Motor Vehicle Litigation

A lawsuit is required when liability is in dispute. The defendant will then be given the chance to respond to the complaint.

New York has a pure comparative negligence rule. This means that, should a jury find you to be responsible for an accident the damages you incur will be reduced based on your percentage of blame. There is one exception to this rule: CPLR SS 1602 excludes the owners of vehicles that are that are rented or leased to minors.

Duty of Care

In a case of negligence the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant was bound by the duty of care toward them. Almost everybody owes this duty to everyone else, but those who take the car have an even higher duty to the people in their area of activity. This includes ensuring that there are no accidents in motor vehicles.

In courtrooms the quality of care is determined by comparing an individual's actions to what a normal person would do in the same situations. This is why expert witnesses are frequently required in cases involving medical malpractice. Experts with a higher level of expertise in a specific field could be held to a higher standard of care than other people in similar situations.

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

For instance, if a person is stopped at a red light there is a good chance that they'll be struck by a vehicle. If their vehicle is damaged, they will be responsible for the repairs. The actual cause of a crash could be a brick cut which develops into an infection.

Breach of Duty

The second aspect of negligence is the breach of duty committed by the defendant. The breach of duty must be proved in order to be awarded compensation for a personal injury claim. A breach of duty happens when the actions of a party who is at fault do not match what an average person would do in similar circumstances.

For instance, a physician is required to perform a number of professional duties for his patients stemming from state law and licensing boards. Motorists have a duty of care to other drivers and pedestrians to drive safely and observe traffic laws. If a driver violates this duty and causes an accident is accountable for the victim's injuries.

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

The plaintiff must also prove that the defendant's breach was the direct cause of the plaintiff's injuries. It is more difficult to prove this than a breach of duty. For instance an individual defendant could have crossed a red line, however, the act was not the sole cause of your bike crash. Because of this, causation is often challenged by the defendants in cases of crash.

Causation

In motor vehicle-related cases, the plaintiff must prove an causal link between breach by the defendant and their injuries. For example, if the plaintiff sustained an injury to the neck as a result of an accident that involved rear-ends the lawyer would argue that the collision caused the injury. Other factors that are essential to cause the collision, like being in a stationary vehicle are not considered to be culpable and therefore do not affect the jury's decision of the liability.

For psychological injuries However, the connection between negligence and the victim's afflictions may be more difficult to establish. The fact that the plaintiff had troubles in his or her childhood, had a difficult relationship with their parents, used alcohol and drugs, or suffered previous unemployment may have some influence on the severity of the psychological issues is suffering from following an accident, however, Motor vehicle accident lawsuits the courts generally view these factors as part of the circumstances that caused the accident arose rather than an independent cause of the injuries.

It is essential to speak with an experienced attorney should you be involved in a serious accident. Arnold & Clifford LLP attorneys have years of experience representing clients in motor vehicle accidents commercial and business litigation, and personal injury cases. Our lawyers have formed working relationships with independent doctors in many specialties as well as experts in computer simulations as well as reconstruction of accidents.

Damages

The damages plaintiffs can claim in motor vehicle accident Lawsuits vehicle litigation include both economic and non-economic damages. The first type of damages includes any monetary costs that are easily added up and calculated as a total, for example, medical treatment, lost wages, property repair and even future financial losses like a decrease in earning capacity.

New York law recognizes that non-economic damages, like pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life, cannot be reduced to financial value. However the damages must be established to exist through extensive evidence, such as deposition testimony from plaintiff's family members and close friends medical records, other expert witness testimony.

In cases involving multiple defendants, Courts will often use comparative negligence rules to determine how much of the damages award should be allocated between them. This requires the jury to determine how much responsibility each defendant had for the incident and then divide the total damages awarded by that percentage of the fault. New York law however, does not allow for this. 1602 excludes vehicle owners from the rule of comparative negligence in cases where injuries are suffered by drivers of cars or trucks. The resulting analysis of whether the presumption of permissive use applies is complex and usually only a clear evidence that the owner has explicitly denied permission to operate the car will be sufficient to overcome it.