Unfortunately, personal injuries never happen when it is convenient. Dealing with your recovery may cause severe financial and personal hardship which can be even more difficult to handle when you are also trying to rehabilitate.
Fortunately, there may be a path for you to obtain compensation that can make your life a little easier. Personal injury victims have the right to file a civil lawsuit against the party that injured them in a New York court. To determine whether you have this opportunity, you will have to evaluate your case based on the four elements of negligence: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. We recommend that you do this soon, as you only have a limited amount of time within which to file your claim in court.
For a free case review with our personal injury attorneys, contact The Martello Law Firm today at (914) 685-6950.
The Work Our White Plains, NY Personal Injury Lawyers Can Do for You
Our personal injury lawyers are here to support you and can handle every aspect of your case in White Plains. We work for you to ensure that your rights are protected and that you receive full and fair compensation for the harm you have suffered. Our team is available around the clock to support you with whatever your case requires. Most importantly, we can gather and analyze evidence in your case and answer any questions you might have.
After investigating your case, we can determine whether an insurance claim or lawsuit is the best course of action. Most cases start with an insurance claim. Our team has years of experience negotiating with insurance companies and is familiar with the money-saving tactics they commonly employ. If a fair settlement cannot be negotiated, we can prepare your complaint and file it to commence your lawsuit.
Types of Personal Injury Cases Our Personal Injury Attorneys Handle in White Plains, NY
Unfortunately, numerous types of accidents can cause injuries to people in White Plains. That is why our firm is here to help you recover the compensation you deserve, regardless of the type of personal injury lawsuit you are pursuing. We have a proven track record representing countless clients in the following types of personal injury cases in White Plains.
Car Accident Cases
Our team often handles personal injury cases related to car accidents in White Plains. These can include left-turn accidents, rear-end collisions, and accidents caused by distracted driving. Depending on the severity of the accident, victims may sustain minor injuries or even face death. To seek compensation, it is important to identify and sue the responsible driver. In some cases, more than one driver might be responsible for your injuries, and each can be held liable in a lawsuit.
Motorcycle Accident Cases
Motorcycle accidents are also a frequent cause of severe and life-altering injuries in White Plains. Even with helmet protection, motorcyclists are at a heightened risk of experiencing serious harm, such as head trauma and spinal cord damage, when another driver causes an accident. Some victims of motorcycle accidents might be concerned that they cannot receive compensation if they were also at fault for their injuries. However, it is still possible to pursue compensation for your damages even if the victim shares some responsibility for the accident. In these situations, your compensation will be reduced by the percentage you were found at fault.
Bus Accident Cases
Bus accidents are another common type of accident that occurs on the busy streets of White Plains. Private bus companies and the public Bee-Line Bus companies are responsible for the safety of thousands of passengers each day. If they act negligently or fail to maintain their buses properly, they can be held liable. However, there are often additional hurdles to overcome before you can sue a bus company operated by the municipal government in White Plains.
Bicycle Accident Cases
Bicycle accident cases have become more common as more people choose cycling as a means of transportation. Unfortunately, bicycle accidents can cause some of the most severe personal injuries. To make matters more difficult, some drivers might not stop after hitting a pedestrian with their car. However, our team can investigate your case and work with local law enforcement agencies to help identify the hit-and-run driver that injured you and bring them to justice.
Medical Malpractice Cases
The consequences of medical malpractice can be severe, ranging from permanent disability to death. In some instances, the victim might not even be aware that they have been injured until years after the fact. Even though these cases can be highly intricate, our firm can assist you in collecting evidence to obtain compensation for your injuries. While most personal injury cases must be filed within a specific time frame, you will usually have more time to file your lawsuit if you only become reasonably aware of your injuries much later.
Premises Liability Cases
Injuries that occur on someone else’s property as a result of their negligence or lack of reasonable care by the owner or property manager are the basis of premises liability lawsuits. These types of cases commonly include injuries from dog bites or slip and fall incidents on someone else’s property. If you have been injured due to unsafe conditions on someone else’s property, there could be several parties responsible for your injuries, depending on where the accident took place.
Truck Accident Cases
Often, truck collisions stem from truck drivers who disregard proper safety measures, such as driving beyond regulated hours or neglecting to thoroughly inspect their vehicles prior to operating them on the roads. Truck accident legal cases can be intricate as multiple parties may be held liable. In many cases, victims can sue both the trucking company for their employees’ negligence while on the job and the truck driver responsible for causing injuries.
Products Liability Cases
When a product is not designed correctly or made with faulty materials, it can result in injury and lead to defective product cases. This can encompass anything from toys to cars to medications. For example, if you happen to purchase a car with faulty brakes and end up in an accident, the designer and manufacturer of the product can typically be sued. However, determining where in the manufacturing process the defect occurred and gathering the necessary evidence to prove that the company responsible for making the product can be quite challenging without legal counsel in your corner.
Rideshare Accident Cases
Ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft, have gained immense popularity in recent years but have also resulted in a rise in accidents. Obtaining compensation in such cases can be difficult, as Uber and Lyft drivers are classified as independent contractors and not employees, which grants them the freedom to choose their working hours. As a result, the companies themselves cannot be held accountable for accidents that occur due to their drivers using their apps. However, insurance coverage typically offers substantial financial assistance to support injured drivers and passengers with any damages incurred.
How to Know if You Have a Personal Injury Lawsuit in White Plains, NY
You can pursue damages in a New York State court for a personal injury if the person, business, or other entity that you name in the lawsuit (the “defendant”) was responsible for negligently, recklessly, or intentionally causing the accident that led to your injuries. The easiest and most common form of personal injury lawsuit alleges negligence, which requires a four-prong test. The four elements of the test are a duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Duty of Care
To prove that the defendant was negligent, you will first have to establish how they should have behaved under the circumstances. This is what is known as a duty of care. There are a number of different types of legal duty of care. These are defined by the relationship between the victim and the defendant as well as the experience, education level, and other background information of the defendant. For instance, a doctor’s duties to their patient, such as the duty to obtain informed consent, are different than a driver’s duties to others on the road, such as the duty to abide by traffic regulations.
Breach of Duty
Once you have established what duties the defendant owed you, you can then show that they violated these duties. To use the above examples, a doctor who does not explain the side effects or risks of a course of treatment when advising a patient has not obtained informed consent. A driver who speeds through a stop sign at an intersection has breached their duty to drive according to regulations.
Causation
Just because you can prove that the defendant breached a duty that they owed does not mean that you have proved your case. You also must show that the breach in question actually caused the accident that injured you. This is by far the most complicated area of New York personal injury law, as courts have utilized several different tests in recent years. If you are concerned about who actually caused your injuries, speak to your White Plains personal injury attorney to sort through the confusion.
Damages
The point of a personal injury lawsuit is to obtain compensation for the consequences of your injuries. Therefore, it makes sense that plaintiffs must explain these consequences to the court in order to win their case. Proving damages is important not only for winning your case but also for establishing how much you rightfully deserve after your ordeal.
Damages are calculated based on both economic factors, such as medical bills, and non-economic factors, such as pain and suffering. For a more thorough accounting of the damages available in your specific case, we recommend speaking to one of our excellent White Plains personal injury attorneys.
Comparative Negligence in a White Plains, NY Personal Injury Case
If you are concerned that your own actions may have played a part in causing the accident that injured you, you should know that you may still be able to recover compensation anyway. The State of New York operated under a pure comparative fault law for personal injury negligence cases. The law states that injury victims who contributed to causing either the accident or their own injuries may recover compensation that matches the level of fault that the defendant shared.
For instance, let’s say that you were involved in a car accident where the other driver was driving negligently, but you were not wearing a seatbelt. The court will determine how big of a factor your failure to wear a seatbelt was in the causing of your injuries. If you claim $20,000 in damages and the court finds that your own negligence was 25% at fault for causing your own injuries, you can still recover 75% of the damages (or $15,000) from the at-fault defendant. We urge you to speak to one of our diligent White Plains personal injury lawyers to find out how much you stand to gain in light of your own part in the accident that injured you.
Statute of Limitations in a White Plains, NY Personal Injury Lawsuit
It is in your best interest to act quickly to secure your compensation after an accident. This is because the statute of limitations, or law that governs the length of time that a case can be filed, runs for three years for New York personal injury claims. In other words, if you do not file your lawsuit within three years of the date of your accident, you will not be able to recover in a New York court.
Our White Plains, NY Personal Injury Attorneys Can Help
To obtain a free initial case evaluation from one of our dedicated White Plains personal injury lawyers, call The Martello Law Firm, PLLC at (914) 685-6950.
