Most Buffalo personal injury lawsuits revolve around the issue of whether the defendant caused an injury due to his or her negligence. In a legal sense, to find someone negligent requires that they be found to have failed to use the same standard of care that an ordinary person would be expected to use under similar circumstances. In most cases that do not involve someone deliberately inflicting harm, the defendant must be proven negligent to be found liable for damages to the injured person.
In rare cases, the standard that must be proven to obtain damages from the defendant is not negligence, but reckless disregard. This higher standard is most often seen when injury is caused by an emergency vehicle on an emergency call. Such vehicles are permitted to violate certain rules of the road and if they cause an accident when doing so, they must be shown to have been acting with reckless disregard for the safety of others before the injured person may obtain compensation.
Reckless disregard has been defined as the intentional performance of an action with conscious indifference to an obvious risk that created a high probability of injury. It requires proof that the defendant was aware that harm was likely to arise from his or her actions, but deliberately chose to proceed anyway.
If you have suffered a personal injury, we can help you with your legal questions. Please call us 716-542-5444.
{ 0 comments… add one now }