If you have been injured because of someone else’s bad or reckless behavior, you might have experienced a personal injury. The damages in your case will depend on how you were injured and the extent of your losses and expenses. Injured plaintiffs can recover for damages like medical bills, lost income, pain, and suffering, among others. Proving the defendant is liable for your injuries also depends on your unique circumstances. While many personal injury lawsuits are based on theories of negligence, others are intentional torts that involve different legal elements. To prove liability, you need evidence. Evidence may come directly from the accident scene, or it can be gathered later from other sources.

If you were injured and believe someone else is to blame, you can sue them in a personal injury lawsuit. For a free case evaluation, call our Brentwood personal injury attorneys of The Carrion Law Firm at (631) 910-7493.

Times You Might Need a Personal Injury Attorney in Brentwood

A personal injury is an injury to your body, although people may include other damages in a personal injury lawsuit. Numerous circumstances may lead to personal injuries, and our Brentwood personal injury lawyers have experience with several kinds of cases.

Vehicle Accidents

Car accidents are unfortunately common, and many lead to personal injuries. Car accidents may range from small collisions between two or more cars to serious crashes in which multiple vehicles are totaled and drivers are severely injured. Other accidents involving trucks, bikes, motorcycles, and pedestrians might also lead to personal injury lawsuits.

Vehicle accident claims in Brentwood are challenging because of New York’s no-fault insurance rules. In many cases, accident victims cannot start their case by filing a lawsuit but instead must go through their own insurance first for coverage. Your “personal injury protection” (PIP) will provide compensation for necessary medical expenses and up to 80% of your lost income while out of work or calling out for treatment. You can also claim PIP benefits without proving how the other driver was negligent. Medical records and paystubs are sufficient to show your damages and get your benefits.

While this sounds like a good setup, there is one serious drawback: you cannot file a lawsuit to recover your remaining damages, including non-economic damages that PIP is not designed to cover, unless your injuries are “serious.” I.S.C. Law § 5102(d) provides several definitions for what qualifies as serious injuries. Miscarriage, disfigurement, dismemberment, and death are certainly considered serious, but so are injuries that impact your daily life 90 out of the first 180 days after the accident. Broken bones are also considered serious injuries for the purposes of filing a lawsuit.

Pedestrian and bicycle victims hit by a car might be surprised to learn that the insurance rules and serious injury threshold above apply in these cases. These individuals must go through their car insurance, or a household member’s if they do not have a policy, to cover their economic damages. Our team can gather the necessary medical evidence to overcome the serious injury barrier so that you can recover all the compensation you deserve.

However, these rules do not apply to motorcycle crashes. We can explore insurance and lawsuit options with motorcycle accident victims right from the start of the case.

Construction Accidents

Construction accidents often involve construction workers and accidents in the workplace. However, people passing by construction sites might also be injured depending on the situation. These accidents may involve any number of personal injuries, like burns, falls, or even being crushed between heavy objects.

If you were injured while walking by a construction zone, we can help determine who should be held responsible. For example, perhaps you fell into a hole because the sidewalk was not closed off or were hit by a falling object because the site lacked adequate overhead protections. In most cases, the site’s general contractor and property owner can be held liable for not having the proper equipment and safety protocols, as well as failing to train employees.

Injured construction workers might have more limited options for compensation if they have to get coverage from their employer’s worker liability insurance. However, injured workers can file a lawsuit against their employer if they do not carry the required coverage. You can also sue third parties that come onto the construction site and negligently injure you, like delivery drivers and other contractors.

Slip and Fall Accidents

Slip and fall accidents are common in Brentwood and usually occur because property owners fail to make their premises safe and keep them that way. Commercial property owners, businesses, and residential homeowners have a duty to maintain their property. They should address known hazards and make reasonable inspections for potential dangers on the premises. For instance, if you slip in a spill at a store that was left uncleaned for longer than was reasonable, the store should be held accountable. The same would typically be true if they had cleaned the spill but failed to put out a warning like a wet floor sign.

Lyft and Uber Accidents

More and more claims are being filed for accidents involving rideshare drivers, like those driving for Uber and Lyft. However, these claims tend to be much more complicated than a typical car accident lawsuit. Your no-fault insurance will come into play initially. Still, several other insurance options could be available depending on whether the driver was on duty or their personal time when the crash occurred. If they were driving you or another passenger or hit you on their way to pick up a customer, Uber or Lyft’s liability insurance might provide significant coverage. If the rideshare driver was off duty, we can pursue compensation like any other car accident claim.

Bus Accidents

Recovering compensation for a bus accident can be exceedingly difficult without our team’s legal support. Unlike other vehicle collisions, you cannot file your claim against the negligent bus driver. Bus drivers for the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Nassau Inter-County Express are actually government employees since these transit companies are publicly owned and operated. As such, they are shielded from lawsuits in most cases by the legal rule of “sovereign immunity,” regardless of their negligence.

That does not mean you are without options. Instead of suing individual bus drivers, we will file your claim against the bus company they drive for, as per G.M.U. § 50-a(1). However, the time frame to file your claim is generally much shorter than for private car crash cases. According to § 50-e(a), you only have 90 days following the crash to file a notice of your claim with the bus company. They will be given an opportunity to review the evidence and decide whether to pay the claim before your lawsuit is officially filed. If they deny the claim or are only willing to pay a certain amount, we can proceed with your lawsuit. However, we will have just a year and 90 days to file it under § 50-i(1)(c).

Premises Liability

Premises liability involves injuries caused by a property owner’s negligence. If you tripped and fell on someone’s property because they failed to maintain and keep it safe, they may be liable for your injuries. Slip and fall accidents are common examples of premises liability lawsuits, although any number of accidents may fall under this category.

Product Liability

Product liability cases involve personal injuries caused by damaged or defective goods and products. For example, suppose you purchased a power drill that was damaged when sold to you or poorly designed to be unsafe. In that case, any injuries caused by the product might be the responsibility of the manufacturing company.

Potential Damages You Can Recover in a Brentwood Personal Injury Lawsuit

Damages in a lawsuit represent the losses, injuries, and expenses you experienced because of your personal injuries. Recoverable damages will vary from case to case, but certain damages tend to crop up more frequently across most personal injury cases. Our Brentwood personal injury lawyers can help you accurately assess your damages.

Economic damages represent the injuries and losses that cost the plaintiff actual money. Common economic damages include medical bills for injuries and lost income from missing work. Although they do not directly relate to your personal injuries, you can still claim property damage and repair costs in a lawsuit.

Non-economic damages are the losses or injuries that did not cost a plaintiff any money but should still be financially compensated. Emotional and physical pain and suffering are common non-economic damages. You might also experience deep humiliation or damage to your reputation in the community. These damages can be assessed by evaluating how they impact your daily life.

How to Prove Liability in a Brentwood Personal Injury Case

Even if the defendant did not mean to cause your personal injuries, they can still be held liable if we can prove they were negligent. Negligence involves establishing four crucial legal elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages.

Duty refers to the legal obligation or duty of care owed to you by the defendant. Exactly what this duty consists of may vary from case to case. For example, in car accident cases, our Brentwood personal injury lawyers can argue that the defendant owed a duty of care to drive with reasonable safety under the circumstances.

The breach is the action or inaction by the defendant that caused the accident and your injuries. Continuing with the car accident example, if the defendant ran a red light and T-boned you in an intersection, running the red light can be considered a breach of the defendant’s duty.

Causation refers to the connection between the breach and your injuries. To satisfy this element, we must show that the defendant’s breach was the direct and proximate cause of the accident. We must also prove that your injuries and damages are real and not just hypothetical injuries or only possibilities.

Intentional torts are lawsuits regarding personal injuries that were caused on purpose. Nothing is negligent about an intentional tort because the defendant intended the harm. Proving the defendant is liable requires proving they committed the action that caused your injuries and that they also intended to cause the harm. More specific legal elements you might have to prove will vary depending on the type of tort.

Important Evidence in Personal Injury Lawsuits in Brentwood

Evidence needed for a personal injury case may be anything and everything that tends to prove one way or the other whether the defendant is liable for your injuries. A lot of important evidence can be taken directly from the scene of the incident. Photos, videos, or physical evidence may be presented in court to support your claims. Our Brentwood personal injury lawyers can help you find the evidence you need for your lawsuit.

In many cases, nearby security cameras caught the entire incident on video. These videos are extremely important and might make or break a lawsuit. Even without evidence like photos and videos, we can gather witnesses who saw the accident or have information about the case. The more witnesses whose stories align with yours, the better.

We will need to show the court your medical records to prove your injuries. These records will help us establish the severity of your injuries and treatment costs. The sooner you get treated for your injuries and the more often you visit your doctor for follow-ups, the more accurate your medical records will be.

Call Our Brentwood Personal Injury Lawyers for Help

If you were injured because of someone else’s negligence or intentional conduct, call our Brentwood personal injury lawyers for help now. Call The Carrion Law Firm for a free case assessment at (631) 910-7493.