Motor Vehicle Litigation

When a claim for liability is litigated then it is necessary to bring a lawsuit. The Defendant will then have the opportunity to respond to the complaint.

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

Duty of Care

In a negligence case, the plaintiff must show that the defendant was bound by the duty of care toward them. The majority of people owe this obligation to everyone else, but those who take the driving wheel of a motorized vehicle are obligated to other people in their field of activity. This includes not causing accidents in motor vehicles.

Courtrooms assess an individual's actions with what a normal person would do in similar conditions to determine a reasonable standard of care. Expert witnesses are often required when cases involve medical malpractice. People with superior knowledge in the field could be held to a higher standard of treatment.

If a person violates their duty of care, it can cause damage to the victim as well as their property. The victim is then required to show that the defendant's infringement of their duty caused the harm and damages they sustained. Causation is an essential element of any negligence claim. It requires proving both the proximate and real causes of the damages and injuries.

If someone is driving through an stop sign it is likely that they will be hit by another vehicle. If their vehicle is damaged, they'll be accountable for the repairs. The real 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 obtain compensation for a personal injury claim. A breach of duty is when the actions of the person at fault are insufficient to what an ordinary person would do in similar circumstances.

A doctor, for example has many professional duties towards his patients. These professional obligations stem from the law of the state and licensing bodies. Motorists owe a duty of care to other drivers and pedestrians to drive safely and obey traffic laws. Any driver who fails to adhere to this duty and results in an accident is responsible for the injuries suffered by the victim.

A lawyer may use the "reasonable person" standard to prove the existence of the duty of care and then prove that the defendant failed to meet 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 breach of duty of the defendant was the primary cause of his or her injuries. It can be more difficult to prove this than a breach of duty. A defendant might have walked through a red light, but that's not the cause of the crash on your bicycle. Because of this, causation is often challenged by defendants in crash cases.

Causation

In motor vehicle cases the plaintiff must establish a causal link between the breach by the defendant and their injuries. If the plaintiff suffered neck injuries in a rear-end accident then his or her attorney will argue that the incident was the cause of the injury. Other factors that are needed to cause the collision, such as being in a stationary vehicle, are not culpable and mint hill motor vehicle accident attorney will not affect the jury's decision of the liability.

For psychological injuries However, the connection between a negligent act and the victim's afflictions may be more difficult to establish. The fact that the plaintiff has a an unhappy childhood, a poor relationship with his or her parents, used alcohol and drugs or had previous unemployment may have some bearing on the severity of the psychological issues he or suffers from following a crash, but the courts generally view these factors as part of the circumstances that led to the accident from which the plaintiff's injury resulted rather than an independent reason for the injuries.

If you've been involved in an accident that is serious to your vehicle it is crucial to consult with an experienced attorney. Arnold & Clifford LLP attorneys have years of experience representing clients in motor vehicle accident commercial and business litigation, as well as personal injury cases. Our lawyers have built working relationships with independent physicians in a variety of specialties as well as expert witnesses in computer simulations and reconstruction of accident.

Damages

In Alabama Motor Vehicle Accident Law Firm vehicle litigation, a person can get both economic and non-economic damages. The first type of damages covers any monetary costs that are easily added to calculate the sum of medical expenses or lost wages, property repair, and even future financial losses, like a diminished earning capacity.

New York law recognizes that non-economic damages like suffering and Vimeo pain, as well as loss of enjoyment, cannot be reduced to cash. The proof of these damages is with a large amount of evidence, such as depositions of family members or friends of the plaintiff medical records, depositions, 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 awarded should be split between them. The jury must determine how much fault each defendant incurred in the incident and then divide the total amount of damages by that percentage of the fault. However, New York law 1602 specifically excludes 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 applies is complex and usually only a clear showing that the owner has explicitly was not granted permission to operate the vehicle will be able to overcome it.