Motor Vehicle Litigation

A lawsuit is necessary when liability is contested. The defendant has the right to respond to the complaint.

New York follows pure comparative fault rules and, in the event that a jury finds you to be the cause of a crash the amount of damages awarded will be reduced by your percentage of negligence. This rule does not apply to owners of vehicles which are rented out or leased to minors.

Duty of Care

In a negligence lawsuit the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant owed them a duty to act with reasonable care. This duty is owed by all people, however those who operate a vehicle have an even greater duty to others in their field. This includes ensuring that there are no accidents in motor vehicle accident attorneys vehicles.

Courtrooms examine an individual's conduct to what a typical person would do in the same circumstances to establish what is an acceptable standard of care. This is why expert witnesses are frequently required in cases involving medical malpractice. Experts who are knowledgeable in a particular field can also be held to an even higher standard of care than other people in similar situations.

A person's breach of their duty of care could cause harm to a victim or their property. The victim has to show that the defendant's infringement of duty caused the harm and damages they have suffered. Causation is a key element of any negligence claim. It involves proving the primary and secondary causes of the injury and damages.

For instance, if a driver is stopped at a red light and is stopped, they will be hit by a car. If their car is damaged, they'll have to pay for the repairs. The reason for the crash might be a cut or the brick, which then develops into a deadly infection.

Breach of Duty

A breach of duty by a defendant is the second factor of negligence that must be proved in order to receive compensation in a personal injury claim. A breach of duty occurs when the actions of the person at fault are not in line with what reasonable people would do in similar circumstances.

For instance, a doctor has a variety of professional obligations to his patients. These obligations stem from the law of the state and licensing bodies. Motorists owe a duty of care to other motorists and pedestrians to drive in a safe manner and adhere to traffic laws. If a driver violates this obligation and causes an accident is responsible for the victim's injuries.

A lawyer can use the "reasonable person" standard to prove the existence of the duty of care and then show that the defendant failed to satisfy the standard through his actions. It is a question of fact for the jury to decide if the defendant fulfilled the standard or not.

The plaintiff must also prove that the breach by the defendant was the primary cause of the plaintiff's injuries. This is sometimes more difficult to prove than the existence of a duty and breach. For example it is possible that a defendant crossed a red light, but his or her action was not the primary cause of your bike crash. The issue of causation is often challenged in crash cases by defendants.

Causation

In motor vehicle accident law Firms vehicle cases, the plaintiff has to establish a causal connection between the defendant's breach of duty and their injuries. For instance, if a plaintiff sustained an injury to the neck as a result of a rear-end collision, his or her lawyer will claim that the collision caused the injury. Other elements that are required for the collision to occur, like being in a stationary car, are not culpable, and do not affect the jury's determination of the liability.

For psychological injuries However, the connection between a negligent act and an victim's afflictions may be more difficult to establish. The fact that the plaintiff has a an unhappy childhood, a poor relationship with their parents, was a user of drugs and alcohol or experienced previous unemployment may have some influence on the severity of the psychological problems he or is suffering from following an accident, but courts typically view these elements as part of the context that caused the accident in which the plaintiff was triggered, not as a separate reason for the injuries.

It is crucial to consult an experienced lawyer if you have been involved in a serious car accident. The lawyers at Arnold & Clifford, motor vehicle accident law firms LLP have years of experience representing clients in personal injury commercial and business litigation, and motor vehicle crash cases. Our lawyers have formed working relationships with independent doctors in a range of specialties including expert witnesses in accident reconstruction and computer simulations, as well as with private investigators.

Damages

In motor vehicle litigation, a plaintiff may be able to recover both economic and noneconomic damages. The first type of damages is any monetary costs that can easily be added up and calculated as an amount, like medical treatment and lost wages, property repairs, and Motor vehicle accident law Firms even future financial losses, like a decrease in earning capacity.

New York law also recognizes the right to seek non-economic damages like suffering and pain, as well as loss of enjoyment of life, which cannot be reduced to a dollar amount. The damages must be proven through extensive evidence like depositions from family members and friends of the plaintiff or medical records, or other expert witness testimony.

In the event of multiple defendants, courts often use comparative fault rules to determine the amount of total damages to be split between them. The jury must decide the amount of fault each defendant has for the incident, and divide the total damages awarded by the same percentage. However, New York law 1602 specifically exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative fault rule in relation to injuries suffered by driver of the vehicles. The subsequent analysis of whether the presumption of permissive use applies is complex and usually only a clear showing that the owner explicitly refused permission to operate the vehicle will overcome it.