motor vehicle accident law firm Vehicle Litigation

If the liability is challenged in court, it becomes necessary to file a lawsuit. The Defendant will then have the opportunity to respond to the complaint.

New York follows pure comparative fault rules, which means that when a jury finds you to be the cause of a crash the amount of damages awarded will be reduced by your percentage of negligence. There is one exception to this rule: CPLR SS 1602 excludes owners of vehicles that are rented or leased to minors.

Duty of Care

In a negligence case, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant had a duty of care towards them. This duty is due to all, but those who operate a vehicle owe an even greater obligation to others in their field. This includes ensuring that they don't cause motor vehicle accidents.

Courtrooms assess an individual's actions with what a normal person would do under the same circumstances to determine what constitutes reasonable standards of care. This is why expert witnesses are frequently required in cases involving medical negligence. Experts who have a superior understanding in a particular field may also be held to an higher standard of care than other people in similar situations.

A breach of a person's duty of care can cause harm to the victim or their property. The victim is then required to prove that the defendant acted in breach of their duty of care and caused the injury or damage they sustained. Causation is an important part of any negligence claim. It requires proof of both the actual and proximate causes of the injuries and damages.

If someone is driving through a stop sign it is likely that they will be struck by another vehicle. If their vehicle is damaged, they'll be responsible for the repairs. But the actual cause of the crash could be a cut or the brick, which then develops into a deadly infection.

Breach of Duty

The second aspect of negligence is the breach of duty by a defendant. The breach of duty must be proved in order to obtain compensation for a personal injury claim. A breach of duty happens when the actions of the person at fault aren't in line with what reasonable people would do in similar circumstances.

For instance, a doctor has many professional duties towards his patients that are derived from the law of the state and licensing authorities. Motorists owe a duty of care to other drivers and pedestrians on the road to be safe and follow traffic laws. Drivers who violate this duty and causes an accident is accountable for the injuries sustained by the victim.

A lawyer can rely on the "reasonable persons" standard to establish that there is a duty to be cautious and then show that the defendant did not adhere to this standard in his actions. The jury will determine if the defendant met or did not meet the standard.

The plaintiff must also prove that the defendant's breach of duty was the proximate cause of the injuries. It is more difficult to prove this than a breach of duty. A defendant may have run through a red light, but that wasn't what caused your bicycle accident. Causation is often contested in crash cases by defendants.

Causation

In motor vehicle-related cases, the plaintiff must establish an causal link between breach by the defendant and their injuries. For example, if the plaintiff sustained neck injuries as a result of an accident that involved rear-ends, his or her lawyer might argue that the accident caused the injury. Other factors that are needed in causing the collision such as being in a stationary vehicle, are not culpable and will not affect the jury's decision of the liability.

It can be difficult to establish a causal connection between an act of negligence and the plaintiff's psychological problems. The fact that the plaintiff had an uneasy childhood, a bad relationship with his or her parents, was a user of alcohol and drugs, or suffered previous unemployment may have some influence on the severity the psychological problems he or she suffers after an accident, but courts typically view these elements as part of the context that led to the accident from which the plaintiff's injury resulted rather than an independent reason for the injuries.

If you have been in a serious motor vehicle accident It is imperative to consult an experienced attorney. The attorneys 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 including expert witnesses in accident reconstruction and computer simulations as well with private investigators.

Damages

In motor vehicle litigation, a plaintiff can seek both economic and noneconomic damages. The first category of damages covers all financial costs that are easily added together and then calculated into a total, for example, medical expenses or lost wages, repair to property, and even financial losses, such as a diminished earning capacity.

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

In the event of multiple defendants, courts often use comparative fault rules to determine the amount of total damages to be divided 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 the percentage of blame. New York law however, does not permit this. 1602 specifically exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative fault rule in relation to injuries sustained by drivers of these trucks and cars. The analysis to determine whether the presumption of permissiveness is complex. Typically, only a clear demonstration that the owner was not able to grant permission to the driver to operate the vehicle will be able to overcome the presumption.