We frequently post blogs on information relating to Florida accident cases. Visit this page often to read blogs on such topics as car accident, truck accident, bicycle accident, motorcycle accident and bus accident cases in Palm Beach County and throughout Florida.
The plaintiff may serve a Request for Admissions upon the defendant asking them to answer certain questions within 30 days of service of the request. Failure to admit, deny, or otherwise state why defendant cannot answer to the truth of the statement(s), will deem the questions admitted without further Court order. Failure to admit the truth of a statement will allow the plaintiff's West Palm Beach car accident attorney to ask for attorney's fees and costs for having to prove the truth of the matter.
Such questions the plaintiff might consider asking are: whether the defendant's negligence caused the accident, that defendant's negligence was the proximate cause of the accident and the basis of the lawsuit at hand, that defendant owned the vehicle or had permission to use the vehicle at the time of the accident, that defendant was not paying attention to traffic conditions, medical expenses of the plaintiff, etc.
A Palm Beach County car accident victim must prove the following in a personal injury lawsuit: a duty owed to the injured, a breach of that duty, injuries as a result of that breach and damages (property or physical). Injuries as a result of the breach is also known as proximate causation and it means that something happened which is directly linked to the car accident victim and the injuries associated with that car crash. Florida court call this the "but for" test. "But for" means that but for the other guy's driving skills, Lake Worth injury victim would not have been injured. There must be a natural and foreseeable, direct and continuous sequence of factual events between the negligent act and the victim's injuries.
When more than one person's conduct led to the injury, the "but for" test is not applicable. Instead the Florida courts use the "substantial factor" test. For example, if Palm Beach County was negligent in maintaining a bicycle path that caused a thirteen year-old to veer from the path and into an adjoining street into an oncoming vehicle that struck and killed him, the "but for" test would not apply and the court would use the "substantial factor" test. The substantial factor test means that a defendant's conduct in an action for personal injuries is considered a cause of the event if it was material anda substantial factor in bringing it about.