In a traffic accident case in Bergen County recently a formula for determining degree of guilt or liability was described. In this case the pedestrian that was killed while crossing a parking lot "street" was deemed to be 51 % responsible for the accident that cost her life. The driver of the car who hit her and killed her was considered to be 10 % responsible and the shopping mall where it happened was held to be 39 % responsible for the woman's death. I do not report this here for the purpose of agreeing or disagreeing with the verdict but to note the "formula" the jury arrives at to determine liability. If the plaintiff-or in this case the plaintiffs family-is held to be responsible by more than 50 % then there is not monetary award granted to the plantifff. Thus no penalty to the other parties to the accident.
(Source: "Pedestrian faulted for death" by Kimbret Marhos of The Record on 7/16/10).
No comments:
Post a Comment