Anyone who has suffered a personal injury knows that the consequences are not just physical. Personal injuries can lead to sizeable medical bills, inability to work, and personal pain and suffering, among other real consequences.
If you sustained an injury in a car accident, construction accident, in a slip and fall, from a dog bite, in a drowning accident, or from a defective product, you may have legal recourse against the negligent or reckless party responsible for causing it. But this opportunity only lasts for so long, so it is important to take action now.
Your first step toward compensation should be calling the seasoned Jamaica personal injury attorneys at The Carrion Law Firm. When you call our offices at (718) 841-0083 today, you can obtain a first-time case assessment for no charge.
What You Should Do After Being Injured in an Accident in Jamaica, NY
Immediately, after an accident, however that accident might have occurred, you should get emergency help. This might involve a call to 911 and getting emergency medical responders and the police sent to your location. For others, they might incur somewhat less extreme injuries and can get to a hospital on their own shortly after the accident. Either way, your top priority should be getting to a hospital for treatment.
Contact the authorities if necessary. Not every accident requires police intervention, but the police can help. If the other person is hostile or you believe they committed a crime (e.g., hit and run accidents, intentional acts of harm, drunk driving), you should call 911 and get the police dispatched to your location. Even if no crime is committed, the police may investigate and write an official report we can review later.
Try to document the accident scene if you can. If you decide to pursue a personal injury case later, information about the accident scene might be crucial. Many people take photos and record videos after an accident. These recordings might be submitted to an insurance company or used as evidence in court.
Call a lawyer and get legal help. People are often hesitant to hire lawyers because they are afraid of legal fees and protracted legal proceedings. However, the longer you wait to hire a lawyer, the harder it becomes to gather evidence and prepare your claims. Calling an attorney sooner rather than later is wise.
Personal Injury Claims We Handle in Jamaica
At The Carrion Law Firm, we are dedicated to assisting clients in their monetary recovery after any personal injury. Below are just a few of the types of cases that our Jamaica personal injury lawyers typically handle.
Auto Accidents
Car accidents are a leading cause of personal injury in Queens and the rest of New York every year. But Jamaica poses an even higher risk for injury in collisions because of how many forms of transport residents use every day. Cars, buses, rideshare vehicles, bicycles, motorcycles, and pedestrians must find a way to coexist on roads, and if any of these parties is negligent, the consequences could be devastating.
Construction Accidents
In most cases where someone is injured at a job in Jamaica, Workers’ Compensation is supposed to be the main source of monetary recovery. However, Workers’ Compensation does not always cover injuries and their consequences in their entirety. You should always discuss the possibility that you can step outside the exclusive remedy rule and file a lawsuit with our Jamaica personal injury lawyers.
Slip and Falls
A slip and fall accident is a specific type of personal injury case that falls under premises liability laws. Under these laws, the person responsible for slip and fall accidents or other injuries that occur on a particular property is generally the property owner. Property owners have a legal duty to make their property and premises safe for guests. Our Jamaica personal injury lawyers can help you assess what legal duties you were owed and whether a property owner’s breach could be grounds for a lawsuit.
Dog Bites
New York is a “mixed” state, meaning that it has a dog bite statute that combines the one-bite rule with a limited degree of strict liability. The statute makes the owner or keeper of a previously adjudicated “dangerous dog” strictly liable only for the victim’s medical and veterinary costs. For other damages, New York requires a victim to prove that the dog had the dangerous tendency to bite people and that the dog owner knew so. After seeking medical attention for you or a loved one who suffered a dog bite, contact our Jamaica personal injury attorneys immediately.
Drowning Accidents
Swimming pool drownings frequently happen due to a lack of supervision. The owners and operators of swimming pools at private homes, resorts, hotels and motels, municipalities, water parks and other facilities have an obligation to provide adequate supervision to prevent drowning accidents. They also must post signage about proper behavior and hazards in the area, such as where shallow areas prevent diving. When negligence in these areas causes critical injury, our Jamaica personal injury lawyers will pursue compensation for victims and their families.
Product Liability
Product liability is an area of law that holds the makers and distributors of faulty and hazardous products responsible for the harm they cause. Any household item that is found to be defective could cause injury and create grounds for a lawsuit. Defects could arise in the design of the product, its manufacturing, or the failure to include sufficient instructions on safe use or warnings about potential dangers.
Possible Damages Available in Jamaica, NY Personal Injury Cases
Your damages should be an accurate reflection of what you have lost and endured as a direct result of your personal injuries. Damages are often unique to each person, and it is important that your lawyer helps you identify all your damages so nothing is overlooked. Generally, damages may represent financial losses called economic damages and painful experiences that might be unconnected to money, called non-economic damages.
Economic Damages
Economic damages represent your monetary expenses from the accident and your injuries. While some economic damages are more obvious and upfront, others might be more elusive and easily missed without an attorney.
One of the biggest factors in many plaintiffs’ economic damages is medical treatment. Hospital bills are known to be high, and they can be extremely high in cases of severe injuries. Not only can our personal injury attorneys help you claim the cost of current medical bills, but we can also help you estimate future medical costs that might extend beyond the end of your case.
Do not forget to account for your lost income. Accident victims often need to step away from their jobs to recover from their injuries. Unfortunately, this usually means that victims are losing income since they are not working. The longer you cannot work, the more income you might lose, and the greater your economic damages should be. If you cannot work for the foreseeable future, we should also estimate future earnings you might lose.
Did you lose items of personal property? Maybe something larger like a car or your home was damaged in the accident. The cost of property repairs or replacing destroyed property should definitely be accounted for in your economic damages.
Non-Economic Damages
Your non-economic damages might be totally unrelated to financial costs or expenses. As such, we cannot prove these damages with things like receipts or bills. Instead, you might need to testify about your injuries and how the accident has impacted your life and well-being.
Common non-economic damages include physical pain from injuries and medical treatment. Pain can be difficult to cope with, especially if it lasts a long time and is severe. Those suffering from long-term or chronic pain because of their injuries might be entitled to significant compensation.
Non-economic damages may also encompass psychological, emotional, or mental injuries. Traumatic accidents often leave victims in serious distress. Permanent scarring or injuries might cause intense emotional upheaval as victims come to terms with how the accident has affected them. These kinds of injuries can impact a person’s mental health for many years, and they warrant fair financial compensation.
How to Collect Evidence for Your Personal Injury Case in Jamaica, NY
Collecting evidence is one of the most challenging parts of many civil cases. Evidence can be fleeting and hard to find. In some cases, evidence is lost before plaintiffs can collect it. It is imperative that you talk to your lawyer about your case and start collecting evidence as soon as possible.
An important part of our strategy may include witnesses. If other people saw you get hurt or saw the defendant behaving negligently, their testimony may be priceless. Having others back you up in court might not only shed light on important details about the accident, but it might lend your case credibility. Jurors might be more inclined to believe you if you have others backing you up.
We should also gather copies of your medical records to help us prove your injuries. Injuries heal over time, and you might fully recover before we go to trial. Your medical records might be all we have to prove how badly you were injured. Remember, we do not need records reflecting your entire medical history. We only need medical records from when you were treated in relation to your personal injuries.
Photos and videos are other common forms of evidence, especially since most people have phones with cameras nowadays. It is usually a good idea to snap some pictures and record videos of the accident scene before you leave. Another option is to go back to the accident scene and check for security cameras in the area that might have recorded the accident. Since video footage can be quickly deleted, we should move fast.
Should I Settle with Insurance or Sue After a Personal Injury in Jamaica, Queens?
Depending on the type of accident that causes your personal injury, you may be contacted by the other party’s insurance provider shortly after the incident is reported. The insurance representative (also known as a claims adjuster) may even decide to offer you a settlement deal.
Settlements are useful legal tools where a plaintiff agrees to give up their right to pursue legal action against the defendant in exchange for a negotiated sum of money. However, personal injury victims should be careful when assessing settlement offers, as the insurance company making the offer may be trying to avoid paying a much larger amount in court.
You are not obligated to accept the first settlement offer that you receive. You can counter or negotiate the terms of your settlement even after you file a lawsuit, right up until the moment that the court reaches a decision. Generally, as plaintiffs get further into the process of their lawsuit, settlement offers get higher as well.
Never accept any settlement offer without first speaking to a dedicated Jamaica personal injury lawyer. In fact, you are better off leaving all communication with the claims adjuster to your lawyer, as insurance companies can use your conversations with their representatives against you in court.
What is the Statute of Limitations on Filing a Personal Injury Claim in Jamaica, NY?
If you believe you have the grounds for a personal injury lawsuit in Jamaica, Queens, you do not have long to act. The State of New York has a statute of limitations under C.V.P. Law § 214 that imposes a time limit on filing personal injury suits. Generally, this window is limited to three years from the date of the injury. Certain exceptions do exist, but it is always best to contact a Jamaica personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after receiving medical attention for your injury.
Get Experienced Personal Injury Advice in Jamaica, NY from The Carrion Law Firm Today
When you call (718) 841-0083 today, our dedicated Jamaica personal injury lawyers can help you on your search for compensation, starting with a free initial case assessment.