Motor Vehicle Litigation

When liability is contested and the liability is disputed, it is necessary to start 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 and you are found to be at fault, your damages will be reduced according to your percentage of blame. This rule does not apply to the owners of vehicles that are that are rented or leased out to minors.

Duty of Care

In a negligence case the plaintiff must show that the defendant was obligated to act with reasonable care. Most people owe this duty to everyone else, but those who are behind the driving wheel of a motorized vehicle have a higher obligation to other people in their field of operation. This includes ensuring that there are no accidents in motor vehicles.

In courtrooms the standard of care is determined by comparing an individual's conduct against what a normal individual would do under similar conditions. Expert witnesses are often required when cases involve medical malpractice. Experts with a superior understanding of the field could be held to a higher standard of care.

A person's breach of their duty of care can cause harm to the victim or their property. The victim is then required to demonstrate that the defendant's violation of their duty led to the damage and injury they sustained. Causation is an important part of any negligence claim. It requires proof of both the primary and secondary causes of the injury and damages.

If a driver is caught running the stop sign then they are more likely to be struck by another vehicle. If their vehicle is damaged, they'll be responsible for repairs. The reason for the crash might be a cut in the brick, which then develops into a dangerous infection.

Breach of Duty

A breach of duty by the defendant is the second factor of negligence that must be proved to obtain compensation in a personal injury lawsuit. A breach of duty happens when the actions of the party at fault are not in line with what an average person would do in similar circumstances.

A doctor, for example, has a number of professional obligations towards his patients that are derived from the law of the state and licensing authorities. Drivers have a duty to take care of other drivers and pedestrians, as well as to obey traffic laws. Any driver who fails to adhere to this duty and results in an accident is responsible for the injuries of the victim.

Lawyers can rely on the "reasonable person" standard to establish the existence of the duty of care and then show that the defendant did not satisfy the standard through his actions. The jury will decide if the defendant fulfilled or did not meet the standards.

The plaintiff must also prove that the defendant's breach was the main cause of the plaintiff's injuries. It can be more difficult to prove this than a breach of duty. A defendant could have run through a red light but that's not the cause of the crash on your bicycle. The issue of causation is often challenged in crash cases by defendants.

Causation

In motor vehicle accident attorney vehicle cases, the plaintiff has to establish a causal connection between the defendant's breach of duty and their injuries. If a plaintiff suffers an injury to the neck in an accident that involved rear-end collisions the attorney for the plaintiff would argue that the collision was the reason for the injury. Other factors that contributed to the collision, such as being in a stationary car, are not culpable, and will not influence the jury's decision to determine the fault.

For psychological injuries However, the connection between negligence and the affected plaintiff's symptoms can be more difficult to establish. It could be the case that the plaintiff has a rocky past, a poor relationship with their parents, or has used drugs or alcohol.

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

Damages

The damages a plaintiff can recover in a motor vehicle case include both economic and non-economic damages. The first type of damages is all financial costs that can easily be summed up and then calculated into an overall amount, including medical treatments, lost wages, repairs to property, and even the possibility of future financial loss, for instance loss of earning capacity.

New York law also recognizes the right to seek non-economic damages, lawyers including the suffering of others and the loss of enjoyment of life, which cannot be reduced to a monetary amount. However the damages must be proven to exist by a variety of evidence, including deposition testimony of the plaintiff's family members and close friends medical records, other expert witness testimony.

In the event of multiple defendants, courts often use comparative fault rules to determine the amount of total damages that must be divided between them. The jury must determine the degree of fault each defendant had for the accident and to then divide the total damages awarded by the percentage of the fault. However, New York law 1602 exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative negligence rule in cases where injuries are suffered by drivers of cars or trucks. The process of determining whether the presumption is permissive or not is complicated. The majority of the time there is only a clear proof that the owner denied permission for the driver to operate the vehicle will be sufficient to overturn the presumption.