So you got in to a Palm Beach County car accident and the other guy got the ticket, what does that mean?

CLARK
v.
SUMNER.

May 7, 1954.

What it means is: Violation of a traffic law or regulation is prima facie evidence of negligence that may be overcome by other facts and circumstances in the cause in fixing ultimate liability.

So to give lawyer answer: "it depends". Normally the person that got the ticket violated some state traffic law. The Florida car accident victim's attorney can use the statutes. He can blow it up in Court and how it to the jury and indicate the standard of care that is applied to people who decide to own and operate a car on Palm Beach County roadways.

Once this standard is established for the Jury the attorney can go further and show evidence of what happened. He can bring in a diagram detailing the movement of the vehicles, he can bring in a expert on crash investigations to determine what if any evidence there is of impact, external force upon the vehicle, internal forces within the vehicle, torqueing of the spine in the Lumbar or neck area.

If the lawyer can determine for the Jury that the wrongdoer violated A Florida, or Palm Beach County traffic law he can ask the Court to issue an jury instruction to jurors for deliberation purposes stating that if they find the wrongdoer violated a state traffic law that is conserved prima facie evidence of fault.

However, the attorney representing the car accident insurance company may attempt to prove that there were some extenuating circumstance where there is reason to put aside this evidence of guilt. For example, he could say that although his client ran a red light, your client was in a one way street going to wrong way, that would mean that the car accident injury victim should not have been there to begin with, that may be one tool a defense attorney could use to take liability away from his client.