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Motor Vehicle Litigation

If liability is contested in court, it becomes necessary to start a lawsuit. The defendant will then have the opportunity to respond to the complaint.

New York has a pure comparative negligence rule. This means that when a jury finds that you are responsible for an accident and you are found to be at fault, your damages will be reduced according to your percentage of fault. There is a slight exception to this rule: CPLR SS 1602 excludes owners of vehicles hired or leased by minors.

Duty of Care

In a negligence case, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant was bound by a duty of care towards them. This duty is owed to everyone, but people who operate vehicles owe an even higher duty to others in their field. This includes not causing motor vehicle attorneys vehicle accidents.

Courtrooms assess an individual's actions to what a typical individual would do in the same conditions to determine a reasonable standard of care. In the event of medical negligence, expert witnesses are usually required. Experts with a superior understanding of particular fields may be held to a higher standard of treatment.

A breach of a person's obligation of care can cause injury to a victim or their property. The victim has to show that the defendant violated their duty and caused the harm or damages they suffered. Causation is an important part of any negligence claim. It involves proving both the proximate and real causes of the injury and damages.

If a person is stopped at a stop sign it is likely that they will be hit by another vehicle. If their car is damaged, they will need to pay for repairs. But the reason for the crash could be a cut in the brick, which then develops into a potentially dangerous infection.

Breach of Duty

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

For instance, a doctor is required to perform a number of professional duties for his patients stemming from laws of the state and licensing boards. Drivers are required to take care of other drivers and pedestrians, and follow traffic laws. A driver who breaches this obligation and creates an accident is accountable for the injuries sustained by the victim.

A lawyer can use the "reasonable person" standard to establish the existence of the duty of care and then show that the defendant did not meet the standard in his actions. The jury will determine if the defendant met or did not meet the standards.

The plaintiff must also prove that the defendant's breach of duty was the proximate cause of his or her injuries. This is sometimes more difficult to prove than the existence of a duty or breach. A defendant might have walked through a red light, but that's not what caused the accident on your bicycle. This is why causation is often contested by the defendants in cases of crash.

Causation

In motor vehicle attorneys vehicle cases the plaintiff must establish an causal link between breach by the defendant and their injuries. For instance, if the plaintiff suffered neck injuries as a result of an accident that involved rear-ends and his or her lawyer would argue that the collision was the cause of the injury. Other factors that are necessary to produce the collision, like being in a stationary vehicle, are not culpable, and do not affect the jury's determination of the liability.

It may be harder to establish a causal relationship between a negligent act and the plaintiff's psychological problems. The fact that the plaintiff suffered from a an unhappy childhood, a poor relationship with his or her parents, abused alcohol and drugs, or suffered previous unemployment may have some impact on the severity of the psychological issues suffers following an accident, however, motor vehicle litigation the courts typically look at these factors as an element of the background conditions that caused the accident resulted rather than an independent cause of the injuries.

It is imperative to consult an experienced lawyer when you've been involved in a serious motor accident. Arnold & Clifford LLP attorneys have extensive experience in representing clients in motor vehicle legal vehicle accidents, commercial and business litigation, as well as personal injury cases. Our lawyers have developed working relationships with independent doctors with a variety of specialties as well as expert witnesses in accidents reconstruction and computer simulations as well as with private investigators.

Damages

The damages plaintiffs can seek in motor vehicle litigation can include 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 treatment loss of wages, property repair, and even future financial losses, motor vehicle litigation like a diminished earning capacity.

New York law also recognizes the right to recover non-economic damages, including pain and suffering as well as loss of enjoyment of life which cannot be reduced to a dollar amount. The proof of these damages is with a large amount of evidence, such as depositions of family members or friends of the plaintiff or medical records, or other expert witness testimony.

In cases that involve multiple defendants, Courts will often use the concept of comparative negligence to decide the percentage of damages awarded should be divided between them. This requires the jury to determine the amount of fault each defendant incurred in the incident and then divide the total amount of damages by the percentage of blame. However, New York law 1602 specifically excludes owners of vehicles from the comparative fault rule when it comes to injuries suffered by driver of these vehicles and trucks. The subsequent analysis of whether the presumption of permissiveness applies is complex and typically only a clear proof that the owner was explicitly denied permission to operate the car will overcome it.