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Motor Vehicle
Accidents
Overview
Motor vehicle accidents
are the cause of hundreds of thousands of injuries and deaths each year.
These accidents involve cars, trucks, common carriers, motorcycles, and
pedestrians. Basic negligence laws apply except when a common carrier
injures a passenger.
The Law Controlling Motor Vehicle
Accidents
| The judge will instruct the jury
that "a person must use reasonable care in driving a vehicle.
Drivers must keep a lookout for pedestrians, obstacles, and
other vehicles. They must also control the speed and
movement of their vehicles. The failure to use reasonable care
in driving a vehicle is negligence".CACI
700
(CACI are the approved
jury instructions from the Judicial Council of California. Jury
instructions are read to the jury by the judge and establish the
law the jury must follow in deciding the case. A partner of
Cheong, Denove, Rowell & Bennett has been formally recognized as
one of the attorneys who assisted the task force in the
preparation of these jury instructions.) |
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Client's vehicle
after rollover, caused by impact from tractor trailer. Click to
Enlarge |
For related information go to
Negligence Law.
If the plaintiff was injured while riding
on a bus or taxi, the law imposes upon the driver a higher duty or care
than just reasonable care. To learn more about this go to
Actions Against Common Carriers.
If the accident involves a pedestrian,
the judge will instruct the jury that "the duty to use reasonable care
does not require the same amount of caution from drivers and
pedestrians. While both drivers and pedestrians must be aware that motor
vehicles can cause serious injuries, drivers must use more care than
pedestrians." CACI 710
Some people believe that if they have the
right-of-way, they cannot be responsible for an accident. Although the
law requires a driver or a pedestrian to let the other go first
depending on who has right-of-way, the judge will instruct the jury that
"even if someone has the right-of-way, that person must use reasonable
care to avoid an accident."
CACI 701
Speed is often involved as a cause of
accidents. The law requires that a person drive at a reasonable speed.
The jury decides whether a particular speed is reasonable based on the
circumstances such as traffic, weather, visibility, and road conditions.
Drivers must not drive so fast that they create a danger to people or
property. If the defendant or the plaintiff was not driving at a
reasonable speed at the time of the accident, then that person was
negligent.
The judge will instruct a jury that "the
speed limit is a factor to consider when you decide whether or not the
plaintiff or defendant was negligent. A driver is not necessarily
negligent because he or she was driving faster than the speed limit.
However, a driver may be negligent even if he or she was driving at or
below the speed limit." CACI 707
The California Vehicle Code sets forth
the law concerning what drivers and pedestrians can or cannot do. If
either the plaintiff or the defendant violates one of these laws, the
judge may tell the jury what the law is and that a violation of that law
might constitute
negligence.
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Braking Collision at 35mph
Braking Collision at 42mph
Accident reconstructions
used during
direct
examination of the
expert witness.
Click each image to Enlarge |
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If the injured
plaintiff was not using a working available seat belt, the jury
could conclude that the plaintiff was negligent. The issues
involved are whether a reasonably careful person in plaintiff's
situation would have used the seatbelt and more importantly,
whether, based on expert testimony, plaintiff's injuries would
have been avoided or less severe if he or she had used the
seatbelt.
The Use of Experts in Motor
Vehicle
Accident Cases
Some motor vehicle accident
cases do not require the use of an expert witness to establish
liability. Other cases depend on expert testimony. The most
frequently used experts in these types of cases are accident
reconstructionists. An accident reconstructionist
can be used to determine speed, location and movement of
vehicles and pedestrians. An accident reconstructionist might
also be able to determine whether one of the parties had the
ability to see a potential hazard and had time to react to it.
Demonstrative evidence is often used to assist the jury in
visualizing and understanding accident reconstruction testimony. |
Liability of Owners of Motor
Vehicles
The owner of a motor vehicle is
responsible for the injury and damage caused by the negligence of the
person the owner allows to drive his or her vehicle. The law limits the
owner's liability to $15,000 for personal injury of one person, and
$30,000 for the death or injury to more than one person, and $5,000 for
property damage. The owner will be held responsible for the full amount
of the damages if the defendant gave a minor (a person under the age of
18) permission to operate a vehicle and the minor was negligent.
A defendant is also responsible for the
full amount of the damages if the plaintiff was harmed because he or she
negligently permitted a driver to use the vehicle. To prevail on this
theory, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant knew, or should have
known, that the driver was incompetent or unfit to drive the vehicle.
This is referred to as "negligent entrustment."
Conclusion
Proving liability and obtaining just
compensation for injuries sustained and damages caused in a motor
vehicle accident is not as easy as it may seem. The attorneys at Cheong,
Denove, Rowell & Bennett have authored numerous articles and have
lectured extensively to other attorneys on motor vehicle accident cases
and trial practice.
Cheong, Denove, Rowell & Bennett
has the extensive resources to handle the most
complex legal matters, yet is small enough to offer individualized
service to our clients.
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At
Cheong, Denove, Rowell & Bennett we believe the more you know,
the better choice you will make. |
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The information you
obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice.
This web site is designed for general information only. The
information presented at this site should not be construed to be
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