Motor Vehicle Litigation

If liability is contested and the liability is disputed, it is necessary to file a lawsuit. The defendant has the right to respond to the complaint.

New York has a pure comparative negligence rule. This means that when a jury finds you to be responsible for an accident, your damages will be reduced according to your percentage of blame. This rule is not applicable to owners of vehicles that are rented or leased out to minors.

Duty of Care

In a negligence lawsuit the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant owed them a duty to act with reasonable care. Most people owe this duty to everyone else, however individuals who get behind the driving wheel of a motorized vehicle are obligated to the other drivers in their zone of activity. This includes ensuring that they don't cause Motor vehicle Accident Law firm vehicle accidents.

Courtrooms compare an individual's actions to what a typical person would do in the same circumstances to determine an acceptable standard of care. In the event of medical malpractice, expert witnesses are usually required. People who have superior knowledge of a specific area may be held to the highest standards of care than other people in similar situations.

A person's breach of their duty of care could cause harm to the victim or their property. The victim must then show that the defendant's infringement of their duty led to the damage and injury they sustained. Causation is a key element of any negligence claim. It involves proving both the proximate and real causes of the injury and Motor vehicle accident law firm damages.

For instance, if someone runs a red stop sign there is a good chance that they'll be struck by a car. If their car is damaged, they'll have to pay for the repairs. The real cause of an accident could be a brick cut that causes an infection.

Breach of Duty

The second element of negligence is the breach of duty by an individual defendant. This must be proved in order to receive compensation for personal injury claims. A breach of duty occurs when the actions of the person at fault are not in line with what a reasonable person would do in similar circumstances.

A doctor, for instance, has several professional duties to his patients based on the law of the state and licensing boards. Drivers have a duty to care for other drivers and pedestrians, and obey traffic laws. A driver who breaches this duty and results in an accident is responsible for the injuries suffered by the victim.

A lawyer may use the "reasonable people" standard to demonstrate that there is a duty to be cautious and then demonstrate that defendant did not adhere to this standard in his actions. It is a matter of fact that the jury has to decide if the defendant met the standard or not.

The plaintiff must also establish that the breach of duty of the defendant was the primary cause for his or her injuries. This is sometimes more difficult to prove than the existence of a duty and breach. For instance an individual defendant could have been a motorist who ran a red light, but it's likely that his or her actions wasn't the proximate cause of the crash. In this way, causation is frequently disputed by the defendants in cases of crash.

Causation

In motor vehicle accidents vehicle cases, the plaintiff has to establish a causal connection between the defendant's breach of duty and their injuries. For instance, if a plaintiff suffered an injury to his neck in a rear-end collision, his or her lawyer could argue that the collision caused the injury. Other factors that are necessary to cause the collision, such as being in a stationary car is not culpable and won't affect the jury's decision on fault.

It may be harder to establish a causal connection between an act of negligence and the plaintiff's psychological problems. It may be the case that the plaintiff has a rocky past, has a bad relationship with their parents, or is a user of drugs or alcohol.

If you have been in a serious motor vehicle crash it is crucial to speak with an experienced attorney. Arnold & Clifford LLP attorneys have extensive experience representing clients in motor vehicle accident as well as business and commercial litigation, and personal injury cases. Our lawyers have built working relationships with independent physicians in a variety of areas of expertise as well as experts in computer simulations and reconstruction of accidents.

Damages

In motor vehicle litigation, a plaintiff can seek both economic and noneconomic damages. The first type of damages is any monetary costs that are easily added up and calculated as a sum, such as medical treatment or lost wages, property repair, and even future financial losses like a decrease in earning capacity.

New York law recognizes that non-economic damages, such as suffering and pain, as well as loss of enjoyment of living can't be reduced to cash. These damages must be proved with a large amount of evidence, such as depositions of family members and friends of the plaintiff or medical records, or other expert witness testimony.

In cases that involve multiple defendants, Courts will often use rules of comparative negligence to determine the percentage of damages award should be allocated between them. The jury has to determine the percentage of fault each defendant is responsible for motor vehicle accident law firm the accident and then divide the total amount of damages awarded by that percentage. New York law however, doesn't allow this. 1602 specifically exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative fault rule in relation to injuries sustained by the driver of the vehicles. The subsequent analysis of whether the presumption of permissive use is applicable is a bit nebulous, and typically only a convincing evidence that the owner explicitly was not granted permission to operate the vehicle will overcome it.