compensation for injuries and sufferings. However, one such car collision victim requires dealing confidently with an employees’ compensation insurance firm.
When is an Employer Responsible for a Company Car Crash?
Right after a severe collision involving a commercial vehicle, one of the most pressing problems is identifying whether an employee is solely liable for the crash. The professional relationship between a company and an employee falls under a particular legal principle. As per it, a business organization is legally accountable (even if it is not directly involved) for an unwanted action (car accident) of its employees during work.
A company has to pay for damages and injuries to accident victims when found guilty of a car crash that an employee causes. In such a case, the workers’ insurance firm prevents the employee (who crashes the company car) from paying out compensation personally to injured victims.
When is an Employee Responsible for a Company Vehicle Collision?
There are certain instances when an employer’s insurance won’t cover an employee liable for a commercial vehicle accident. Here are those situations:
- When an employee intentionally commits a crime while driving a four-wheeler that belongs to the company where they work, he or she is responsible for an accident. Driving under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs is also considered a serious crime.
- When an employee ends up causing an accident while goofing off with his or her employer’s motor vehicle, no one else other than the employee is liable for the crash. The companies’ insurance policy does not cover an employee in one such case.
Aside from the ones mentioned above, an employee responsible for causing a major crash won’t receive any compensation for injuries if he or she drives a company car after business hours.