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Crown Heights Personal Injury Lawyer

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    Accidents due to negligence are often devastating for victims, entitling them to substantial compensatory damages against liable parties in Crown Heights. Those damages are recoverable through personal injury lawsuits, which our attorneys can oversee to help ensure victims’ are made whole again after accidents.

    Filing on time is paramount, as you must do so within the statute of limitations to recover damages. In most cases, the deadline is three years from the date of injury, though there are some exceptions, such as for some claims involving out-of-state defendants or minor victims. Identifying all potentially liable parties is important; more may be involved in the accident than you originally thought. For example, the brake manufacturer might be liable if your brakes failed and you got into a single-car accident. During this time, we will also start tracking your economic damages from the accident, including any medical expenses, lost wages, or other out-of-pocket expenses, as well as quantifying your non-economic damages.

    Call The Carrion Law Firm’s Brooklyn, NY personal injury lawyers at (718) 841-0083 for a free and confidential case review today.

    Seeing if Your Injuries Warrant a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Crown Heights

    After accidents, victims might be unsure if their injuries or damages are to the degree that filing a lawsuit is warranted. Instead of delaying your potential case and possibly missing the filing deadline or running into issues with evidence collection and preservation, contact us immediately to assess the viability of your case.

    First, we will review how exactly you were injured and who was involved in the accident. If the other party owed you a legal duty to follow certain rules or act with your safety in mind, but failed to, and in that failure caused your injuries, they may be legally responsible for your injury.

    For example, drivers sharing the road with you owe you a legal duty to abide by traffic laws and operate their vehicles safely. Failure to do so, such as by speeding or texting while driving, could cause an accident. New York is a no-fault state for auto accidents, but our personal injury lawyers can promptly review your injuries and case to see if you qualify as an exception to the rule and can file a lawsuit.

    If you incurred any damages from your injury, medical or otherwise, it could warrant a lawsuit. Even injuries that seem relatively minor, like a wrist fracture suffered in a slip and fall, can be very costly to treat. The cost of each follow-up appointment, imaging test, prescription medication, and any other treatment should not be your responsibility to cover if they are due to another party’s negligent conduct.

    While incurring medical damages is generally enough reason to file a lawsuit against the person who injured you, you will likely incur additional damages as well. For example, missing work temporarily would lead to lost wages, for which you can seek compensation in a lawsuit.

    Filing Personal Injury Claims by the Deadline in Crown Heights

    Plaintiffs must bring personal injury claims by a specific date set by the statute of limitations. Otherwise, they could lose their opportunity to recover compensation from negligent parties for personal injuries.

    Generally, that date is three years from an accident, according to C.V.P. Law § 214(5). There are exceptions to this, such as if victims are injured as minors. According to § 208, the accrual date for the statute of limitations is a minor’s 18th birthday, giving them until age 21 to initiate claims.

    Furthermore, if defendants leave the state or intentionally conceal their identities to avoid litigation, the statute of limitations pauses for that period. This is somewhat common in auto accidents involving out-of-state drivers who might leave the state after crashes, making it harder for victims to initiate claims.

    There is also tolling for delayed discovery, meaning the accrual date may be the date you discovered your injuries, not the date you sustained them, potentially giving you longer to bring a claim.

    A separate statute of limitations exists for injury claims brought for medical malpractice. Victims have two and a half years to file lawsuits against negligent hospitals or physicians in such situations.

    When personal injuries turn fatal, victims’ personal representatives have two years from the date of death to file wrongful death claims under E.P.T. Law § 5-4.1. This is notably one year shorter than a victim might have had to sue for the personal injury had they lived, and our lawyers can help victims’ survivors and personal representatives promptly initiate lawsuits in these situations.

    Confirming Liability for Accidents and Injuries in Crown Heights

    Confirming liability for accidents and injuries begins with reviewing evidence from the scene. Depending on the accident type, different evidence might be available, and we can immediately work to preserve any proof that could support your claim. This might include eyewitness statements, surveillance footage, and photos from the site.

    If you were hurt in a car accident, our personal injury lawyers may get accident reconstruction experts to assist with your case. These experts can assign liability to involved drivers and determine the accident’s sequence of events. In single-vehicle car accidents, accident reconstruction is important to determine if a defect within your vehicle caused the collision, making the manufacturer liable.

    Multiple parties could share fault for your injuries, including those you did not know were involved initially. For example, suppose you slipped in a restaurant because the staff failed to clean up a spilled drink. In that case, the restaurant owner may be responsible for your damages because of vicarious liability. An employer could also be vicariously liable if you were injured by a negligent commercial truck driver in an accident.

    Identifying Compensable Economic Damages from Personal Injuries in Crown Heights

    All economic damages from an accident are compensable, including medical costs, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket expenses, like home modification, transportation, and childcare costs. From the get-go, we can monitor the damages you incur and properly document them so we can present proof of your losses during the lawsuit.

    Medical Damages

    The most immediate and impactful economic damages often come from medical treatment. Car crashes, slip and falls, construction accidents, defective product accidents, workplace accidents, and other incidents due to negligence might require emergency medical care, the cost of which could be extreme.

    After leaving the hospital, victims might have to return periodically for additional treatments with specialists, surgeries, physical therapy, or routine checkups. Costs might tally up from prescription medications, mobility devices, and in-house medical assistance, depending on victims’ injuries. Each time you incur an expense from medical treatment, our lawyers will record it as proof of your damages. All medical costs are compensable, no matter how expensive they are. If necessary, we can also get medical experts to give statements supporting your recovery of future medical damages.

    Lost Wages

    While recovering from personal injuries, you might be unable to work and earn an income to support yourself and your family. Defendants can be held liable for victims’ lost wages when this happens. Establishing lost wages requires employment records, and we may refer to recent tax returns and paystubs to inform our calculations. When victims sustain permanent injuries, their earning capacities might be forever reduced, entitling them to future lost wages as well.

    Other Out-of-Pocket Expenses

    Any other economic damages traced back to the defendant’s negligence are also compensable. For example, if you cannot drive a car because of your injuries and need transportation to and from the hospital for your treatment, your lawsuit can cover those costs. Or, if you need to make changes to your home to accommodate your injuries, like a wheelchair ramp or other alterations to increase accessibility, we can also request compensation for those damages. What matters is that you are not financially responsible for covering costs due to negligence, so our lawyers will identify any and all damages stemming from the accident.

    Quantifying Non-Economic Damages in Crown Heights Personal Injury Cases

    While you can get monetary compensation for the concrete financial losses you have incurred from an injury, you also have the right to recovery for non-economic damages, which require different tactics to quantify because of their subjective nature.

    Different injuries require different approaches to treatment, potentially contributing to victims’ pain and suffering. For example, particularly long-lasting injuries that need multiple surgeries, extended hospital stays, and routine follow-up appointments may worsen victims’ quality of life during their physical recoveries. Some injuries are also more physically painful for victims to endure, and the chronic pain or discomfort you experience will be taken into account when calculating your non-economic damages.

    As will your mental anguish and emotional distress, which might be overwhelming. Victims who suffer permanently disfiguring injuries during motorcycle crashes, pedestrian accidents, and other motor vehicle collisions or because of defective products on construction sites might experience substantial pain and suffering for long periods. Even after possibly getting reconstructive surgery, which can be intense in and of itself, victims might be physically disfigured, entitling them to significant compensation for their intangible harms, which they might continue to experience for the rest of their lives.

    Mental health experts’ assessments of victims can help support our calculations and compensation requests for non-economic damages. Experts can explain victims’ possible diagnoses of anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder because of an accident due to negligence, and victims themselves may testify about their pain and suffering in lawsuits that go to trial in Crown Heights.

    Non-economic damages are not capped in New York personal injury lawsuits. However, after car accidents, victims must confirm they have a cause of action to sue under I.S.C. Law §5104(a), as New York is a no-fault state for motor vehicle accidents. Surpassing the serious injury threshold or incurring upwards of $50,000 in economic damages is generally required to file a lawsuit and recover non-economic damages after a car crash.

    Negotiating Favorable Personal Injury Settlements for Victims in Crown Heights

    Injury lawsuits often settle out of court, particularly after defendants are faced with the strong cases our attorneys build for plaintiffs. Before settlement negotiations commence, our attorneys may identify strategies and tactics to employ to ultimately get you a favorable settlement that covers your losses.

    Furthermore, we will calculate your deserved recovery, including future damages, so we know the appropriate amount to negotiate for. Defendants may offer amounts that seem fair at first, only to reveal themselves as insufficient to compensate plaintiffs for their non-economic damages in addition to their tangible harms. Rushing settlement negotiations for a faster recovery could lead to you accepting an unfair amount, which we will seek to avoid by overseeing these conversations and evaluating proposals against our previous calculations.

    We appreciate that victims often want compensation as soon as possible after suffering personal injuries, and we can take cases to trial involving stubborn defendants who refuse to increase their out-of-court offers to suitable amounts.

    Call Our Crown Heights Lawyers About Your Injury Case

    Call (718) 841-0083 to discuss your case for free with the personal injury lawyers of The Carrion Law Firm.