Who Is Liable After a Pizza Delivery Accident?

It should come as no surprise that delivery drivers cause a good number of accidents every year. Yet, who is responsible when a pizza delivery driver, UPS driver or other delivery driver causes an accident?

That is a question that the family of an 88-year-old woman is asking after she was struck and killed by a pizza delivery car in San Diego earlier this week.

If the delivery driver was at fault and he was working at the time of the accident, then there are two parties who could be held liable for the San Diego auto accident: The driver and his or her pizza delivery company.

The company is responsible under a legal concept called "vicarious liability." The concept states that an employer is liable for injuries that an employee causes if the employee was acting within the scope of his or her employment when the accident occurred.

Partial Fault: Pure Comparative Negligence

Sometimes, the victim will be partially at fault for an accident. For example, insurance companies will consider a victim partially at fault if he or she ignored a traffic sign. In the San Diego accident, the woman was walking against a red light.

Even if, however, the woman was more negligent than the delivery driver, her family could still recover some compensation for her death. This is because California is a pure comparative negligence state, where fault is allocated to each party and both parties may be required to pay damages.

As with any legal concept, determining fault in delivery driver accidents is not simple and largely depends on the facts of a case. If you have been injured in a San Diego car accident, an experienced personal injury lawyer can help you determine fault and recover compensation for your injuries. Call The McClellan Law Firm at (619) 215-1488 to discuss your case in a free consultation.