Few neighborhoods in Brooklyn, or even NYC, are packed with as many drivers as Bushwick. Unfortunately, many drivers here do not act with the care they should, injuring others on the road. If a negligent driver crashes into you and you are dealing with the fallout, we can help you pursue compensation, explaining the possible roadblocks we may have to overcome with New York being a no-fault state for auto accidents.
For example, while your no-fault insurance policy can be helpful after a car accident, providing coverage for medical care and some of your lost earnings, it cannot fully compensate you. To do that, we must file a lawsuit. However, victims can only file a lawsuit in the event of serious injuries or significant economic losses. Our team can help by gathering evidence that meets one of these requirements. Serious injuries come in many forms, but we can meet that threshold, even if you only sustained a fracture. We can also file a lawsuit if your economic losses are over $50,000, which is not such a high bar considering healthcare costs today.
Call The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083 today to receive your free case review with our Brooklyn car accident lawyers.
Filing for Insurance After a Car Accident in Bushwick, Brooklyn
While the end goal is almost always to recover your losses in a lawsuit, we must first consider your car insurance after an accident in Bushwick. Every driver in Bushwick and throughout New York must carry no-fault insurance, known as “personal injury protection” (PIP). Under this system, those injured will file a claim with their insurance provider, as opposed to a third-party claim with the other driver’s provider, which is what happens in “at-fault” states. The major reason no-fault insurance is used here is because injury victims can recover compensation no matter who caused the accident.
However, PIP insurance will only pay for economic damages, such as your medical bills. If you only have the minimum policy, your medical expenses can quickly exceed your limits. PIP also only covers up to 80% of your lost income, leaving you on the hook for your remaining missed wages. Further, no compensation is allocated for your non-economic damages, which you probably know as “pain and suffering.”
Our car accident attorneys can help you pursue all the damages you suffered instead of settling for what insurance can offer. Unfortunately, I.S.C. Law § 5104(a) does not give victims a general right to recover non-economic losses in a lawsuit. This means we must meet one of the law’s exceptions to file a lawsuit on your behalf, which we can immediately review after taking on your case.
Filing a Lawsuit After a Bushwick Car Accident
The law above allows victims to pursue non-economic damages in cases of “serious injury” or “basic economic loss.” Right away, we can review your incurred losses to date from the accident and your diagnosed injuries to confirm if you can file a lawsuit to recover all damages and proceed to do so before the statute of limitations runs out.
Incurring a Basic Economic Loss
According to § 5102(a), basic economic losses refer to the first $50,000 victims spend to cover their damages. If your hospital bills, medical exams, physical therapy, and lost income add up to more than $50,000, this threshold has been exceeded, and we can file a lawsuit for pain and suffering and other damages.
Passing the Serious Injury Threshold
The other route to file a lawsuit is to meet the “serious injury” definition under § 5102(d). Death, amputations, serious disfigurement, and miscarriage are considered serious injuries in New York. Furthermore, injuries that limit you when doing your daily tasks for 90 out of the first 180 days after the accident also qualify as “serious.” Injuries that limit a body part, function, or system are serious as well. We can collect your medical evidence and organize it to show your case meets this threshold.
Filing Within the Statute of Limitations
The “statute of limitations” is another important issue to address at the onset of your case. This is the deadline placed on every car accident victim to file their lawsuits. Fortunately, New York’s statute of limitations is not as short as some other states, as C.V.P. Law § 214(5) gives plaintiffs up to three years after a crash occurs to file.
You have even less time to file a lawsuit if the person who crashed into you was a government driver. For example, suppose a negligent MTA bus driver hit you. In that case, we would have a total of one year and a half under G.M.U. § 50-i to file a lawsuit against the government agency the employee works for. However, before we do so, we must officially notify the agency of our intention to sue within 90 days of your accident, according to § 50-e(a).
How to Take the Right Steps After a Car Accident in Bushwick, Brooklyn
While it is understandably challenging, try your best to keep cool after an accident. The law requires you to take certain steps following a crash, and some you should do to help your future legal claim against an at-fault driver.
First, V.A.T. Law § 600(1)(a) requires parties involved in a car accident to exchange information with one another. The information to provide includes names, addresses, license numbers, and insurance information. You are in no way required to provide any more information than that. In fact, you should not. If you do discuss the case more with the other driver, you run the risk of saying something that can be construed as accepting fault. Even when you are talking to the police, only provide the facts you know and refrain from any speculation.
You can exchange information while you wait for the police to arrive. If an accident involves injuries, fatalities, or property damage over $1,000, § 605(a)(1) dictates that it must be reported to law enforcement as soon as possible. While most accidents qualify under this law, you should report your accident to the NYPD, no matter the particular circumstances. We can help obtain a copy of your NYPD collision report once it is ready. Copies can be easily purchased online for a small fee or by visiting the NYPD’s 83rd Precinct in Bushwick, whose record department will provide a copy free of charge.
Gathering evidence before you leave the scene and the city cleans it is also a good idea. Simply take out your phone and start photographing. Take pictures of the vehicle damage, the street, signs, lights, your injuries, and anything else that looks relevant. Also, get eyewitnesses’ contact information if anyone stopped to help while you were waiting for the police.
Potential Car Accident Damages in Bushwick Lawsuits
After confirming you have reason to file a car accident lawsuit, we can begin identifying all the damages you have incurred because of the crash. This typically starts with the initial medical care you receive, likely in the emergency room. All additional rehabilitative care necessary for you to heal is compensable, as are lost wages due to the accident and the defendant’s negligence. In addition to recovering for your pain and suffering, you might even get punitive damages, depending on the defendant’s conduct.
Emergency Room Costs
When victims’ injuries are immediate and severe, they may go directly to the emergency room. The cost of the ambulance ride and onsite care from paramedics should be covered in your lawsuit, so do not reject assistance they may offer you at the scene.
Depending on the severity of a victim’s injury and if they need immediate surgery or extensive testing, going to the emergency room after a car accident could be incredibly expensive, costing them thousands of dollars if they do not file lawsuits against liable drivers. While you are still recovering in the hospital, our attorneys can begin organizing your initial emergency room records and bills to start tallying the cost of treatment.
Additional Rehabilitative Care
Many injuries, from displaced fractures to head injuries, require additional care after the first visit to the hospital or emergency room. Victims may have more surgeries or physical therapy sessions scheduled, potentially spanning months or years. As you start your treatment plan and begin working toward your full physical recovery, we can continue tracking bills from providers so we do not lose track of your total medical damages.
Furthermore, we may have the physicians who have treated you testify about anticipated future medical damages. Permanent or long-lasting injuries may require extended treatment that continues long after victims’ lawsuits are over. To account for those future medical damages and ensure you are not the one who has to pay them, we will seek compensation for upcoming losses not yet incurred.
Missed Wages
It is very common for victims who suffer injuries in accidents, ranging from facial fractures to dismemberment, to have to take time away from work. Some injuries forever affect victims’ earning levels, and we may have experts testify to that at trial to support requests for future lost wages. We will base our calculations on documentation of your income before the accident, keeping in mind the possible permanent effects of your injuries on your ability to work.
Miscellaneous Expenses
Although medical costs and lost wages may be the most consequential economic damages victims incur after car accidents, other expenses are recoverable that our lawyers can identify and prove. For example, an obvious cost after a crash is the property damage to your vehicle. Furthermore, you might not have a drivable car, or your injuries might prevent you from driving yourself to and from doctor appointments, requiring transportation accommodations that are also compensable. Some victims’ injuries restrict their mobility temporarily, requiring in-house medical assistance or childcare help as they heal. We can point out many of the miscellaneous expenses you have incurred that you might not have realized were due to the car accident, making them recoverable in your lawsuit against a negligent driver.
Intangible Damages
Intangible damages refer to the harms victims suffer that do not come with a concrete monetary value but are compensable nonetheless. Car accident lawsuits seek to make plaintiffs whole again, not just for the financial damages they have incurred but also for the physical pain and mental suffering they have endured because of their injuries and the defendant’s negligence.
For example, if you have dealt with overwhelming depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder since the crash, you could seek non-economic damages. Victims may also do this if their quality of life has gone down, they are unable to engage in activities or hobbies they once enjoyed, or if they have suffered permanently disfiguring injuries in Bushwick.
To express their intangible damages in court, victims may testify in front of juries, explaining the pain and suffering they have endured because of the defendant. We can reinforce victims’ testimonies with statements from mental health experts.
Punitive Damages
Juries may award punitive damages to punish defendants for their willful, wanton, malicious, or especially egregious conduct, like drunk driving. New York does not limit jury awards for punitive damages and pays them in addition to compensatory damages, which encapsulate victims’ economic and non-economic losses. Though not guaranteed, our attorneys can prepare you for whether punitive damages could be available if your case goes to trial in Bushwick.
Our Car Accident Attorneys in Bushwick, Brooklyn Can Give You the Legal Support You Need
For a free case evaluation with our car accident attorneys, contact The Carrion Law Firm at (718) 841-0083.