Rosebank Car Accident Lawyer
Staten Island has plenty of commuters, drivers going about work tasks on the road, people running errands, and drivers making deliveries across towns like Rosebank. If you were hit and suffered injuries in a car accident, you could be entitled to substantial compensation, but getting the compensation paid can be harder than you might expect.
When you get hit by a car, you usually have to rely on your own insurance first to cover injuries. Unless you meet certain thresholds for your injuries, you cannot sue – but once your injuries are serious enough, our lawyers can help you maximize your damages by going after the at-fault driver for the lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering they caused you.
For help with your case, call (718) 841-0083 for a free case review with The Carrion Law Firm’s Staten Island car accident lawyers today.
Proving Fault in a Car Accident in Rosebank
After a crash, fault will play a major part in holding someone else responsible for what happened. Car accident claims are based on the legal framework of a negligence case, meaning that you prove someone is at fault by showing that they breached a legal duty they owed you and that that breach resulted in your injuries and damages. This can come in a few forms in car accident cases, but you must prove a breach of duty in at least one of these ways to show that the other driver is at fault.
First, the breach can come from a violation of a traffic law or other rule on the books that is meant to keep people safe. For example, drunk driving laws are there to keep people from getting behind the wheel when they are unsafe to drive. If you were hit by a driver with a BAC well over the legal limit, we can use that violation as a per se example of negligence. The same is true for speeding, running a red light, running a stop sign, failing to yield, and many other traffic violations. The core violation that caused the crash is often enough to prove the breach of duty.
Second, if there is no explicit legal violation involved, we can show that what the driver did was negligent if it was unreasonable. Drivers are supposed to follow traffic laws, but they are also held to the responsibility of acting reasonably; causing someone else’s injuries by acting unreasonably is a breach of legal duty just as much as it is a breach to drive drunk or run a red light. Often, this kind of analysis is unnecessary because we have so many traffic laws on the books, but this could cover something that is either so obviously dangerous that we do not need to point to a traffic law – like reversing on the highway to catch an exit they missed – or something that is unreasonable but does not violate a specific law – like taking a turn too fast without the skill level needed to keep out of the opposing lane of traffic.
Getting Damages for Injuries in a Rosebank Car Accident
If you can prove the other driver is at fault, that will be necessary to get damages from their liability insurance. However, you cannot file a claim with their insurance or sue the driver in court unless you prove that your injuries are sufficiently serious first. Then, our car accident lawyers can help you pursue compensation in an insurance claim or lawsuit.
Serious Injury Threshold
“Serious injuries” are required to file any claim against the at-fault driver. If your injuries are not serious enough, you are expected to get medical care covered by your own insurance. However, your insurance typically covers only $50,000 and only covers part of your lost wages. Plus, it does not cover pain and suffering at all.
“Serious injuries” are defined in I.S.C. § 5102(d) to include death and loss of a fetus, meaning a loved one can always sue for these losses. Victims can also sue for any permanent loss or limitation, a broken bone, any disability that will last at least half of the next 180 days, or “significant disfigurement,” as these are also part of the definition. These thresholds are met in many cases, so it is vital to talk to a lawyer about reaching beyond your own insurance.
Insurance Claims, Lawsuits, and Settlements
How you reach beyond your own insurance often comes down to a choice: you can file an insurance claim or a lawsuit. When you just stick with an insurance claim, the insurance company is basically in charge of the decision of whether and how much to pay you, and they are certainly biased because paying less saves them more money. When you go to court, the process is more formal and drawn out, but it is also overseen by a neutral judge and jury. Ultimately, our lawyers often pursue both tracks at the same time.
If the insurance company is willing to settle for a fair value, the case can end there. Early settlement offers often pay too little, but negotiations can result in a fair settlement without trial. However, if the case is not moving, then we can file in court to force the insurance company to answer for their driver in a formal, public way. That often kickstarts settlement negotiations, given that they would rather dodge the cost of going to trial and settle now. If the case progresses, however, we can prepare to take your case all the way through trial and achieve a jury verdict in your favor.
The decision of whether to go to trial or accept a settlement is ultimately your decision; our lawyers can advise you on what to do, but we cannot make the decision for you. However, we can seek to gather sufficient evidence to make out a strong case, making it hard for the defense to offer a weak settlement. If they know they would lose at trial, they might offer a better settlement.
Call Our Car Accident Lawyers in Rosebank Today
For a free case review, call the car accident lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm by dialing (718) 841-0083.