motor vehicle accident attorneys Vehicle Litigation
A lawsuit is necessary when the liability is being contested. 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 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 fault. This rule is not applicable to the owners of vehicles that are which are rented out or leased 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 owed by all, but those who operate vehicles owe an even higher duty to other drivers in their field. This includes not causing
motor vehicle accidents.
Courtrooms compare an individual's actions with what a normal person would do in the same circumstances to determine what constitutes a reasonable standard of care. Expert witnesses are frequently required in cases involving medical negligence. Experts who have a superior understanding in a particular field may be held to the highest standards of care than others in similar situations.
A breach of a person's duty of care may cause harm to the victim or their property. The victim has to demonstrate that the defendant did not fulfill their duty and caused the injury or damages they sustained. Proving causation is an essential aspect of any negligence case and involves looking at both the actual basis of the injury or damages and the proximate reason for the damage or injury.
If someone runs an stop sign then they are more likely to be struck by another vehicle. If their car is damaged they will be responsible for repairs. The cause of a crash could be a brick cut that causes an infection.
Breach of Duty
A breach of duty by a defendant is the second factor of negligence that must be proved to obtain compensation in a personal injury lawsuit. A breach of duty occurs when the actions of the person who is at fault fall short of what an ordinary person would do in similar circumstances.
A doctor, for instance, has a variety of professional obligations to his patients based on state law and licensing boards. Motorists are required to show care to other motorists and pedestrians on the road to drive safely and obey traffic laws. If a driver violates this duty of care and results in an accident, the driver is accountable for the injuries sustained 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 failed to meet that standard in his actions. The jury will decide if the defendant fulfilled or did not meet the standards.
The plaintiff must also prove that the breach of duty of the defendant was the proximate cause of the injuries. It is more difficult to prove this than a breach of duty. A defendant may have run through a red light, but that's not what caused the accident on your bicycle. In this way, causation is often contested by the defendants in cases of crash.
Causation
In
motor vehicle accident attorney vehicle cases, the plaintiff must establish a causal link between the defendant's breach of duty and his or her injuries. If a plaintiff suffered an injury to the neck in an accident with rear-end damage the attorney for the plaintiff will argue that the incident 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 determination of fault.
It may be harder to establish a causal link between a negligent action and the plaintiff's psychological problems. It could be because the plaintiff has a rocky past, a poor relationship with their parents, or is a user of alcohol or drugs.
It is imperative to consult an experienced attorney should you be involved in a serious car accident. The attorneys at Arnold & Clifford, LLP, have extensive experience in representing clients in personal injury as well as commercial and business litigation, and motor vehicle accident cases. Our lawyers have developed relationships with independent physicians in a wide range of specialties and expert witnesses in accident reconstruction and computer simulations as well as with private investigators.
Damages
In motor vehicle litigation, a plaintiff can seek both economic and noneconomic damages. The first type of damages is any monetary costs that can easily be added up and calculated as the sum of medical treatment, lost wages, property repair, and even future financial losses like diminished earning capacity.
New York law also recognizes the right to recover non-economic damages such as the suffering of others and the loss of enjoyment, which cannot be reduced to a dollar amount. These damages must be established with a large amount of evidence, such as depositions of family members and friends of the plaintiff medical records, depositions, or other expert witness testimony.
In cases where there are multiple defendants, Courts will often use the rules of comparative negligence to determine how much of the damages award should be allocated between them. The jury must determine the amount of fault each defendant had for the accident, and then divide the total damages award by that percentage of blame. New York law however, does not allow for this. 1602 exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative negligence rule in cases where injuries are suffered by drivers of trucks or cars. The subsequent analysis of whether the presumption of permissive use applies is complicated and typically only a clear proof that the owner has explicitly denied permission to operate the vehicle will overcome it.