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In Louisiana, fault and legal responsibility for accidents is a cause of action for negligence. Generally, for a victim to "win" their case, they must prove the four elements of a negligence claim. The four elements are duty, breach, causation, and injury.
Every driver has a "duty of care." This means that a driver must be careful and must be on a constant lookout for dangerous or unusual conditions on the road ahead. The duty also means driving at a sufficient distance from the car in front of them so that they are able to stop if there is a sudden stoppage of traffic. Generally, if someone rear-ends another vehicle, it is often inferred that they were not paying careful attention and were driving too close to the car in front of them. Thus, the phrase "following too closely." For complex legal questions such as determining liability in a car accident, you are welcome to reach out to our Louisiana car accident attorney at Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. It is important that you are able to obtain compensation for all of your losses, and our experienced attorney has a proven track record of helping victims secure what they are owed. What if the car ahead stopped suddenly? In most cases, drivers do not suddenly apply their brakes and stop suddenly while driving. In most cases, there is a reason for a sudden slow-down or stop. That reason is most often the fact that traffic stopped or slowed ahead on the road. If there is a good reason for the car ahead to have suddenly slowed or stopped, then the general rule will likely apply (i.e., the driver of the vehicle following will likely be held liable). On the other hand, if the driver in the lead stopped or slowed suddenly for no reason, that conduct might be a case where the lead driver might be held liable in whole or in part. Louisiana has a comparative negligence law whereby damages are apportioned based on percentage of fault. A driver who stopped or suddenly slowed with no justification might be held 40% liable, for example. If that is the case, then the driver in the rear vehicle will end up paying only 60% of the total damages assessed because of the accident. Even if the driver in the front has committed negligence, the driver in the rear still has a duty to not follow too closely and a duty to be watchful when driving. Contact A Louisiana Personal Injury Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams. If you have been injured in a Louisiana accident, our Louisiana personal injury lawyers can help you recover the full compensation you are entitled to according to Louisiana law. To contact us, complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana personal injury case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle personal injury cases throughout all of Louisiana. Thank you for reading this blog post and visiting our website. In Louisiana, there is a crime called "negligent homicide." See La. Rev. Statutes, § 14:32. Negligent homicide is defined as the killing of a human being by "criminal negligence." Note that negligent homicide can also be charged in Louisiana if death is caused by a dog or other owned animal. In this article, we will limit our discussion to homicide by a human being. Negligent homicide is a difficult crime to prosecute (and defend) because of the vague legal definition of "criminal negligence." To aid our explanation, let's look at the definition of non-criminal negligence. Most people have probably heard the term "negligence" in reference to accidents. For example, if two vehicles crash, one of the drivers might be held legally liable for the accident, injuries, and property damage because he or she was negligent. Those kinds of cases are handled by the civil courts. There are no criminal charges because the accident was, well, an accident. No one intended the accident, injuries, or fatalities to happen. In the civil courts, the victim must prove four legal elements. If negligence is proven, the victim is entitled to compensation. The four legal elements are
For criminal negligence, the same four legal elements must be shown except that the breach is "really bad." Most often, the injuries/damage to property must also be "really bad." In terms of the breach, "really bad" is often conceptualized as a reckless disregard for safety and life or knowingly ignoring obvious risks to safety and life. The behavior at issue is often defined as "shocking" to most people. More legalistically, it might be said that criminal negligence involves conduct that grossly deviates from the standard of care that should be exercised by a reasonable person. For example, if a driver is speeding, that driver is behaving negligently since there is a duty to obey speeding laws. In all honesty, most drivers drive faster than the posted speed limit (at least occasionally). Mostly, the excessive speed is 10, 15, maybe even 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. Most of us would not consider that breach of duty to be reckless, shocking, or a gross deviation from how a "reasonable person" would drive. But what about driving 30, 40, or 50 miles an hour over the speed limit? Most of us would say that is reckless. If a crash happens, it would not be construed as an "accident" but rather as a logical and foreseeable result of that sort of reckless driving. Then, if the crash killed several people, we would not be surprised if criminal charges were filed. Potential punishments If convicted of negligent homicide in Louisiana, the general potential punishments are jail time of up to 5 years and a fine of up to $5,000. If the person killed is under ten years old, the minimum sentence is two years. Contact A Louisiana Criminal Defense Attorney Today For more information, contact the Law Offices of Philip B. Adams today. We are top-rated, relentless, and aggressive Louisiana criminal defense lawyers. Complete our "Contact Us" page here. You may significantly benefit by having an attorney with legal competence and experience assist you with your Louisiana criminal case. We have offices in Shreveport and handle criminal defense cases throughout all of Louisiana. |
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