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Motor Vehicle Litigation

When liability is contested then it is necessary to bring a lawsuit. The defendant will then have the chance to respond to the complaint.

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

Duty of Care

In a negligence case, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant owed the duty of care toward them. This duty is due to everyone, but those who operate a vehicle owe an even higher duty to other drivers in their field. This includes ensuring that they don't cause car accidents.

Courtrooms compare an individual's actions to what a typical person would do under similar circumstances to establish what is an acceptable standard of care. In cases of medical malpractice expert witnesses are typically required. Experts who are knowledgeable in a particular field may also be held to a higher standard of care than other individuals in similar situations.

A breach of a person's duty of care may cause injury to a victim or their property. The victim must then show that the defendant's infringement of their duty resulted in the damage and injury they sustained. Causation is a key element of any negligence claim. It involves proving the actual and proximate causes of the injury and damages.

For example, if someone has a red light then it's likely that they will be hit by a car. If their car is damaged, they'll be responsible for the repairs. The real cause of the crash could be a brick cut which develops into an infection.

Breach of Duty

A breach of duty by the defendant is the second element of negligence that needs to be proved in order to secure compensation in a personal injury lawsuit. A breach of duty happens when the at-fault party's actions do not match what a reasonable person would do in similar circumstances.

For example, a doctor has a variety of professional obligations to his patients based on state law and licensing boards. Motorists have a duty of care to other motorists and pedestrians to drive safely and obey traffic laws. If a driver violates this duty of care and causes an accident, he is responsible for the injuries suffered by the victim.

A lawyer can use the "reasonable person" standard to establish the existence of a duty of care and then prove that the defendant did not comply with the standard in his actions. It is a matter of fact that the jury has to decide whether the defendant was in compliance with the standard or not.

The plaintiff must also prove that the breach of duty of the defendant was the proximate cause of the 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 the action wasn't the proximate cause of the crash. For this reason, the causation issue is often contested by the defendants in case of a crash.

Causation

In motor vehicle law vehicle cases, the plaintiff has to establish a causal link between the defendant's breach of duty and the injuries. If the plaintiff suffered a neck injury in a rear-end collision the attorney for the plaintiff would argue that the collision caused the injury. Other factors that contributed to the collision, such as being in a stationary car are not considered to be culpable and will not affect the jury's decision to determine the fault.

It is possible to prove a causal link between an act of negligence and the psychological issues of the plaintiff. The fact that the plaintiff has a an unhappy childhood, a poor relationship with his or her parents, abused alcohol and drugs or prior unemployment could have a bearing on the severity of the psychological issues he or she suffers after an accident, but courts generally view these factors as part of the circumstances 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 case vehicle accident it is essential to consult an experienced attorney. Arnold & Clifford LLP attorneys have extensive experience representing clients in motor vehicle settlement vehicle accidents cases, business and commercial litigation, as well as personal injury cases. Our lawyers have formed working relationships with independent physicians in a variety of specialties, as well as experts in computer simulations and reconstruction of accidents.

Damages

The damages that a plaintiff may recover in a motor vehicle case include both economic and non-economic damages. The first type of damages encompasses all monetary costs which can easily be summed up and then calculated into a total, such as medical treatment as well as lost wages, repairs to property, or even a future financial loss, like loss of earning capacity.

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

In cases where there are multiple defendants, Courts will often use rules of comparative negligence to determine the percentage of damages awarded should be split between them. The jury has to determine the percentage of blame each defendant has for the incident and then divide the total damages awarded by the same percentage. However, New York law 1602 exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative negligence rule in the event of injuries sustained by drivers of cars or motor vehicle case trucks. The method of determining if the presumption is permissive or not is complex. Typically, only a clear demonstration that the owner refused permission to the driver to operate the vehicle will be able to overcome the presumption.