11 Ways To Completely Revamp Your Motor Vehicle Legal
Motor Vehicle Litigation
A lawsuit is required when the liability is being contested. The defendant then has the opportunity to respond to the complaint.
New York follows pure comparative fault rules, which means that should a jury find you to be at fault for causing an accident the damages awarded will be reduced by your percentage of negligence. This rule does not apply to owners of vehicles rented out or leased to minors.
Duty of Care
In a case of negligence, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant had a duty of care towards them. Nearly everyone owes this obligation to everyone else, however those who take the steering wheel of a motor vehicle have an even higher duty to the other drivers in their zone of activity. This includes not causing accidents in motor vehicles.
In courtrooms, the quality of care is determined by comparing an individual's behavior with what a normal person would do under similar circumstances. This is why expert witnesses are often required in cases of medical malpractice. Experts with more experience in specific fields could be held to a higher standard of treatment.
When a person breaches their duty of care, it may cause injury to the victim or their property. The victim must show that the defendant violated their duty and caused the injury or damage they sustained. Causation is a key element of any negligence claim. It requires proving both the proximate and real causes of the damages and injuries.
For instance, if someone is stopped at a red light then it's likely that they'll be hit by a car. If their vehicle is damaged, they'll be accountable for repairs. motor vehicle accident lawyer waukegan of an accident could be a brick cut that causes an infection.
Breach of Duty
A breach of duty by a defendant is the second element of negligence that needs to be proved to obtain compensation in a personal injury case. A breach of duty occurs when the actions of the party at fault do not match what reasonable people would do in similar circumstances.
For instance, a doctor has a variety of professional duties towards his patients that are derived from laws of the state and licensing bodies. Drivers have a duty to be considerate of other drivers and pedestrians, and obey traffic laws. When a driver breaches this duty of care and causes 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 an obligation of care. The lawyer must then show that the defendant did not meet that standard in his actions. The jury will determine if the defendant met or did not meet the standard.
The plaintiff must also prove that the defendant's breach of duty was the proximate cause of the injuries. It is 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 your bicycle accident. For this reason, the causation issue is often contested by defendants in collision cases.
Causation
In motor vehicle cases, the plaintiff has to establish a causal connection between the defendant's breach of duty and the injuries. If the plaintiff sustained neck injuries in an accident with rear-end damage and his or her attorney will argue that the crash caused the injury. Other elements that could have caused the collision, like being in a stationary vehicle is not culpable and will not influence the jury’s determination of fault.
For psychological injuries, however, the link between a negligent act and an affected plaintiff's symptoms can be more difficult to establish. The fact that the plaintiff has a a troubled childhood, poor relationship with his or her parents, abused alcohol and drugs, or suffered prior unemployment could have a impact on the severity of the psychological issues suffers from following an accident, however, the courts typically consider these factors as an element of the background conditions that caused the accident in which the plaintiff occurred, rather than as an independent cause of the injuries.
It is essential to speak with an experienced lawyer in the event that you've been involved in a serious car accident. Arnold & Clifford LLP attorneys have extensive experience representing clients in motor vehicle accident cases, business and commercial litigation, as well as personal injury 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 with private investigators.
Damages
In motor vehicle litigation, a plaintiff can get both economic and non-economic damages. The first category of damages encompasses all financial costs that are easily added together and then calculated into a total, for example, medical expenses and lost wages, repairs to property, and even the possibility of future financial loss, like the loss of earning capacity.
New York law recognizes that non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment can't be reduced to financial value. The damages must be proven with a large amount of evidence, such as depositions from family members and friends of the plaintiff medical records, as well as other expert witness testimony.
In cases that involve multiple defendants, Courts will often use rules of comparative negligence to determine the percentage of damages awarded should be divided between them. This requires the jury to determine how much responsibility each defendant incurred in the accident and then divide the total damages awarded by the percentage of the fault. New York law however, does not permit this. 1602 specifically exempts owners of vehicles from the comparative fault rule with respect to injuries suffered by driver of these vehicles and trucks. The method of determining if the presumption of permissiveness is complex. In general the only way to prove that the owner refused permission for the driver to operate the vehicle can be able to overcome the presumption.