Can A Person Responding To An Emergency Situation Still Be Found Negligent?

by Friedman & Ranzenhofer, PC on January 30, 2012

in Buffalo Car Accidents

Many Buffalo personal injury lawsuits involve situations where a person is responding to an unexpected situation and causes injury.  This can occur, for example, where a car veers into the other lane, causing a driver in that lane to swerve and strike a third car or a pedestrian.  Under this scenario, the driver who swerved may be found not responsible for the accident because he or she was responding to an emergency situation.  This is not, however, required by law.

Even where an emergency situation exists, the person responding to the emergency situation must still establish that he or she responded to the emergency as a reasonably prudent person would.  The standard of what constitutes a “reasonable” response may be lowered based on issues such a lack of time to decide on what action to take.

In the scenario of the veering car set forth above, the actions of the driver of the second car would have to be scrutinized to determine if negligence was supported.  If, for example, it were established that the driver of the second car would have had additional time to react to the car veering into the lane, but he or she was not paying adequate attention to what was there to be seen, he or she may still be found negligent. 

If you have suffered a personal injury, we would be happy to help you.  Please feel free to call us at 716-542-5444.

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