Brooklyn Car Accident Lawyer
Car accidents are one of the most common causes of serious injuries. Most people will experience a car accident at some point in their lives, and many of these victims can only hope that they will not suffer injuries. If another driver’s negligence behind the wheel caused you serious injuries in a Brooklyn car accident, The Carrion Law Firm may be able to help.
The Brooklyn car accident lawyers from The Carrion Law Firm fight for car accident victims and work to get them compensation for the damages they faced in a car crash. If you were injured in a car accident, call us before talking to your insurance company or taking any money from the at-fault driver. For a free legal consultation, contact us at (718) 841-0083.
How Common Are Car Accidents in Brooklyn, New York?
New York City consistently ranks in the top 25 cities for automobile accidents. Brooklyn leads all boroughs with the greatest percentage of car crashes. In 2020, there were 35,245 car accidents in Brooklyn, accounting for 31.7% of all accidents in New York City. While many of these incidents are minor fender-benders, approximately 20% of the car accidents in Brooklyn result in an injury.
Brooklyn also led all five boroughs in car accident injuries. 10,658 people were hurt in Brooklyn car crashes. This total was 32.8% of all injuries in NYC. If you are injured in a Brooklyn car accident, contact our NYC personal injury lawyers to fight for your rights.
How to Get Compensation for Car Accident Injuries in Brooklyn
New York’s insurance laws are often complex, and many drivers might not realize what kind of coverage they have and what limitations that puts on their ability to get compensation for car crash injuries. Most drivers in NYC are actually limited in how much they can claim through insurance after a crash because they have to use their insurance coverage first, then they can reach into the at-fault driver’s coverage for damages if their injuries are severe enough. Many drivers also might not be aware that either insurance company might pay only a percentage of the medical bills and lost wages they face and that damages for pain and suffering are usually blocked.
In order to get the full damages you need after an injury, you may need to file a lawsuit instead of handling your case through insurance. If you faced any injuries, your case is already more severe than most cases (which deal with property damage alone). That means it may go beyond the scope of what insurance can properly handle, and you should speak with a lawyer about getting compensation through a lawsuit.
In a lawsuit, you will often get to make a decision about whether to accept a settlement offer from the at-fault driver and their insurance company or whether to fight the case in court by going to trial. In either case, the damages may be higher than what you would have received in an insurance claim, and your attorney can negotiate with the other side to prevent you from getting an offer that is too low. If the settlement still will not cover your case in full, our Brooklyn car accident lawyers can take your case to trial to fight to maximize your compensation.
What is the Average Personal Injury Claim Worth if I’ve Been Injured in a Brooklyn Car Accident?
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to determine what would be an “average” personal injury claim. The severity of your injury will play a significant role in your medical bills, recovery, and expenses. The settlement for a broken arm would be substantially lower than an award if you were paralyzed due to a spinal injury.
Who caused the crash will also impact a settlement award. In New York, your potential damages will be reduced by your percentage of fault. Therefore, if you were mostly to blame for an accident, even a large financial award would be drastically reduced.
The insurance an at-fault driver has will also impact your settlement. Policy limits will govern how much an insurance company is willing to and can payout. While you could sue the driver personally, it is unlikely that you will see any monetary gain.
The best thing you could do to maximize your potential settlement is to work with an experienced attorney. Our Brooklyn car accident lawyers have handled a wide range of car crash injury cases.
How Do I Receive Compensation for a Car Accident in Brooklyn, New York?
If you are hurt in a Brooklyn car accident, the options available to obtain compensation depend on the severity of your injuries and who caused the accident. First, New York is a no-fault state. This means that your economic damages are covered by your insurance, no matter who caused the accident. It is important to note that this does not cover non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering. You must have suffered a severe injury to pursue a personal injury lawsuit against another driver and their insurance provider.
Under New York Law, a severe injured is defined as:
- Death
- Dismemberment
- Broken bones
- Loss of a fetus
- Permanent loss of a limb, member, organ, function, or system
- Permanent limitation of an organ or member
- Significant disfigurement
- A significant limitation of your body system or function that prohibits you from engaging in your normal activities for ninety days of the first one hundred and eighty days following an accident
Types of Compensation Available for Car Accident Injury Victims in Brooklyn
When you claim damages over your injuries, there are two main types of compensation: economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are meant to pay you back for expenses that the accident created, such as damage to your vehicle, hospital bills, lost wages, and other expenses. These damages are usually proved by producing bills and financial statements to show how much money you lost. Non-economic damages are paid to cover things that do not have a price tag, such as pain and suffering, mental harm, emotional distress, and other effects you face after an accident.
Calculating these damages can be difficult. In many cases, it is not as simple as adding up all the bills you have and picking how much to ask for in pain and suffering. Cases often involve future projected wages if the victim faces very serious injuries and can no longer work at the same level they used to work at. Non-economic damages are also heavily dependent on the facts of the case, and New York law limits how much you can claim in most cases, so it is vital to talk to a lawyer about how to maximize these damages in your case and get the full value you deserve.
Other types of damages are sometimes available that do not compensate the victim but rather punish the defendant. Talk to a lawyer about claiming punitive damages in seriously dangerous car accident cases, such as hit-and-runs or drunk driving cases, or in cases involving negligent trucking companies or commercial drivers.
Economic Damages Available to Car Accident Victims in Brooklyn
Economic damages represent your monetary losses after a car crash. In most cases, the most significant financial losses are the expenses for medical treatment and lost wages. If you are permanently disabled, you should be able to recover the income you would have earned if you were not hurt in a Brooklyn car accident. Our Brooklyn personal injury lawyers will gather evidence, such as statements, bills, receipts, pay stubs, and tax returns to calculate your economic damages.
Non-Economic Damages Available to Victims of Brooklyn Car Crashes
Not every harm is financial. Accident victims suffer mental anxiety, emotional distress, and physical pain due to their injuries and the traumatic experience. You are also entitled to receive compensation for these types of subjective injuries. While more difficult to calculate and prove, non-economic damages could make a substantial portion of your total damages.
What is the “Pure Comparative Fault” System in Brooklyn, New York?
Every state and jurisdiction follows one of three types of comparative fault systems in a car accident and personal injury cases. New York applies the most forgiving of the three.
Under a “pure comparative fault” system, an accident victim in Brooklyn could recover damages even if they were 99% at fault for the accident. However, their potential award will be reduced by their percentage of the blame.
For example, if a driver was hit by a drunk driver but was texting at the time of the crash, both parties will share a proportion of fault. A jury will be tasked with two questions. First, they will have to assign a monetary amount that represents the injured driver’s total damages. Next, they will be asked to assign a percentage of blame for the accident. If the injured plaintiff, in this case, was awarded $100,000 in damages but the jury found that the texting contributed 60% to the accident, the award would be reduced to $40,000. Many jurisdictions apply a modified comparative negligence rule that prohibits injured victims from receiving compensation if they are found to be more than 50% to blame.
How Do You Prove Fault In a Brooklyn Auto Accident?
To prove fault after a Brooklyn car accident, an injured plaintiff must establish that a duty of care existed, the defendant breached that duty, the breach caused the injury, and the plaintiff suffered harm. But how do you do this?
The first thing to do is contact our Brooklyn car accident lawyers as soon as possible. Our office will send a team of investigators out to examine the crash site, walking the roadways while examining the road conditions and other factors that could have contributed to the accident. We will also thoroughly examine the damaged vehicles. Many vehicles maintain data that tell us how fast the car was traveling and when the brakes were applied. All of this helps an accident reconstructionist determine the chain of events leading up to the accident.
We will review the police report and witness testimony. In most accident cases, we will question witnesses further to see if the statements they gave the police were complete. Local businesses or homeowners might have video surveillance that captured the crash. If you hesitate to contact a lawyer, this vital evidence could be lost. Our office will send a preservation letter to ensure any video evidence is not erased.
Your doctors and other healthcare providers will provide critical evidence and documentation regarding your injuries, including their severity and your prognosis. Medical evidence is necessary to link your injuries to the crash.
Common Types of Car Crashes in Brooklyn that Lead to Injury Claims
Victims can often claim compensation for injuries in any case where they occur. Many common types of car accidents often result in moderate to severe injuries that often lead to lawsuits.
One of the most common types of car crashes that leads to surprisingly severe injuries is rear-end collisions. These crashes commonly involve whiplash injuries and other neck and back injuries that could actually become permanent issues for the victim. These crashes are often clear about who is at fault: the driver who rear-ended you. This lets you put forth a strong case against them.
Some common car accident causes lead to severe injuries, including speeding, drunk driving, distracted driving, and tired driving. These causes are all some of the most common contributing causes in car crashes, and they share one thing in common: the driver’s reduced control over their car often means more serious injuries to the victim. Drivers often cannot stop or swerve, causing crashes to occur at higher speeds and leaving victims with more serious injuries to claim damages for. The drivers committing these kinds of traffic violations are usually at fault for the resulting crashes.
Call Our Brooklyn Car Accident Lawyers for Your Free Legal Consultation
The Carrion Law Firm and our Brooklyn car accident attorneys represent injury victims in car accident cases across the borough and throughout New York. Our New York City car accident lawyers are available for free legal consultations on your injury case and to help you understand where to go from here. For your free consultation, call (718) 841-0083.