공지사항

Motor Vehicle Litigation

When 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 in the event that a jury determines you to be responsible for an accident the damages you incur will be reduced according to your percentage of blame. This rule does not apply to owners of vehicles that are rented or leased out to minors.

Duty of Care

In a negligence suit the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant was obligated to exercise reasonable care. This duty is due to everyone, but those who operate vehicles owe an even greater obligation to other people in their field. This includes ensuring that there are no accidents in motor vehicle attorneys vehicles.

Courtrooms compare an individual's actions with what a normal person would do in similar circumstances to establish what is a reasonable standard of care. Expert witnesses are often required in cases involving medical negligence. People with superior knowledge in a certain field may be held to a greater standard of medical care.

If someone violates their duty of care, it could cause harm to the victim and/or their property. The victim has to demonstrate that the defendant's violation of their duty led to the injury and damages that they suffered. Causation is a key element of any negligence claim. It involves proving the actual and proximate causes of the damage and injury.

If a person is stopped at an stop sign and fails to obey the stop sign, they could be hit by another vehicle. If their vehicle is damaged, they will have to pay for the repairs. However, the real cause of the crash could be a cut in the brick, which then develops into a deadly infection.

Breach of Duty

The second element of negligence is the breach of duty by the defendant. It must be proven in order to obtain compensation in a personal injury case. A breach of duty is when the actions taken by the person who is at fault do not match what a normal person would do under similar circumstances.

A doctor, for example, motor vehicle case has a number of professional obligations towards his patients that are derived from laws of the state and licensing bodies. Drivers are bound to care for other drivers as well as pedestrians, and to follow traffic laws. If a motorist violates this duty of care and creates an accident, he is accountable for the injury suffered by the victim.

A lawyer may use the "reasonable person" standard to prove the existence of a duty of care and then show that the defendant did not satisfy the standard through his actions. The jury will decide if the defendant complied with or did not meet the standard.

The plaintiff must also establish that the breach of duty by the defendant was the primary cause of his or her injuries. This can be more difficult to prove than the existence of a duty and breach. A defendant may have run through a red light but that's not what caused your bicycle accident. The issue of causation is often challenged in crash cases by defendants.

Causation

In motor vehicle cases, the plaintiff must prove that there is a causal connection between the defendant's breach and their injuries. For example, if the plaintiff suffered an injury to his neck in a rear-end collision the lawyer would argue that the collision was the cause of the injury. Other factors that are needed to produce the collision, like being in a stationary car, are not considered to be culpable and therefore do not affect the jury's decision of the liability.

It could be more difficult to establish a causal link between a negligent act, and the plaintiff's psychological problems. It could be because the plaintiff has a rocky background, a strained relationship with their parents, or has been a user of drugs or alcohol.

If you have been in a serious motor vehicle accident it is essential to consult with an experienced attorney. The lawyers at Arnold & Clifford, LLP have years of experience representing clients in personal injury as well as commercial and business litigation, and motor vehicle law vehicle crash cases. Our lawyers have developed working relationships with independent medical professionals in a range of specialties as well as expert witnesses in accidents reconstruction and computer simulations as well with private investigators.

Damages

The damages plaintiffs can claim in a motor vehicle case include both economic and non-economic damages. The first category of damages covers any monetary costs that can be easily added to calculate an amount, like medical expenses, lost wages, property repairs, and even future financial losses, like a decrease in earning capacity.

New York law also recognizes the right to recover non-economic damages, including pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life which cannot be reduced to a monetary amount. However, these damages must be proven to exist using extensive evidence, such as deposition testimony from the 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 how much of the total damages awarded should be divided between them. The jury will determine the amount of fault each defendant is accountable for the accident and then divide the total amount of damages awarded by the same percentage. New York law however, does not permit this. 1602 specifically exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative fault rule in relation to injuries sustained by drivers of these vehicles and trucks. The resulting analysis of whether the presumption of permissive use applies is not straightforward, and typically only a convincing evidence that the owner was explicitly denied permission to operate the vehicle will overcome it.