Motor Vehicle Litigation

If liability is contested then it is necessary to bring a lawsuit. The Defendant has the right to respond to the Complaint.

New York has a pure comparative negligence rule. This means that, when a jury finds you to be responsible for an accident, your damages will be reduced based on your percentage of blame. This rule does not apply to owners of vehicles rented out or leased to minors.

Duty of Care

In a case of negligence, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant had the duty of care towards them. Nearly everyone owes this obligation to everyone else, but those who sit behind the wheel of a motor vehicle have a higher obligation to others in their area of operation. This includes not causing motor vehicle accidents.

Courtrooms examine an individual's conduct with what a normal person would do in the same circumstances to establish what is an acceptable standard of care. In the event of medical malpractice, expert witnesses are usually required. Experts who are knowledgeable in a particular field can be held to a higher standard of care than other individuals in similar situations.

If someone violates their duty of care, it can cause injury to the victim or their property. The victim must then show that the defendant's infringement of their duty caused the damage and injury they suffered. Proving causation is a critical element in any negligence case and requires considering both the actual reason for the injury or damages as well as the proximate reason for the injury or damage.

If someone is driving through an stop sign it is likely that they will be struck by a vehicle. If their vehicle is damaged, they will be responsible for repairs. The actual cause of a crash could be a brick cut that develops into an infection.

Breach of Duty

A breach of duty by a defendant is the second aspect of negligence that has to be proved in order to secure compensation in a personal injury lawsuit. A breach of duty occurs when the actions of the person who is at fault are not in line with what a normal person would do under similar circumstances.

For instance, a doctor has many professional obligations towards his patients. These professional obligations stem from the law of the state and licensing bodies. Drivers are obliged to take care of other drivers and pedestrians, and respect traffic laws. If a driver fails to comply with this duty of care and results in an accident, the driver is responsible 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 did not comply with the standard in his actions. The jury will decide if the defendant met or did not meet the standards.

The plaintiff must also prove that the breach of duty of the defendant was the proximate cause of his or her injuries. This can be more difficult to prove than the existence of a duty and breach. A defendant could have driven through a red light, but that wasn't what caused the bicycle accident. This is why causation is frequently disputed by defendants in crash cases.

Causation

In woonsocket motor vehicle accident lawsuit vehicle-related cases, the plaintiff must prove a causal link between defendant's breach and their injuries. For instance, if a plaintiff suffered an injury to his neck in a rear-end collision, his or her lawyer could argue that the collision was the cause of the injury. Other factors that contributed to the collision, such as being in a stationary car, are not culpable, and won't affect the jury's determination of the degree of fault.

For psychological injuries, however, the link between an act of negligence and an injured plaintiff's symptoms may be more difficult to establish. It may be the case that the plaintiff has a rocky background, a strained relationship with their parents, or has been a user of alcohol or drugs.

If you have been in a serious motor vehicle accident lawsuit vehicle accident it is essential to consult an experienced attorney. The lawyers at Arnold & Clifford, LLP, have extensive experience in representing clients in personal injury as well as commercial and business litigation and motor vehicle accident cases. Our lawyers have established working relationships with independent physicians with a variety of specialties including expert witnesses in accident reconstruction and computer simulations, and with private investigators.

Damages

In motor vehicle litigation, a plaintiff could be able to recover both economic and noneconomic damages. The first type of damages covers all monetary costs which can be easily added together and then calculated into a total, such as medical treatments or lost wages, repair to property, and even financial loss, for instance the loss of earning capacity.

New York law recognizes that non-economic damages, motor vehicle accident such as pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment can't be reduced to money. The damages must be proven through extensive evidence like depositions of family members and friends of the plaintiff medical records, motor Vehicle Accident as well as other expert witness testimony.

In cases where there are multiple defendants, Courts will often use the concept of comparative negligence to decide the percentage of damages award should be allocated between them. The jury must determine the degree of fault each defendant was at fault for the accident and to then divide the total amount of damages by that percentage of blame. However, New York law 1602 disqualifies vehicle owners from the comparative negligence rule in the event of injuries suffered by drivers of cars or trucks. The analysis to determine whether the presumption is permissive or not is complicated. Typically the only way to prove that the owner was not able to grant permission for the driver to operate the vehicle can overcome the presumption.