Government Immunity

If you are in a car accident, or highway accident with a car or truck owned by the government you get hurt just as bad as if the car or truck is owned by a private person.  You can have a back injury, a brain  injury, paralysis, or even wrongful death.  But, what you did not know is that if the car or truck is owned by the government, you may get no compensation for your injuries.

In Indiana, the government gave itself a lot of protections that the little guy is not entitled to.  To do this, the government  created the Tort Claims Act.  This Act, which is a legislative creation, limits the amount of money the government owes in compensation.  So, take for example a person who is in a car accident with a car owned by the government.  Let’s also say the person has a brain injury and is paralyzed.  Let’s also say that the medical bills for this injury total $1,000,000.00.  In that case, the government is only responsible to pay $750,000.00.  This means that the person will owe out of his own pocket $250,000.00 for medical bills even though the accident was not his fault.  He will not be able to send his kids to college because he can’t work, but that makes no difference, the Government protected itself by limiting how much it has to pay.

In addition to this protection the Government gave itself a bunch of other protections.  They are called immunities.  These immunities make it so the government does not owe a dime to the person it is responsible for hurting, even if the government was the sole cause of the car accident or highway accident.  The Tort Claims Act gives the government 16 different immunities.  The little guy gets no immunities.

If you are in a car accident with a government owned car, call Young and Young.   We have represented hurt Hoosiers for more than 55 years.  We know how the government works to protect itself.  We are accident attorneys who know how to protect you.