Motor Vehicle Litigation

When liability is contested in court, it becomes necessary to file a lawsuit. The defendant will then have the chance 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 responsible for an accident, your damages will be reduced according to your percentage of blame. There is a caveat to this rule: CPLR SS 1602 excludes the owners of vehicles that are hired or leased by minors.

Duty of Care

In a negligence case the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant was obligated to act with reasonable care. This duty is owed to all people, however those who drive a vehicle owe an even greater duty to other people in their field. This includes not causing accidents in motor vehicles.

Courtrooms assess an individual's actions to what a typical person would do under the same circumstances to determine reasonable standards of care. This is why expert witnesses are frequently required in cases involving medical negligence. Experts with a superior understanding of the field could be held to a higher standard of medical care.

A person's breach of their duty of care may cause harm to a victim, or their property. The victim then has to prove that the defendant acted in breach of their duty of care and caused the injury or damages they suffered. Causation is a key element of any negligence claim. It involves proving both the proximate and real causes of the damage and motor vehicle Accident injury.

For instance, if someone has a red light then it's likely that they will be hit by another car. If their vehicle is damaged, they'll be accountable for repairs. But the actual cause of the crash could be a cut from a brick that later develops into a serious infection.

Breach of Duty

The second aspect of negligence is the breach of duty by an individual defendant. This must be proved in order to receive compensation for personal injury claims. A breach of duty occurs when the actions of the person who is at fault are insufficient to what a normal person would do under similar circumstances.

For instance, a doctor has many professional obligations towards his patients, which stem from state law and licensing bodies. Drivers are required to take care of other drivers as well as pedestrians, and to follow traffic laws. Any driver who fails to adhere to this obligation and creates an accident is accountable for the injuries suffered by the victim.

A lawyer can use "reasonable persons" standard to prove that there is a duty of care and then show that defendant failed to meet this standard in his actions. The jury will decide if the defendant fulfilled or did not meet the standard.

The plaintiff must also establish that the breach of duty by the defendant was the main cause of the injuries. It can be more difficult to prove this than a breach of duty. A defendant might have walked through a red light, but that's not what caused the accident on your bicycle. The issue of causation is often challenged in crash cases by defendants.

Causation

In motor vehicle accidents, the plaintiff must establish an causal link between breach of the defendant and their injuries. For instance, if the plaintiff sustained an injury to his neck in an accident that involved rear-ends and their lawyer could argue that the accident caused the injury. Other factors that are necessary to cause the collision, such as being in a stationary vehicle is not culpable and won't affect the jury’s determination of the cause of the accident.

It could be more difficult to establish a causal connection between a negligent act and the psychological issues of the plaintiff. It may be that the plaintiff has had a difficult past, has a difficult relationship with their parents, motor vehicle accident or has used drugs or alcohol.

It is essential to speak with an experienced lawyer when you've been involved in a serious accident. Arnold & Clifford LLP attorneys have extensive experience representing clients in eureka motor vehicle accident attorney vehicle accidents cases, business and commercial litigation, and personal injury cases. Our lawyers have developed working relationships with independent medical professionals across a variety of specialties, expert witnesses in accident reconstruction and computer simulations, and with private investigators.

Damages

The damages that a plaintiff can recover in a prosser motor vehicle accident lawyer vehicle lawsuit include both economic and non-economic damages. The first category of damages comprises any financial costs that can easily be added to calculate a sum, such as medical treatment and lost wages, property repairs, and even future financial losses like a diminished earning capacity.

New York law also recognizes the right to recover non-economic damages, such as the suffering of others and the loss of enjoyment of life which cannot be reduced to a monetary amount. These damages must be established through extensive evidence like depositions of family members or 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 that should be divided between them. The jury must decide the proportion of fault each defendant has for the accident, and divide the total damages awarded by that percentage. However, New York law 1602 disqualifies vehicle owners from the rule of comparative negligence in cases where injuries are suffered by drivers of trucks or cars. The subsequent analysis of whether the presumption of permissive use applies is complex, and typically only a clear proof that the owner specifically refused permission to operate the vehicle will be able to overcome it.