Motor Vehicle Litigation

If liability is contested, it becomes necessary to bring a lawsuit. The defendant will then have the opportunity to respond to the complaint.

New York has a pure comparative negligence rule. This means that, in the event that a jury determines you to be at fault for an accident, your damages will be reduced based on your percentage of blame. This rule is not applicable to owners of vehicles which are rented out or leased to minors.

Duty of Care

In a negligence case, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant was obligated to exercise reasonable care. The majority of people owe this obligation to everyone else, but those who sit behind the steering wheel of a motor vehicle have an even higher duty to others in their area of operation. This includes ensuring that they don't cause motor vehicle accidents.

Courtrooms compare an individual's actions to what a typical person would do in similar conditions to determine reasonable standards of care. In cases of medical malpractice expert witnesses are typically required. Experts who have a greater understanding of the field could be held to a higher standard of care.

A person's breach of their duty of care can cause harm to a victim, or their property. The victim must show that the defendant violated their duty of care and caused the injury or damages they suffered. Causation is an important part of any negligence claim. It involves proving the primary and secondary causes of the damage and injury.

For motor vehicle accident example, if someone runs a red light and is stopped, they will be hit by a vehicle. If their car is damaged, they will be required to pay for repairs. But the reason for the crash could be a cut or bricks, which later turn into a serious infection.

Breach of Duty

The second aspect of negligence is the breach of duty by the defendant. This must be proven for compensation in a personal injury case. A breach of duty occurs when the actions of the party at fault do not match what an average person would do in similar circumstances.

A doctor, for instance, has a variety of professional obligations to his patients that are governed by the law of the state and licensing boards. Motorists have a duty of care to other drivers and pedestrians to drive safely and obey traffic laws. When a driver breaches this obligation of care and causes an accident, he is accountable for the injury suffered by the victim.

Lawyers can rely on the "reasonable person" standard to establish the existence of a duty of care and then prove that the defendant failed to meet that standard in his actions. It is a question of fact for the jury to decide if the defendant was in compliance with the standard or not.

The plaintiff must also prove that the breach by the defendant was the sole cause of the plaintiff's injuries. This is sometimes more difficult to prove than the existence of a duty and breach. A defendant could have driven through a red light, motor vehicle accident but that's not what caused your bicycle accident. Causation is often contested in crash cases by defendants.

Causation

In motor vehicle cases, the plaintiff must prove a causal link between defendant's breach and their injuries. If a plaintiff suffers a neck injury in a rear-end collision the attorney for the plaintiff would argue that the accident was the cause of the injury. Other factors that are essential to cause the collision, like being in a stationary car, are not culpable and will not affect the jury's decision of the liability.

It may be harder to prove a causal link between a negligent act and the psychological symptoms of the plaintiff. It could be the case that the plaintiff has a troubled past, has a bad relationship with their parents, or has used drugs or alcohol.

If you have been in a serious motor vehicle Accident (Mdfarm.hubweb.Net), it is important to speak with a seasoned attorney. The attorneys at Arnold & Clifford, LLP, have extensive experience in representing clients in personal injury cases, business and commercial litigation and motor vehicle accident cases. Our lawyers have developed working relationships with independent physicians in a variety of specialties, as well as expert witnesses in computer simulations and accident reconstruction.

Damages

The damages plaintiffs can claim in a motor vehicle case include both economic and non-economic damages. The first type of damages includes the costs of monetary value that can easily be summed up and calculated into the total amount, which includes medical expenses as well as lost wages, repairs to property, and even future financial losses, such as diminished earning capacity.

New York law recognizes that non-economic damages, like pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of living cannot be reduced to money. These damages must be proved through extensive evidence like depositions of family members and friends of the plaintiff medical records, depositions, or other expert witness testimony.

In cases that involve multiple defendants, Courts will often use the concept of comparative negligence to decide how much of the damages award should be allocated between them. The jury must determine how much responsibility each defendant incurred in the accident and then divide the total damages award by the percentage of blame. New York law however, doesn't allow this. 1602 exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative negligence rule in the event of injuries caused by drivers of trucks or cars. The process of determining whether the presumption is permissive or not is complex. The majority of the time the only way to prove that the owner did not grant permission for the driver to operate the vehicle will be sufficient to overturn the presumption.