There are several types of Buffalo personal injury lawsuits in which more than one party may be held responsible. These would include car accidents where more than one driver was negligent in causing a collision or injuries on property where more than one party may have responsibility for maintenance. In such cases, it is sometimes difficult to locate and obtain legal jurisdiction over all of the parties responsible.
The fact that not all the parties can be found, however, is not a bar to filing a personal injury lawsuit against the ones who can be found. The most likely impact of a failure to include a party to a lawsuit is that the injured person will not obtain full economic recovery because under New York law, in most cases the responsible parties are only required the same percentage of non-economic damages that a jury finds them responsible for in causing the injury. As a result, failure to include a party may mean some of the damages that party would be responsible for are not recovered.
This limitation may not apply, however, if the injured person can prove that despite making a due diligent effort, he or she was unable to obtain jurisdiction over the missing party. If this can be established, then the parties that are available may be required to pay all of the damages. As a result, it is very important to make an effort to obtain jurisdiction over all parties in a personal injury lawsuit, even if such efforts are ultimately unsuccessful.
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