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Motor Vehicle Litigation

When a claim for liability is litigated in court, it becomes necessary to start a lawsuit. The defendant will then be given the chance to respond to the complaint.

New York follows pure comparative fault rules and, if the jury finds you to be the cause of the accident the damages awarded to you will be reduced by the percentage of negligence. This rule is not applicable to owners of vehicles rented out or leased to minors.

Duty of Care

In a negligence case, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant had the duty of care toward them. Nearly everyone owes this obligation to everyone else, but individuals who get behind the driving wheel of a motorized vehicle have an even higher duty to the other drivers in their zone of operation. This includes not causing motor vehicle accidents.

Courtrooms compare an individual's actions with what a normal person would do in similar circumstances to establish what is reasonable standards of care. This is why expert witnesses are frequently required in cases involving medical negligence. Experts who are knowledgeable of a specific area may be held to the highest standards of care than other individuals in similar situations.

A breach of a person's duty of care could cause harm to the victim or their property. The victim has to demonstrate that the defendant's violation of duty caused the damage and injury they suffered. Causation is an essential element of any negligence claim. It involves proving both the proximate and real causes of the damages and injuries.

If someone is driving through the stop sign then they are more likely to be hit by another vehicle. If their car is damaged they will be responsible for repairs. The real cause of a crash could be a brick cut that causes an infection.

Breach of Duty

A defendant's breach of duty is the second aspect of negligence that has to be proven to win compensation in a personal injury suit. A breach of duty is when the actions of the at-fault person are insufficient to what a normal person would do under similar circumstances.

A doctor, for example is a professional with a range of professional duties towards his patients, which stem from state law and licensing bodies. Drivers are bound to protect other motorists and pedestrians, and to follow traffic laws. If a motorist violates this duty of care and results in an accident, the driver is responsible for the victim's injuries.

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

The plaintiff must also demonstrate that the defendant's breach was the direct cause of the plaintiff's injuries. This is sometimes more difficult to prove than the existence of a duty or breach. For instance, a defendant may have run a red light however, the act wasn't the main reason for your bicycle crash. In this way, causation is often contested by the defendants in case of a crash.

Causation

In motor vehicle cases, the plaintiff must establish a causal link between the defendant's breach of duty and their injuries. For instance, if the plaintiff sustained neck injuries as a result of an accident that involved rear-ends the lawyer could argue that the accident caused the injury. Other elements that could have caused the collision, like being in a stationary car, are not culpable, and will not affect the jury's determination of the fault.

For psychological injuries However, the connection between negligence and the victim's afflictions may be more difficult to establish. It could be that the plaintiff has a turbulent past, has a bad relationship with their parents, or has used alcohol or drugs.

If you've been involved in a serious motor vehicle accident law firm vehicle crash, it is important 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 and motor vehicle accident cases. Our lawyers have developed relationships with independent physicians with a variety of specialties including expert witnesses in accident reconstruction and computer simulations, and with private investigators.

Damages

The damages that plaintiffs can seek in a motor vehicle case include both economic and non-economic damages. The first type of damages is all monetary costs which can be easily added together and summed up into a total, such as medical expenses, lost wages, repairs to property, and even financial losses, such as loss of earning capacity.

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

In cases where there are multiple defendants, Courts will often use comparative negligence rules to determine how much of the damages awarded should be divided between them. The jury must determine the amount of fault each defendant incurred in the accident, and then divide the total damages awarded by that percentage of fault. However, New York law 1602 disqualifies vehicle owners from the comparative negligence rule in the event of injuries caused by drivers of cars or trucks. The process of determining whether the presumption is permissive or not is complicated. In general it is only a clear evidence that the owner was not able to grant permission to the driver to operate the vehicle can overcome the presumption.