New York City (NYC) Bike Accident Lawyer

If your injuries were very serious, you could be entitled to pursue additional compensation, including pain and suffering, through a personal injury lawsuit. Our experienced New York bicycle accident lawyers will investigate the accident and work to maximize your financial recovery, whether you file a claim against the insurance policy or file a lawsuit in court.

At The Carrion Law Firm, our knowledgeable team will fight for the compensation you deserve. The laws surrounding bicycle accidents are complicated. If you were hurt in a bicycle crash, your job is to attend to your physical recovery while our office advocates for your legal rights. Call (718) 841-0083 to speak with a seasoned attorney.

Common Causes of Bicycle Accidents in New York City

Bicycle accidents are serious matters. Outside of a helmet, most cyclists lack any protection from other vehicles on the road surface. The lack of protection and discrepancy in the size of the vehicles involved in an accident usually results in devastating injuries for the rider. Bicycle accidents occur for a variety of reasons. No matter how your accident happened, our New York City personal injury attorneys are a valuable tool if you want to receive the compensation you deserve.

Distracted Driving

Distracting driving is a danger for anyone else on the road, especially cyclists. A simple act of checking a text message could cause a driver to shift a foot or two. While this might pose a danger to other cars, a bicycle traveling alongside the shifting car might not have the space to avoid a collision. When a distracted driver ignores a stop sign or other traffic light, a much smaller bicycle might not be noticed until a catastrophic crash occurs.

Drunk Driving

Driving while drunk is illegal and dangerous. If a driver’s ability to judge distance or time is impaired, a cyclist might be in grave danger without realizing it. When a driver’s reaction time is compromised by alcohol or drugs, they might not be able to avoid a collision with a bicyclist they clearly see.

Tired Drivers

Drowsy drivers are as dangerous as drunk drivers. If someone is navigating the streets of New York with very little sleep, their mental and physical capabilities are seriously impaired. A fatigued driver might dose off or close their eyes for a moment, colliding with a cyclist.

Ignoring Traffic Signals

New York has a vast amount of heavy traffic. Accidents happen when drivers fail to obey traffic signals and stop signs. Cyclists are also required to obey these same rules.

Defective Bicycles

When someone purchases a bicycle, they anticipate that it will perform correctly and is safe for use. However, when a design defect is present or a manufacturing error occurs, a mechanical failure could cause a bicyclist to lose control and smash into a car or another object. If this happens, the manufacturer or another entity in the distribution chain could be held liable for any injuries.

Poor Road Conditions

New York City is responsible for maintaining the roads in Manhattan and throughout the entire city. Potholes, defective maintenance covers, debris, and other hazards might not present a danger to someone driving in a car. However, these same road surface issues are dangerous and possibly deadly for someone traveling on a bicycle.

Who Can You Sue After a Bicycle Accident in NYC?

Our New York bicycle accident lawyers can help you determine whom you can sue after your crash. In many cases, it is not always clear whom an injured bike rider should sue. In other cases, there may be multiple defendants.

Generally, you and your attorney should consider suing the driver that hit you. Drivers must share the road with bike riders and treat them as they would another vehicle on the road. When drivers refuse to share the road, they often injure bike riders.

You must also consider the possibility of suing the driver’s employer. If the defendant drives a taxi, bus, or another commercial vehicle, you might be able to hold their employer vicariously liable for their negligence. This is only possible if the driver’s negligence that caused the crash occurred within the scope of their employment.

Sometimes, bike riders are injured by drivers who work for the city, such as bicycle accidents involving city buses. In such a case, the bike rider may be able to sue the city. However, there are additional restrictions when suing a municipality in New York. According to GMU Laws § 50-e(a), a notice of claim must be filed with the city no later than 90 days after the bike accident.

New York No-Fault Insurance and Bicycle Accidents

New York is a no-fault insurance state. The laws in place were designed to help ensure that car accident victims receive compensation to cover their medical expenses no matter who caused the accident. Bicyclists are able to take advantage of these laws to file a claim with their own auto insurance if they have coverage. If your insurance is exhausted, you could file a claim against the driver’s insurance provider.

Unfortunately, these types of insurance claims are often difficult to navigate. Our New York City bicycle accident attorneys are here to help you. In many cases, an experienced lawyer results in a higher award.

To file a no-fault insurance claim, an injured bicyclist must do the following:

• Send a written notice to the insurance company within 30 days of the accident.
• Have a bill for medical treatment sent to the insurance company within 45 days of the treatment.
• To file a claim for future damages, you might have to undergo additional medical exams requested by the insurance company.

Filing a Personal Injury Claim After Bicycle Accident in New York

Even if a no-fault insurance policy covers your injuries, you still could be entitled to file a personal injury claim. If your injuries were serious enough, you have three years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit. The significant difference in filing a lawsuit is you are permitted to seek compensation for non-economic damages, such as physical pain, emotional suffering, and mental distress. To understand your rights, it is vital to contact an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible.

Damages Related to Bicycle Accidents in New York City

Damages include any losses or injuries you sustained in your bicycle accident. Many damages are related to physical injuries, although there may be other damages you can claim. Our New York City bicycle accident lawyers can help you accurately calculate your damages.

Economic

Economic damages are tied to pre-determined prices or values. Bills and invoices are common measures of economic damages. After a bike accident, many plaintiffs claim their expensive medical bills as part of their economic damages. This not only includes medical bills you have already incurred but future medical expenses too. For example, an injured bike rider might require many months or even years of physical therapy. Physical therapy comes at a steep price and may be factored into economic damages.

You can also claim property damage. Usually, this amounts mostly to the coast of your bike. While bikes are quite common in Manhattan, they can also be very expensive. It is not unusual for someone to spend several hundred or even several thousand dollars on a bicycle.

On top of that, an injured bike rider might be unable to return to work for a while. Some injured riders cannot go back to work for the foreseeable future. In those cases, plaintiffs can also claim lost income.

Non-economic

Non-economic damages are also known as intangible damages and are more subjective than economic damages. These damages are not connected to a price or value but are still compensable. The most common non-economic damages include pain and suffering, both mental and physical.

The value of these damages is usually determined by how severely they have impacted your life. The more your daily life has been negatively affected by pain and suffering, the more damages you can claim.

Lawsuits for a Fatal Bicycle Accidents

Typically, auto insurance in NYC covers accidents on the road.  New York uses no-fault insurance laws that require every driver to have insurance that will cover them in case of an accident, regardless of which driver caused the accident.  When drivers hit bicycles or pedestrians who do not have insurance, the driver’s insurance can kick in to cover the damages.  If you own a car and have car insurance, but you were hit while riding a bike, your car insurance might also cover your bike accident.  However, in cases of deadly accidents, the rules are different, and the surviving family might have more options.

In many cases, you can file a lawsuit for the death of a loved one in a bicycle accident (or any deadly auto accident).  Death or serious injury are exceptions to NYC’s no-fault insurance rules, and these rules never block bereaved family members from filing a lawsuit for a loved one’s death.

When you file a lawsuit, your NYC fatal bicycle accident lawyer will draft up a document known as a “complaint.”  This document will detail who caused the accident, how the accident happened, and what damages you and your loved one faced.  This will typically include things such as your loved one’s pain and suffering and the burial expenses your family paid.

Your NYC fatal bicycle accident lawyer can explain further details, but there is one important detail to know: this case technically needs to be filed by the deceased’s “personal representative.”  This person is usually named in their will or appointed by the court.

How Wrongful Death Lawsuits Work for Deadly Bike Accidents in NYC

As mentioned, you can file a wrongful death lawsuit if a loved one was killed in a bicycle accident in NYC.  However, things are often more complicated.  It is important to understand precisely what claims you will file and what you have to prove to win your lawsuit.

Survival Actions

Technically speaking, there are two lawsuits that you will file for your loved one’s death.  The first is a survival action, which is essentially the personal injury lawsuit your loved one would have been entitled to file if they had survived the crash.  This can help your loved one’s estate file for the damages your loved one faced for medical care, pain and suffering, and other damages before they passed away.

Wrongful Death Actions

The second claim is a wrongful death claim.  This is the claim where you and the rest of your family will seek damages for the harms you faced because of the death.  This includes damages like ongoing lost wages because of the death, lost companionship, lost household services, and the reasonable cost of funeral and burial services.

Who Files these Lawsuits?

As mentioned, these lawsuits need to be filed by the deceased’s “personal representative.”  A family member may be named the personal representative, so the person filing could be a spouse, sibling, or parent.  Otherwise, family members cannot file these claims on their own and must work with the personal representative.

Who Gets to Claim Damages?

Any claim for wrongful death will ultimately be paid out to the surviving family or other particular parties.

Damages from the survival action will go into the deceased’s estate and be distributed under the terms of their will (or by statute if they died without a will).  This money is usually passed to the spouse, children, or parents of the deceased.  The deceased’s will might also give this money to another party, such as a trust designed to pay benefits to their family or even a charity.

The damages for wrongful death are paid separately, and they go directly to the family members who suffered these damages.  This means that a spouse who paid for the funeral will get reimbursed for that cost as well as other damages they faced, such as lost spousal services, lost companionship, and lost support.  The children who suffer lost parental support, lost advice and counsel, and lost inheritances will collect those damages themselves (usually paid to their parent if the children are minors).

One important thing to understand is that you cannot claim damages for your own pain and suffering in a wrongful death lawsuit.  If your loved one suffered or was afraid before dying, you can claim damages on their behalf as part of the survival action.  However, you cannot claim compensation for your own pain and suffering at the loss of a loved one.  Still, there are other areas of damages your NYC fatal bicycle accident lawyers can help you claim compensation for.

Who Pays Damages?

If your loved one was killed by another driver, that driver will usually be ordered to pay damages.  If they were working as a commercial driver (e.g., a truck driver or a taxi driver), it is possible their employer could be ordered to pay these damages instead.  In any case, drivers are required to carry insurance, so the money will ultimately come from the insurance companies in many cases, making it more likely that there is enough money to pay for your damages.

Our New York Bike Accident Attorneys Can Help

Bicycle accidents could result in devastating injuries. While you could rely on your insurance, if your injuries are serious, you could find yourself overwhelmed with medical expenses and unable to work for weeks or months. Our New York City bicycle accident lawyers understand the insurance laws and know when an injured cyclist should file a personal injury claim. Call (718) 841-0083 to reach The Carrion Law Firm.