Motor Vehicle Litigation

If the liability is challenged and the liability is disputed, it is necessary to bring a lawsuit. The defendant is entitled to respond to the Complaint.

New York has a pure comparative negligence rule. This means that, when a jury finds that you were at fault for an accident the amount of damages you will be reduced according to your percentage of fault. This rule does not apply to the owners of vehicles that are rented out or leased 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 to everyone, but those who drive a vehicle owe an even higher duty to others in their field. This includes ensuring that they do not cause accidents in motor vehicles.

Courtrooms assess an individual's actions to what a typical individual would do under similar circumstances to determine what constitutes reasonable standards of care. In the event of medical negligence expert witnesses are typically required. Experts with a superior understanding of a certain field may be held to a higher standard of medical care.

A breach of a person's duty of care may cause harm to a victim or their property. The victim must demonstrate that the defendant's violation of their duty led to the injury and damages that they sustained. Causation is a key element of any negligence claim. It requires proof of both the primary and secondary causes of the damage and injury.

If someone is driving through the stop sign and fails to obey the stop sign, they could be struck by another vehicle. If their vehicle is damaged, they will be responsible for repairs. But the reason for the accident could be a cut in bricks, which later turn into a potentially dangerous infection.

Breach of Duty

The second aspect of negligence is the breach of duty committed by an individual defendant. The breach of duty must be proved in order to be awarded compensation in a personal injury case. A breach of duty is when the actions of the at-fault person are not in line with what a normal person would do under similar circumstances.

For example, a doctor has several professional duties to his patients, arising from state law and licensing boards. Drivers are obliged to protect other motorists as well as pedestrians, and to respect traffic laws. A driver who breaches this obligation and causes an accident is responsible for the victim's injuries.

A lawyer can rely on the "reasonable people" standard to show that there is a duty of caution and then demonstrate that defendant did not meet this standard in his conduct. It is a question of fact that the jury has to decide whether the defendant fulfilled the standard or not.

The plaintiff must also establish that the defendant's breach of duty was the primary cause for his or her injuries. This can be more difficult to prove than the existence of a duty or breach. A defendant may have run through a red light however, that's not the reason for your bicycle accident. Causation is often contested in case of a crash by the defendants.

Causation

In motor vehicle accident attorneys vehicle cases, the plaintiff must establish a causal connection between the defendant's breach of duty and his or her injuries. If a plaintiff suffers an injury to the neck in an accident that involved rear-end collisions and his or her attorney would argue that the accident was the cause of the injury. Other elements that are required in causing the collision such as being in a stationary vehicle, are not culpable and do not affect the jury's determination of the liability.

It could be more difficult to establish a causal relationship between a negligent act and the psychological issues of the plaintiff. The fact that the plaintiff suffered from a an uneasy childhood, a bad relationship with their parents, abused alcohol and drugs or had previous unemployment may have some impact on the severity of the psychological problems he or is suffering from following a crash, but the courts typically consider these factors as part of the context from which the plaintiff's accident occurred, rather than as an independent reason for the injuries.

If you have been in a serious motor vehicle accident it is essential to consult an experienced attorney. Arnold & Clifford LLP attorneys have years of experience in representing clients in motor vehicle accident as well as business and commercial litigation, and personal injury cases. Our lawyers have formed working relationships with independent doctors in different specialties, as well as expert witnesses in computer simulations and reconstruction of accident.

Damages

The damages that a plaintiff can recover in a motor vehicle accidents vehicle lawsuit include both economic and non-economic damages. The first category of damages encompasses all financial costs that can be easily added together and then calculated into a total, such as medical expenses, lost wages, repairs to property, or even a future financial loss, such loss of earning capacity.

New York law recognizes that non-economic damages like suffering and pain, as well as loss of enjoyment of living cannot be reduced to money. However the damages must be proved to exist with the help of extensive evidence, including 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 will typically use the comparative fault rule to determine the amount of damages to be split between them. The jury must determine the degree of fault each defendant incurred in the accident and then divide the total damages awarded by the percentage of fault. New York law however, does not allow for this. 1602 excludes vehicle owners from the rule of comparative negligence in the event of injuries sustained by the drivers of cars or trucks. The resulting analysis of whether the presumption of permissive use applies is complex, and typically only a convincing evidence that the owner has explicitly denied permission to operate the vehicle will overcome it.