Motor Vehicle Litigation

A lawsuit is necessary when liability is contested. The Defendant will then have 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, your damages will be reduced based on your percentage of blame. This rule does not apply to the owners of vehicles that are that are leased or rented to minors.

Duty of Care

In a case of negligence, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant owed an obligation of care to them. This duty is owed by all, but those who operate 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 with what a normal person would do under the same circumstances to determine an acceptable standard of care. In the case of medical malpractice expert witnesses are typically required. Experts with a superior understanding of specific fields could be held to a greater standard of medical care.

If someone violates their duty of care, it can cause damage to the victim as well as their property. The victim must then demonstrate that the defendant's violation of their duty caused the harm and damages they have suffered. Causation is a key element of any negligence claim. It requires proving both the proximate and actual causes of the damages and injuries.

If a person is stopped at an stop sign, they are likely to be hit by another vehicle. If their vehicle is damaged, they'll be accountable for repairs. The actual cause of a crash could be caused by a fracture in the brick that leads to 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 actions of the at-fault party fall short of what a normal person would do under similar circumstances.

For instance, a doctor has a variety of professional duties towards his patients that are derived from the law of the state and licensing bodies. Drivers have a duty to take care of other drivers and Motor pedestrians, as well as to adhere to traffic laws. Any driver who fails to adhere to this duty and results in an accident is responsible for the injuries of the victim.

A lawyer can use "reasonable persons" standard to show that there is a duty of caution and then demonstrate that defendant failed to meet this standard with his actions. It is a question of fact for the jury to decide whether the defendant complied with the standard or not.

The plaintiff must also establish that the defendant's breach of duty was the primary cause of the injuries. This can be more difficult to prove than the existence of a duty or breach. A defendant could have driven through a red light but that wasn't what caused the crash on your bicycle. Causation is often contested in case of a crash by the defendants.

Causation

In motor vehicle accident lawsuit vehicle cases, the plaintiff has to establish a causal connection between the defendant's breach of duty and his or her injuries. If a plaintiff suffered neck injuries as a result of a rear-end collision and his or her attorney would argue that the collision was the cause of the injury. Other factors that are needed for the collision to occur, such as being in a stationary car, are not considered to be culpable and therefore do not affect the jury's determination of liability.

For psychological injuries, however, the link between a negligent act and an affected plaintiff's symptoms can be more difficult to establish. The fact that the plaintiff suffered from a a troubled childhood, poor relationship with their parents, experimented with alcohol and drugs or had prior unemployment could have a influence on the severity of the psychological issues suffers following a crash, but the courts generally view these factors as part of the circumstances from which the plaintiff's accident resulted rather than an independent cause of the injuries.

It is important to consult an experienced attorney should you be involved in a serious carrollton motor vehicle accident law firm vehicle accident. The attorneys at Arnold & Clifford, LLP have years of experience representing clients in personal injury commercial and business litigation and motor vehicle accident cases. Our lawyers have built working relationships with independent doctors in different specialties as well as expert witnesses in computer simulations and reconstruction of accidents.

Damages

The damages plaintiffs can claim in a motor vehicle lawsuit include both economic and non-economic damages. The first category of damages covers the costs of monetary value that can easily be summed up and calculated into an overall amount, including medical treatment or lost wages, repair to property, and even the possibility of future financial loss, like a diminished earning capacity.

New York law recognizes that non-economic damages, such as suffering and pain, and loss of enjoyment of life are not able to be reduced to financial value. However, these damages must be proved to exist by a variety of evidence, such as deposition testimony from plaintiff's close friends and family members medical records, other expert witness testimony.

In cases involving multiple defendants, Courts will often use comparative negligence rules to determine the proportion of damages award should be allocated between them. This requires the jury to determine the amount of fault each defendant was responsible for the accident, and then divide the total damages award by that percentage of blame. However, New York law 1602 excludes vehicle owners from the comparative negligence rule in the event of injuries sustained by the drivers of cars or trucks. The subsequent analysis of whether the presumption of permissiveness is applicable is a bit nebulous and usually only a convincing evidence that the owner explicitly did not have permission to operate his car will be sufficient to overcome it.