Delores Osorio asked 6 months ago
Motor Vehicle Litigation
When a claim for liability is litigated and the liability is disputed, it is necessary to file a lawsuit. The Defendant has the right to respond to the Complaint.
New York has a pure comparative negligence rule. This means that in the event that a jury determines that you are responsible for an accident and you are found to be at fault, your damages will be reduced according to your percentage of fault. There is an exception to this rule: CPLR SS 1602 excludes the owners of vehicles that are hired or leased by minors.
Duty of Care
In a case of negligence, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant owed a duty of care towards them. Almost everybody owes this duty to everyone else, but individuals who get behind the car have a greater obligation to other people in their field of activity. This includes ensuring that they do not cause accidents in motor vehicles.
Courtrooms assess an individual’s actions to what a typical individual would do in similar circumstances to determine what constitutes an acceptable standard of care. This is why expert witnesses are frequently required when cases involve medical malpractice. Experts who have a greater understanding of particular fields may be held to a higher standard of care.
A person’s breach of their obligation of care can cause harm to a victim, or their property. The victim has to show that the defendant’s infringement of their duty resulted in the harm and damages they sustained. Causation is a key element of any negligence claim. It involves proving the proximate and actual causes of the injury and damages.
For instance, if someone runs a red light there is a good chance that they will be hit by another car. If their car is damaged they’ll be responsible for repairs. But the actual cause of the accident could be a cut from the brick, which then develops into a dangerous 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 claim. A breach of duty occurs when the actions of the party at fault are not in line with what reasonable people would do in similar circumstances.
For instance, a doctor is a professional with a range of professional duties towards his patients. These professional obligations stem from laws of the state and licensing bodies. Motorists owe a duty of care to other drivers and pedestrians on the road to drive safely and obey traffic laws. A driver who breaches this duty and causes an accident is responsible for the injuries sustained by the victim.
A lawyer can use “reasonable persons” standard to show that there is a duty to be cautious and then prove that the defendant failed to meet this standard in his conduct. The jury will decide if the defendant met or did not meet the standards.
The plaintiff must also prove that the breach by the defendant was the main cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. It can be more difficult to prove this than a breach of duty. A defendant might have walked through a red light, but that’s not the cause of the crash on your bicycle. For this reason, causation is often contested by the defendants in cases of crash.
Causation
In motor vehicle-related cases, the plaintiff must establish a causal link between the breach of the defendant and [Redirect Only] their injuries. If the plaintiff sustained neck injuries in an accident with rear-end damage, his or her attorney will argue that the crash caused the injury. Other factors that contributed to the collision, such as being in a stationary car is not culpable and will not affect the jury’s determination of the fault.
It can be difficult to establish a causal relationship between a negligent act, and the psychological issues of the plaintiff. It may be the case that the plaintiff has a rocky background, a strained relationship with their parents, or has abused drugs or alcohol.
It is imperative to consult an experienced lawyer when you’ve been involved in a serious motor vehicle accidents vehicle accident. The attorneys at Arnold & Clifford, LLP have years of experience representing clients in personal injury, commercial and business litigation, as well as motor vehicle accident attorney vehicle accident cases. Our lawyers have developed working relationships with independent physicians across a variety of specialties as well as expert witnesses in accidents reconstruction and computer simulations, as well as with private investigators.
Damages
In motor vehicle litigation, a plaintiff can be able to recover both economic and noneconomic damages. The first type of damages comprises any financial expenses that can be easily added up and calculated as the sum of medical expenses loss of wages, property repairs, and even future financial losses like a diminished earning capacity.
New York law recognizes that non-economic damages, such as suffering and pain, as well as loss of enjoyment of living cannot be reduced to money. The proof of these damages is through extensive evidence like depositions of family members or friends of the plaintiff medical records, depositions, or other expert witness testimony.
In the event of multiple defendants, courts typically employ comparative fault rules to determine the amount of total damages to be split between them. The jury has to determine the amount of fault each defendant is accountable for the accident, and divide the total damages awarded by the percentage. New York law however, does not permit this. 1602 specifically excludes owners of vehicles from the comparative fault rule with respect to injuries suffered by driver of the vehicles. The process of determining whether the presumption is permissive is complicated. Typically, only a clear demonstration that the owner did not grant permission to the driver to operate the vehicle will be able to overcome the presumption.