Motor Vehicle Litigation

When a claim for liability is litigated, it becomes necessary to make a complaint. The defendant has the option to respond to the complaint.

New York follows pure comparative fault rules and, if the jury finds you to be at fault for causing the accident the amount of damages awarded will be reduced by your percentage of negligence. This rule is not applicable to the owners of vehicles that are that are rented or leased out to minors.

Duty of Care

In a case of negligence the plaintiff must prove that the defendant was bound by the duty of care towards them. Almost everybody owes this duty to everyone else, however individuals who get behind the car have a greater obligation to the other drivers in their zone of activity. This includes not causing motor vehicle accidents.

Courtrooms examine an individual's conduct with what a normal person would do under the same circumstances to determine what constitutes a reasonable standard of care. In the case of medical malpractice experts are typically required. Experts who are knowledgeable of a specific area may be held to an higher standard of care than other people in similar situations.

A person's breach of their duty of care can cause harm to a victim or their property. The victim has to prove that the defendant breached their obligation and caused the damage or damage they sustained. Causation is an essential element of any negligence claim. It requires proof of both the actual and proximate causes of the damages and injuries.

If a driver is caught running an intersection, they are likely to be hit by another vehicle. If their car is damaged, they'll need to pay for repairs. The cause of an accident 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 an individual defendant. This must be proved in order to receive compensation for a personal injury claim. A breach of duty occurs when the at-fault party's actions are not in line with what a reasonable person would do in similar circumstances.

A doctor, for instance has many professional duties towards his patients that are derived from state law and licensing bodies. Motorists have a duty of care to other motorists and pedestrians to drive in a safe manner and adhere to traffic laws. When a driver breaches this obligation of care and results in an accident, the driver is responsible for the injuries suffered by the victim.

A lawyer can use the "reasonable person" standard to prove the existence of a duty of care and then show that the defendant failed to 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 defendant's breach of duty was the proximate cause of the injuries. It can be more difficult to prove this than a breach of duty. A defendant could have run through a red light, but that's not the cause of the accident on your bicycle. The issue of causation is often challenged in cases of crash by defendants.

Causation

In motor vehicle cases, the plaintiff must establish a causal link between the defendant's breach of duty and his or her injuries. For example, if the plaintiff sustained an injury to the neck as a result of a rear-end collision the lawyer could 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 liability.

For psychological injuries However, the connection between an act of negligence and an affected plaintiff's symptoms can be more difficult to establish. It could be that the plaintiff has had a difficult past, has a bad relationship with their parents, or has been a user of alcohol or drugs.

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

Damages

The damages that plaintiffs can claim in motor vehicle litigation can include both economic and non-economic damages. The first type of damages is the costs of monetary value that can easily be added up and then calculated into a total, such as medical treatments as well as lost wages, repairs to property, and even future financial loss, for instance diminished earning capacity.

New York law also recognizes the right to seek non-economic damages like pain and suffering as well as loss of enjoyment of life, which cannot be reduced to a dollar amount. However the damages must be proven to exist with the help of extensive evidence, such as deposition testimony from plaintiff's family members and close friends medical records, as well as other expert witness testimony.

In cases where there are multiple defendants, courts typically apply the rules of comparative fault to determine the amount of total damages to be divided between them. This requires the jury to determine how much fault each defendant incurred in the accident and then divide the total damages award by that percentage of the fault. New York law however, does not permit this. 1602 specifically exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative fault rule in relation to injuries suffered by driver of these vehicles and trucks. The process to determine if the presumption is permissive or not is complicated. Most of the time it is only a clear evidence that the owner did not grant permission to the driver to operate the vehicle can be able to overcome the presumption.